Meet Belay Gulte Mino! Geothermal power, international collaborations and Ethiopian heat flow
Belay Gulte Mino and Mr Nega Getachew (Department head of Geology) during fieldwork in the central parts of the Main Ethiopian Rift. Image: Belay Gulte Mino
Collaboration, passion, geology, and global connections have combined to bring Belay Gulte Mino, a recent master's graduate from Ethiopia, to the University of Melbourne. Currently, on a 12-week fellowship under the International Heat Flow Commission, Belay is working on the Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Initiative. AuScope met with Belay and Dr Graeme Beardsmore to discuss their current NCRIS enabled work and plans for a heat flow map of Ethiopia!
Welcome, Belay and Graeme.
Thank you for making time to talk. First up, Belay, for the uninitiated, what is heat flow and what inspired you to pursue a career in this area?
This is a beautiful question. Heat flow is the flow of heat energy from hotter to cooler areas. For example, if you take the Earth, you have a hot inner region like the upper mantle, or core. So, heat moves to a shallower surface via conduction (solid rock). For better understanding, this heat flow usually happens due to temperature variations within the earth and other materials.
I am passionate about global heat flow distribution and high-quality heat-flow data values around the globe. Another reason that drives me is my country's location. There is a lot of geothermal potential in Ethiopia, and I am hoping to help grow and develop the geothermal potential of the Country.
Ethiopia’s geology is associated with numerous volcanic and igneous rocks, with some sedimentary basins, but its recent geologic activity and tectonism is not highly encouraging for the petroleum industry. However, we have large potential and abundant geothermal prospect areas. So, the location of our country, Ethiopia, along the African Rift Valley, drives my great interest in this area of research. In addition to this, I use my geoscience background and experience related to energy resources to teach students back home.
Can you share a recent highlight from your teaching work back home?
Taking 3rd-year Geology students out on a field trip in May this year. The students from Salale University (Department of Geology) were conducting sedimentary terrain fieldwork. The study area was located in the central part of the main Ethiopian rift, around Kella, Gurage Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People Region (SNNPR).
Geology students conducting sedimentary terrain fieldwork from Salale University (Department of Geology) in the Kella area, May 2023. Image: Belay Gulte Mino
Graeme, what aspects of Belay’s work and expertise impressed you?
I am always impressed by proactive initiative backed by self-belief and competence. It was not the technical aspects of Belay’s past work or expertise that caught my attention, but rather his willingness to throw himself into new challenges and perform well under challenging conditions.
This was epitomised by Belay completing his Masters in Russia when he spoke no Russian before moving there!
Belay, could you describe some of the activities you've undertaken during your fellowship and why this is important work?
At The University of Melbourne, I am currently reading heat flow data published papers from New Zealand and digitising the data and metadata from these papers to systematically assess and update the global heat flow database.
For me, as a geoscientist, a proper understanding of heat flow maps and modelling helps to identify the thermal history and maturation of specific basins. The activity also guides us to have a concept of the thermal maturation of organic materials and the thermal evolution of sedimentary basins, investigated through heat flow maps, especially for petroleum geoscientists Therefore, this fellowship strongly links with my previous educational and work experience history.
A Google Earth image of global heat flow from: Lucazeau, F. (2019). Analysis and Mapping of an Updated Terrestrial Heat Flow Data Set. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20(8), 4001-4024. doi:10.1029/2019gc008389. Find out more in AuScope’s Australia turns up the heat on heat flow data.
Graeme, could you outline the Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Project and AuScope's role in supporting it?
The Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Project has the formidable goal of reviewing the primary publication sources of more than 70,000 records in the Global Heat Flow Database (GHFD) following a significant restructure of the GHFD in 2021. The goal is to repopulate the global database over a five-year period. We are coming up to almost the halfway point now.
A typical paper will have 12 to 20 data points. So it's a big task. Belay is just one of a number of fellowships around the world. We have people working in Germany, China, Mexico, the USA and France. These fellowships are driven by the Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Project, which AuScope was a founding supporter of.
The aim is to rebuild the GHFD into a quality assured modern global digital asset fit for a wide range of fields of geoscientific research. The task requires painstaking validation of previously compiled data and extracting substantial new metadata to enrich the database.
AuScope’s heat flow program partially supports my work as a Task Leader for the Data Assessment Project. It provides a platform for increasing collaboration on heat flow data management nationally and internationally and ensures Australia’s heat flow data management will align with international best practices.
Why is this data important?
Heat flow data is used across a whole spectrum of geoscience research. From global scale modelling of continental movement to answering questions such as ‘Where is the Earth losing heat? Then there is the local scale, where heat flow data is very important for oil and gas maturation studies or studying how surface heat flow affects glaciation and finally, geothermal energy exploration. For example, knowing exactly the present-day loss of heat through the East African Rift is critical for understanding the current tectonic regime through Africa.
What makes international collaborations like this one valuable, and how do they contribute to advancing knowledge in your field?
Thanks to international collaboration, the Global Heat Flow Database is becoming the world’s most comprehensive collection of validated, quality assured surface heat flow data. These data collectively reveal the heat budget of the Earth’s interior, but the current database also shows large geographic gaps in our collective knowledge.
Data points are particularly scarce across the African continent. Stronger research links through collaborations such as this can build and resource human capacity in Africa to drive new data collection programs to fill the gaps in our global knowledge.
Dr Graeme Beardsmore and Belay Gulte Mino at Melbourne Connect hub. Image: Philomena Manifold
How do you both see this collaboration evolving in the future?
Graeme: Belay’s IHFC Fellowship is only 12 weeks. But, we aim to build this initial Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Project task into a new heat flow data collection and analysis program in Ethiopia, hopefully forming the basis of a PhD project for Belay through the University of Melbourne. We also aim to apply heat flow research to geothermal energy resource assessments in Ethiopia, a country with large undeveloped geothermal power generation potential.
Belay: Yes, it is very important. Graeme and I plan to conduct my PhD project in Ethiopia based on Geothermal energy exploration through Heat flow mapping and 3D modelling along Ethiopia's Main Ethiopian Rift and plateau. This research would help build and update our regional heat flow database.
Belay, how do you envision the potential impact of a heat flow map of Ethiopia and its implications for the field of geoscience and your home country?
The impact of a heat flow map of Ethiopia would be significant. It will help us find the geothermal potential along the East African Rift System (EARS) and help fill the information gap of heat flow data in Ethiopia. We have not had any heat flow data collected since the 1970's.
While the geothermal prospect areas along the rift and highland areas are high, only 14 prospect areas have been identified (Petroleum and Energy Authority of Ethiopia). We need more!
We can realise the geothermal potential through geoscience. Future geoscientists and data gathering projects have a fundamental role in developing economic geothermal energy in Ethiopia and around the world.
Finally, Belay, can you leave us with your favourite geological location in Ethiopia?
This would be the Afar Triangle. A geothermal hot spot! The triangle is located at a divergent plate boundary, an area of continental rifting that leads to the formation of new ocean basins. It is called a triple junction because the Red Sea, Arab Nubian plates, and the Great East African Rift System connect there.
It is associated with numerous volcanic activities, from volcanic vents to hot lava. It is a pathfinder for exploring geothermal resources and generating heat flow maps of Ethiopia.
The Afar Triangle. Image: AuScope
Belay Gulte Mino and Dr Graeme Beardsmore utilise NCRIS resources to advance global heat flow data and explore geothermal energy, with the potential to create a globally impactful heat flow map of Ethiopia.
INTERVIEW
Philomena Manifold (AuScope), Belay Gulte Mino and Dr Graeme Beardsmore
FURTHER INFORMATION
Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Initiative.
