Dian Budi Dharma, Rinaldi Idroes, Umar Muksin, Syamsul Rizal, Arifullah Arifullah, Lilik Eko Widodo
The Seulawah Agam volcano, located in Aceh, hosts one of Indonesia’s largest unexploited geothermal resources that is included in the Indonesian Green Energy Program. Previous studies of the Seulawah geothermal system (SGS) have used partial data and methods without developing a comprehensive conceptual model of the reservoir and its fluid flow and heat transfer patterns. This study aims to characterize the groundwater flow and heat transfer patterns of the SGS through numerical modeling based on integrated geological, geophysical, and geochemical data. Numerical modeling was conducted along two representative transects: Ie Seum, Ie Jue, and Kawah van Heutsz manifestations. MODFLOW 6 was used to model groundwater flow and heat transfer using a new conceptual model derived from magnetotelluric data, chemical composition and physical properties of the fluid, isotopic data, and mineragraphic data. The low resistivity anomalies are closely related to fluid discharges beneath the Ie Seum and Ie Jue areas. The depth of the Ie Seum reservoir is around 1.0–2.5 km, with estimated temperatures of 120–242 °C, while the depth of the Ie Jue and Kawah van Heutsz reservoirs is between 0.8 and 2.5 km, with estimated temperatures of 150–316 °C. The modeling suggests that the Ie Seum and the Ie Jue–Kawah van Heutsz systems represent regional groundwater and intermediate-local flow regimes, respectively. It is suggested that drilling be conducted around the local Ie Jue hydrothermal system, which is more economical given the shallower reservoir and higher temperature. © 2026 by the authors.
Graduate School of Mathematics and Applied Sciences, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia; Energy and Mineral Resources Agency of Aceh Province, Banda Aceh, 23114, Indonesia; Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC), Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia; Earth Resources Exploration Research Group, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia
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