In the region comprising Turkey and Greece, people have been using water from geothermal sources for bathing and washing of clothes since ancient times. This region falls within the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt and hence is a locus of active volcanism and tectonism and experiences frequent seismic events. This volcanic and tectonic activity has given rise to over 1500 geothermal springs. Its importance was recognized decades ago and the geothermal water is now being utilized for district heating, industrial processing, domestic water supply, balneology and electric power generation. The geothermal potential in this region is large. In Turkey alone it is estimated to be more than 31500 MWt while the proven potential is 4078 MWt. At present 2084 MWt is being utilized for direct applications in Turkey and 135 MWt in Greece. In Turkey electricity is produced for 166 MW installed capacity, whereas in Greece geothermal energy is presently not used for electricity production despite its potential.

This book discusses the geochemical evolution of the thermal waters and thermal gases in terms of the current volcano-tectonic setting and associated geological framework that makes the region very important to the geothermal scientific community. The book explains, in a didactic way, the possible applications, depending on local conditions and scales, and it presents new and stimulating ideas for future developments of this renewable energy source. Additionally, the book discusses the role(s) of possible physicochemical processes in deep hydrothermal systems, the volatile provenance and relative contributions of mantle and crustal components to total volatile inventories. It provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the geothermal systems of this region and identifi es the most suitable solutions for specifi c tasks and needs elsewhere in the world. It is the fi rst time that abundant information and data from this region, obtained from intensive research during the last few decades, is unveiled to the international geothermal community. Thus, an international readership, in the professional and academic sectors, as well as in key institutions that deal with geothermal energy, will benefit from the knowledge from geothermal research and experiences obtained from the Aegean Region.

Professor Alper Baba, born 1970 in Turkey, holds a degree in geology and a doctorate in the field of hydrogeology from the Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir. He has about 20 years of work experience in hydrogeological and environmental geology problems in different part of the world. Since 2010, he has been a professor at Izmir Institute of Technology as a director of Geothermal Energy Research and Application Center. He teaches and conducts research in the field of groundwater contamination, geothermal energy, and hydrogeology. He has coordinated a variety of national and international R&D projects in cooperation with research institutes and companies, among them NATO funded projects. Dr. Baba has been the recipient of the Turkish Academy of Science SuccessfulYoung Scientists Award and the Turkish Geological Engineering Association Gold Medal Award. Dr. Baba is the author of several peer-reviewed scientific publications and contributions to international conferences. Dr. Baba is also the editor of the book Groundwater and Ecosystems and Climate Change and Its Effects onWater Resources, Issues of National and Global Security (both NATO Science Series, Springer).

Jochen Bundschuh (1960, Germany) finished his PhD on numerical modeling of heat transport in aquifers in Tübingen in 1990. He works in geothermics, subsurface and surface hydrology and integrated water resources management, and connected disciplines. From 1993 to 1999, he served as an expert for the German Agency of Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and as a longterm professor for the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in Argentina. From 2001 to 2008, he worked within the framework of the German governmental cooperation (Integrated Expert Program of CIM; GTZ/BA) as adviser-in-mission to Costa Rica at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Here, he assisted the country in evaluation and development of its huge low-enthalpy geothermal resources for power generation. Since 2005, he is an affiliate professor of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. In 2006, he was elected Vice-President of the International Society of Groundwater for Sustainable Development ISGSD. From 2009 to 2011, he was visiting professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. By the end of 2011, he was appointed as professor in hydrogeology at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia, where he leads a working group of 26 researchers working on the wide field of water resources and low/middle enthalpy geothermal resources, water and wastewater treatment, and sustainable and renewable energy resources (http: //www.ncea.org.au/groundwater). In November 2012, Prof. Bundschuh was appointed president of the newly established Australian chapter of the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA).
Dr. Bundschuh is author of the books Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Resources for Power Generation (2008) (Balkema/Taylor & Francis/CRC Press) and Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems: Fundamentals of Mass, Energy and Solute Transport in Poroelastic Rocks. He is editor of the books Geothermal Energy Resources for Developing Countries (2002), Natural Arsenic in Groundwater (2005), and the two-volume monograph Central America: Geology, Resources and Hazards (2007), Groundwater for Sustainable Development (2008), Natural Arsenic in Groundwater of Latin America (2008). Dr. Bundschuh is editor of the book series Multiphysics Modeling, Arsenic in the Environment, and Sustainable Energy Developments (all Balkema/CRC Press/Taylor & Francis).

Dornadula Chandrasekharam (Chandra: b1948, India), chair professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) obtained his MSc in Applied Geology (1972) and PhD (1980) from IITB. He has been working in the fields of geothermal energy resources, volcanology, and groundwater pollution, for the past 30 years. Before joining IITB, he worked as a senior scientist at the Centre forWater Resources Development and Management, and Centre for Earth Science Studies, Kerala, India, for 7 years. Hehas held several important positions during his academic and research career. He was a Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS, Trieste, Italy); visiting professor to Sanaa University, Yemen Republic between 1996 and 2001; senior associate of Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, from 2002 to 2007; adjunct professor, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan from 2011 to 2012. Recently he has been appointed as a visiting professor to King Saud University of Saudi Arabia. He received the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Trieste, Italy) Fellowship to conduct research at the Italian National Science Academy (CNR) in 1997. Prof. Chandra extensively conducted research in low-enthalpy geothermal resources in India and is currently the Chairman of M/s GeoSyndicate Power Private Ltd., the only geothermal company in India. He is an elected board member of the International Geothermal Association and has widely represented the country in several international geothermal conferences. He conducted short courses on lowenthalpy geothermal resources in Argentina, Costa Rica, Poland, and China. He has supervised 18 PhD students and published 95 papers in international and 35 papers in national journals of repute and published 5 books in the field of groundwater pollution and geothermal energy resources. His two books on geothermal energy resources--(1) Geothermal Energy Resources for Developing Countries by Balkema Pub. (2002) and (2) Low Enthalpy Geothermal Resources for Power Generation by Taylor & Francis (2008)--are widely read. Prof. Chandra is currently on the Board of Director of (1) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, (2) Western Coal Fields Ltd., (3) India Rare Earths Ltd., and (4) Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals. He has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Geothermal Energy Resources and Management committee constituted by the Department of Sciences and Technology, Government of India.