Duh. Iceland had "permanent settlements" for over 1000 years before
the geothermal sources were utilized.

Depends upon what you mean by "utilize."

If a local area is a little bit warmer because there is a greater flux of
heat from the earth there than in other areas (because of radioactive decay
the net radiation of the earth into space is slightly higher than the
radiation received from) and folks find they can make a living there then
they "utilize" geothermal sources.



-frisk