Hot dry rock geothermal potential of Roosevelt Hot Springs area: review of data and recommendations

Technical Report · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6349353· OSTI ID:6349353

East, J

The Roosevelt Hot Springs area in west-central Utah possesses several features indicating potential for hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal development. The area is characterized by extensional tectonics and a high regional heat flow of greater than 105 mW/m/sup 2/. The presence of silicic volcanic rocks as young as 0.5 to 0.8 Myr and totaling 14 km/sup 3/ in volume indicates underlying magma reservoirs may be the heat source for the thermal anomaly. Several hot dry wells have been drilled on the periphery of the geothermal field. Information obtained on three of these deep wells shows that they have thermal gradients of 55 to 60/sup 0/C/km and bottom in impermeable Tertiary granitic and Precambrian gneissic units. The Tertiary granite is the preferred HDR reservoir rock because Precambrian gneissic rocks possess a well-developed banded foliation, making fracture control over the reservoir more difficult. Based on a fairly conservative estimate of 160 km/sup 2/ for the thermal anomaly present at Roosevelt Hot Springs, the area designated favorable for HDR geothermal exploration may be on the order of seven times or more than the hydrogeothermal area currently under development.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6349353
• Report Number(s): LA-8751-HDR; ON: DE81026668
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
ROOSEVELT HOT SPRINGS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
HEAT FLOW
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
GEOLOGY
HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION
MAPS
RESISTIVITY SURVEYS
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
SEISMIC SURVEYS
TECTONICS
TEMPERATURE LOGGING
WATER CHEMISTRY
CHEMISTRY
ELECTRICAL SURVEYS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
KGRA
NORTH AMERICA
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SURVEYS
USA
UTAH
WELL LOGGING
Geothermal Legacy
150301* - Geothermal Exploration & Exploration Technology- Geophysical Techniques & Surveys