Geophysical study of the crust and upper mantle beneath the central Rio Grande rift and adjacent Great Plains and Colorado Plateau

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6577821· OSTI ID:6577821

Ander, M E

As part of the national hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal program conducted by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, a regional deep magnetotelluric (MT) survey of Arizona and New Mexico was performed. The main objective of the MT project was to produce a regional geoelectric contour map of the pervasive deep electrical conductor within the crust and/or upper mantle beneath the Colorado Plateau, Basin and Range Province, and Rio Grande rift. Three MT profiles cross the Jemez lineament. Preliminary one-dimensional analysis of the data suggest the lineament is associated with anomalously high electrical conductivity very shallow in the crust. An MT/audiomagnetotelluric (AMT) study of a 161 km/sup 2/ HDR prospect was performed on the Zuni Indian Reservation, New Mexico. Two-dimensional gravity modeling of a 700-km gravity profile at 34/sup 0/30'N latitude was used to study the crust and upper mantle beneath the Rio Grande rift. Several models of each of three consecutive layers were produced using all available geologic and geophysical constraints. Two short-wavelength anomalies along the gravity profile were analyzed using linear optimization techniques.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6577821
• Report Number(s): LA-8676-T
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
COLORADO PLATEAU
GRAVITY SURVEYS
MAGNETOTELLURIC SURVEYS
RIO GRANDE RIFT
ARIZONA
COLORADO
EARTH CRUST
EARTH MANTLE
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEOLOGY
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
NEW MEXICO
UTAH
VOLCANIC REGIONS
ELECTRICAL SURVEYS
ELECTROMAGNETIC SURVEYS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SOUTHWEST REGION
SURVEYS
USA
WESTERN REGION
Geothermal Legacy
150301* - Geothermal Exploration & Exploration Technology- Geophysical Techniques & Surveys