Apacheta, a new geothermal prospect in Northern Chile

Conference · Fri May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2002

OSTI ID:815476

Urzua, Luis; Powell, Tom; Cumming, William B; Dobson, Patrick

The discovery of two high-temperature fumaroles, with gas geochemistry compatible with an economic geothermal system, established Apacheta as one of the most attractive geothermal exploration prospects in northern Chile. These remote fumaroles at 5,150 m elevation were first sampled in 1999 by ENAP and its partners, following up on the reports of a CODELCO water exploration well that flowed small amounts of dry steam at 4,540 m elevation in the valley 4.5 km east of the fumaroles. The prospect is associated with a Plio-Pleistocene volcanic complex located within a NW-trending graben along the axis of the high Andes. The regional water table is 4,200 masl. There are no hot springs, just the 88 degrees C steam well and the 109 degrees and 118 degrees C fumaroles with gas compositions that indicate reservoir temperatures of greater than or equal to 250 degrees C, using a variety of gas geothermometers. An MT-TDEM survey was completed in 2001-2002 by Geotermica del Norte (SDN), an ENAP-C ODELCO partnership, to explore the Apacheta geothermal concession. The survey results indicated that base of the low resistivity clay cap has a structural apex just west of the fumaroles, a pattern typically associated with shallow permeability within a high temperature geothermal resource. SGN plans to drill at least one exploration well in 2002-03 to characterize a possible economic resource at Apacheta.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Office of Power Technologies. Office of Geothermal and Wind Technologies; Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 815476
• Report Number(s): LBNL-50457; R&D Project: G30307; TRN: US200319%%274
• Resource Relation: Conference: Geothermal Resources Council 2002 Annual Meeting, Reno, NV (US), 09/22/2002--09/25/2002; Other Information: PBD: 24 May 2002
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
58 GEOSCIENCES
CLAYS
ECONOMICS
EXPLORATION
FUMAROLES
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOTHERMAL EXPLORATION
GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
GEOTHERMOMETERS
HOT SPRINGS
PERMEABILITY
RESERVOIR TEMPERATURE
STEAM
WATER TABLES
Geothermal Legacy
APACHETA CHILE GEOTHERMAL EXPLORATION GEOCHEMISTRY RESISTIVITY