Apacheta, a new geothermal prospect in Northern Chile
Abstract
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 amore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Office of Power Technologies. Office of Geothermal and Wind Technologies; Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (US)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 815476
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-50457
R&D Project: G30307; TRN: US200319%%274
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- 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
- Subject:
- 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
Citation Formats
Urzua, Luis, Powell, Tom, Cumming, William B, and Dobson, Patrick. Apacheta, a new geothermal prospect in Northern Chile. United States: N. p., 2002.
Web.
Urzua, Luis, Powell, Tom, Cumming, William B, & Dobson, Patrick. Apacheta, a new geothermal prospect in Northern Chile. United States.
Urzua, Luis, Powell, Tom, Cumming, William B, and Dobson, Patrick. 2002.
"Apacheta, a new geothermal prospect in Northern Chile". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/815476.
@article{osti_815476,
title = {Apacheta, a new geothermal prospect in Northern Chile},
author = {Urzua, Luis and Powell, Tom and Cumming, William B and Dobson, Patrick},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/815476},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2002},
month = {Fri May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2002}
}