Snake River Plain Play Fairway Analysis – Phase 1 Report
- Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States). Dept. of Geology
- US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Center for Geophysical Investigation of the Shallow Subsurface
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
The Snake River volcanic province (SRP) overlies a thermal anomaly that extends deep into the mantle; it represents one of the highest heat flow provinces in North America. Our goals for this Phase 1 study are to: (1) adapt the methodology of Play Fairway Analysis for geothermal exploration to create a formal basis for its application to geothermal systems, (2) assemble relevant data for the SRP from publicly available and private sources, and (3) build a geothermal play fairway model for the SRP and identify the most promising plays, using software tools that are standard in the petroleum industry. The success of play fairway analysis in geothermal exploration depends critically on defining a systematic methodology that is grounded in theory (as developed within the petroleum industry over the last two decades) and within the geologic and hydrologic framework of real geothermal systems. Our preliminary assessment of the data suggests that important undiscovered geothermal resources may be located in several areas of the SRP, including the western SRP (associated with buried lineaments defined by gravity or magnetic anomalies, and capped by extensive deposits of lacustrine sediment), at lineament intersections in the central SRP (along the Banbury-Hagerman trend NW of Twin Falls, and along the northern margin of the Mt Bennett Hills-Camas Prairie area), and along the margins of the eastern SRP. Additional high temperature resources are likely associated with rhyolite domes and crypto-domes in the eastern SRP, but are masked by shallow groundwater flow leading to low upper crustal heat flow values. These blind resources may be exploitable with existing deep drilling technology. Groundwater modeling planned for later phases of the PFA project will address whether temperatures at viable producing depths are sufficient to support electricity production.
- Research Organization:
- Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0006733
- OSTI ID:
- 1208166
- Journal Information:
- Transactions - Geothermal Resources Council, Conference: Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting, Reno, NV (United States), Sep 2015; ISSN 0193-5933
- Publisher:
- Geothermal Resources Council
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis of the Snake River Plain: Phase 2
Provisional Conceptual Model of the Camas Prairie (ID) Geothermal System from Play Fairway Analysis