Snake River Plain Play Fairway Analysis - Phase 1 Report

Conference · Wed Sep 02 04:00:00 EDT 2015

OSTI ID:1253706

Shervais, John W.; Glen, Jonathan M.; Liberty, Lee M.; Dobson, Patrick; Gasperikova, Erika; Sonnenthal, Eric; Visser, Charles; Nielson, Dennis; Garg, Sabodh; Evans, James P.; Siler, Drew; DeAngelo, Jacob; Athens, Noah; Burns, Erick

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: NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States))
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1253706
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-6A10-66436
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GIS
Idaho
Play Fairway Analysis
Snake River Plain
geothermal exploration