skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Salton Sea Geothermal Field, Imperial Valley, California as a site for continental scientific drilling. [Abstract only]

Journal Article · · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)
OSTI ID:6122123

The Salton Trough, where seafloor spreading systems of the East Pacific Rise transition into the San Andreas transform fault system, is the site of such continental rifting and basin formation today. The largest thermal anomaly in the trough, the Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF), is of interest to both thermal regimes and mineral resources investigators. At this site, temperatures >350/sup 0/C and metal-rich brines with 250,000 mg/L TDS have been encountered at <2 km depth. Republic Geothermal Inc. will drill a new well to 3.7 km in the SSGF early in 1983; we propose add-on experiments in it. If funded, we will obtain selective water and core samples and a large-diameter casing installed to 3.7 km will permit later deepening. In Phase 2, the well would be continuously cored to 5.5 km and be available for scientific studies until July 1985. The deepened well would encounter hydrothermal regimes of temperature and pressure never before sampled.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Riverside
OSTI ID:
6122123
Journal Information:
Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 15:5
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English