Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

An electrical survey of the Dunes geothermal anomaly and surrounding region Imperial Valley, California

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7223544

The results of the present telluric survey show that the electrical resistivity structure in the region of the Dunes Geothermal Anomaly is complex. It is a region of low resistivity, the size and geometry of which were not completely determined. The Dunes Anomaly is probably fault controlled, i.e., polarization and noise analysis suggest that the controlling geological structure is a northwest trending strike-slip fault located in the sand hills. The postulated extension of the San Andreas Fault Zone is a logical possibility. The existence of northeast trending conjugate faulting is not ruled out, since it is noted that the gravity high associated with the Dunes Anomaly is actually centered about 2 km northeast of UCR no. 115. The Dunes Anomaly could then be associated with a larger structure centered beneath the gravity maximum. Finally, split spread telluric profiling was found to be a rapid low cost method of geothermal exploration. This method is particularly useful in detail profiling of a structure.

Research Organization:
California Univ., Riverside (USA). Inst. of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
OSTI ID:
7223544
Report Number(s):
PB-261769
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English