Three years of geothermal research in Nebraska

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:7369493

Gosnold, Jr, W D ^[1]; Eversoll, D A; Carlson, M P; Ruscetta, C A ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Nebraska, Omaha
2. ed.

The results of the first three years of geothermal research in Nebraska are encouraging in their promise for the discovery and development of low-temperature geothermal resources and from the standpoint of scientific value. A sucessful method for geothermal exploration has been developed and extensive low-temperature geothermal deposits have been discovered in Cretaceous age rocks that underlie a total area of about 107,000 km/sup 2/ and contain about 1000 x 10/sup 18/ J of stored energy. Heat flow data indicate zones of large-scale, slow flow in deep aquifers. This discovery of deep aquifer flow patterns by surface heat flow has important implications for both geothermics and hydrology. The heat flow data also indicate some areas of high heat flow that may be due to high radioactive heat generation in the Precambrian crystalline rocks. One of the original tasks of the program is evaluation of the bottom hole temperatures (BHT) for more than 14,000 oil and gas exploration wells. The preliminary interpretations of the BHT data are that the gradient patterns indicated by the BHT data do not coincide with the known thermal regime, and that the validity of the data are questionable. The geothermal resource map of Nebraska has been completed.

• OSTI ID: 7369493
• Report Number(s): DOE/ID/12079-71-Vol.1; ESL-98-Vol.1; CONF-820491-Vol.1-8; ON: DE82019912
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
150101* -- Geothermal Energy-- Resources & Availability-- USA-- (-1989)
BOREHOLES
CAVITIES
EXPLORATION
FEDERAL REGION VII
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GEOTHERMAL EXPLORATION
GEOTHERMAL GRADIENTS
GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES
GRAVITY SURVEYS
Geothermal Legacy
HEAT FLOW
MAPS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEBRASKA
NORTH AMERICA
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
RESOURCES
SURVEYS
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA