Phase 2 and 3 Slim Hole Drilling and Testing at the Lake City, California Geothermal Field
During Phases 2 and 3 of the Lake City GRED II project two slim holes were cored to depths of 1728 and 4727 ft. Injection and production tests with temperature and pressure logging were performed on the OH-1 and LCSH-5 core holes. OH-1 was permanently modified by cementing an NQ tubing string in place below a depth of 947 ft. The LCSH-1a hole was drilled in Quaternary blue clay to a depth of 1727 ft and reached a temperature of 193 oF at a depth of 1649 ft. This hole failed to find evidence of a shallow geothermal system east of the Mud Volcano but the conductive temperature profile indicates temperatures near 325 oF could be present below depth of 4000 ft. The LCSH-5 hole was drilled to a depth of 4727 ft and encountered a significant shallow permeability between depths of 1443 and 1923 ft and below 3955 ft. LCSH-5 drilled impermeable Quaternary fanglomerate to a depth of 1270 ft. Below 1270 ft the rocks consist primarily of Tertiary sedimentary rocks. The most significant formation deep in LCSH-5 appears to be a series of poikoilitic mafic lava flows below a depth of 4244 ft that host the major deep permeable fracture encountered. The maximum static temperature deep in LCSH-5 is 323 oF and the maximum flowing temperature is 329 oF. This hole extended the known length of the geothermal system by ¾ of a mile toward the north and is located over ½ mile north of the northernmost hot spring. The OH-1 hole was briefly flow tested prior to cementing the NQ rods in place. This flow test confirmed the zone at 947 ft is the dominant permeability in the hole. The waters produced during testing of OH-1 and LCSH-5 are generally intermediate in character between the deep geothermal water produced by the Phipps #2 well and the thermal springs. Geothermometers applied to deeper fluids tend to predict higher subsurface temperatures with the maximum being 382 oF from the Phipps #2 well. The Lake City geothermal system can be viewed as having shallow (elevation > 4000 ft and temperatures of 270 to 310 oF), intermediate (elevation 2800 to 3700 ft and temperatures 270 to 320 oF ) and deep (elevations < 1000 ft and temperatures 323 to 337 oF) components. In the south part of the field, near Phipps #2 the shallow and deep components are present. In the central part of the field, near OH-1 the shallow and intermediate components are present and presumably the deep component is also present. In the north part of the field, the intermediate and deep components are present. Most or all of the fractures in the core have dips between 45 degrees and vertical and no strong stratigraphic control on the resource has yet been demonstrated. Conceptually, the Lake City geothermal resource seems to be located along the north-south trending range front in a relatively wide zone of fractured rock. The individual fractures do not seem to be associated with any readily identifiable fault. In fact, no major hydraulically conductive faults were identified by the core drilling.
- Research Organization:
- Amp Resources, LLC, Reno, NV
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE - Office of Geothermal Technologies(EE-12)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC36-03AL68301
- OSTI ID:
- 888899
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/AL/68301-1; TRN: US200719%%418
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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