Geologic Model of the Baca Geothermal Reservoir, Valles Caldera, New Mexico
The caldera environment represents a complex interaction of volcanic, structural, and often, hydrothermal processes. As a result calderas are often targets for geothermal exploration and development. From the standpoint of the reservoir engineer, such geothermal systems would be hosted by rocks that display a complex interplay of stratigrphic permeability, structural permeability, and changing permeability which results from the process of hydrothermal alteration and new fracture generation. The purpose of this paper is to present a geolgic model of the Baca geothermal reservoir which is situated in New Mexico. The geologic history of the Valles caldera is presented in Smith and Bailey (1968). The data we present is largely based on our studies of subsurface samples from Union Oil Company's Baca project area. Additional results of our work have been published previously (Hulen and Nielson, 1982, 1983; Nielson and Hulen, in press).
- Research Organization:
- Earth Science Laboratory, University of Utah Research Institute, Salt Lake City, UT
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT03-80SF11459
- OSTI ID:
- 889579
- Report Number(s):
- SGP-TR-74-16
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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