U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project (Ram Power Inc.)
Abstract
Data generated from the Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project, in Esmeralda County, Nevada, encompasses a deep-circulation (amagmatic) meteoric-geothermal system circulating beneath basin-fill sediments locally blanketed with travertine in western Clayton Valley (lithium-rich brines from which have been mined for several decades). Spring- and shallow-borehole thermal-water geochemistry and geothermometry suggest that a Silver Peak geothermal reservoir is very likely to attain the temperature range 260- 300oF (~125-150oC), and may reach 300-340oF (~150-170oC) or higher (GeothermEx, Inc., 2006). Results of detailed geologic mapping, structural analysis, and conceptual modeling of the prospect (1) support the GeothermEx (op. cit.) assertion that the Silver Peak prospect has good potential for geothermal-power production; and (2) provide a theoretical geologic framework for further exploration and development of the resource. The Silver Peak prospect is situated in the transtensional (regional shearing coupled with extension) Walker Lane structural belt, and squarely within the late Miocene to Pliocene (11 Ma to ~5 Ma) Silver Peak-Lone Mountain metamorphic core complex (SPCC), a feature that accommodated initial displacement transfer between major right-lateral strike- slip fault zones on opposite sides of the Walker Lane. The SPCC consists essentially of a ductiley-deformed lower plate, or core, of Proterozoic metamorphic tectonites and tectonized Mesozoic granitoidsmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Other Number(s):
- 268
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0002844
- Research Org.:
- USDOE Geothermal Data Repository (United States); Ram Power, Inc.
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Program (EE-4G)
- Collaborations:
- Ram Power, Inc.
- Subject:
- 15 Geothermal Energy
- Keywords:
- geothermal; Silver Peak; Gravity; Magnetic; MT; Radiometrics; Regional Temperature; Remote Sensing; Resource Model; Seismic; Fluid Data; Well Data; Photos; Geology; Walker Lane; late Miocene; Pliocene; Lone Mountain; Esmeralda County; Nevada; Gravity Survey; Grid; Terrain; 5km; 10km; Upward Continued Regional Residual; Bouger; Horizontal Gravity Gradient; North America; Imperial County; Magnetic Report; TMI; IGRF; Total Magentic Intensity; Magnetotelluric Survey; MT Survey; Resistivity; 3D; ground MT; ZTEM; Radiometric Survey Silver Peak; 2010; 2011; Temperature; Shallow Temperature Gradient; Temperature Gradient Holes; TGH; ASTER; photographs; 2D; Seismic Reflection Survey; Faults; Mesquite; fluid; Chemistry; Geology; Map; geospatial data
- Geolocation:
- 37.755, -117.634722
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1148794
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.15121/1148794
- Project Location:
-
Citation Formats
Miller, Clay. Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project (Ram Power Inc.). United States: N. p., 2010.
Web. doi:10.15121/1148794.
Miller, Clay. Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project (Ram Power Inc.). United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15121/1148794
Miller, Clay. 2010.
"Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project (Ram Power Inc.)". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15121/1148794. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1148794. Pub date:Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2010
@article{osti_1148794,
title = {Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project (Ram Power Inc.)},
author = {Miller, Clay},
abstractNote = {Data generated from the Silver Peak Innovative Exploration Project, in Esmeralda County, Nevada, encompasses a deep-circulation (amagmatic) meteoric-geothermal system circulating beneath basin-fill sediments locally blanketed with travertine in western Clayton Valley (lithium-rich brines from which have been mined for several decades). Spring- and shallow-borehole thermal-water geochemistry and geothermometry suggest that a Silver Peak geothermal reservoir is very likely to attain the temperature range 260- 300oF (~125-150oC), and may reach 300-340oF (~150-170oC) or higher (GeothermEx, Inc., 2006). Results of detailed geologic mapping, structural analysis, and conceptual modeling of the prospect (1) support the GeothermEx (op. cit.) assertion that the Silver Peak prospect has good potential for geothermal-power production; and (2) provide a theoretical geologic framework for further exploration and development of the resource. The Silver Peak prospect is situated in the transtensional (regional shearing coupled with extension) Walker Lane structural belt, and squarely within the late Miocene to Pliocene (11 Ma to ~5 Ma) Silver Peak-Lone Mountain metamorphic core complex (SPCC), a feature that accommodated initial displacement transfer between major right-lateral strike- slip fault zones on opposite sides of the Walker Lane. The SPCC consists essentially of a ductiley-deformed lower plate, or core, of Proterozoic metamorphic tectonites and tectonized Mesozoic granitoids separated by a regionally extensive, low-angle detachment fault from an upper plate of severely stretched and fractured structural slices of brittle, Proterozoic to Miocene-age lithologies. From a geothermal perspective, the detachment fault itself and some of the upper-plate structural sheets could function as important, if secondary, subhorizontal thermal-fluid aquifers in a Silver Peak hydrothermal system.},
doi = {10.15121/1148794},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2010},
month = {1}
}