Mission: to characterize and assess geothermal energy resources in the United States and to work with the Department of Energy and other partners to advance the technologies applied to discover, characterize, and utilize those resources.
Geothermal energy is a significant source of renewable electric power in the western United States and, with advances in exploration and development technologies, a potential source of a large fraction of baseload electric power for the entire country. The USGS Geothermal Resource Investigations Project is focused on advancing geothermal research through a better understanding of geothermal resources and the impacts of geothermal development. This is achieved by applying a wide range of research methods to characterize resource occurrences, perform monitoring, and develop resource assessments. The project team works closely with a number of external collaborators from federal and state agencies, academia and industry on projects throughout the US and internationally (provide link to map of field study areas).
Overview
Based on current projections, the United States faces the need to increase its electrical power generating capacity by approximately 300,000 Megawatts-electrical (MWe) over the next 20 years. A critical question for future energy planning is the extent to which geothermal resources can contribute to this increasing demand for electricity. Geothermal energy constitutes one of the nation’s largest sources of renewable and environmentally benign electric power, yet the installed capacity of approximately 3000 MWe falls short of the estimated resources.
The USGS 2008 National geothermal resource assessment (provide link to 2008 assessment) estimated potential power production capacity from identified and undiscovered conventional geothermal resources at approximately 40,000 MWe. In addition, a provisional evaluation of the potential from Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) was estimated to be approximately 518,000 MWe. This indicates that substantial geothermal resources are available to contribute to the nation’s electric power mix.
Still, significant questions remain regarding the nature and extent of undiscovered conventional geothermal resources as well as the viability of EGS as a new technology for producing geothermal electric power. This project is focused on addressing these issues as well as producing comprehensive databases of geothermal information compiled in the course of the assessment work, expanding the scope of the 2008 assessment to lower temperatures and other unconventional geothermal resource types, and conducting further research into the nature of geothermal resources in order to develop improved methodologies for future assessments.
The project addresses key issues related to geothermal resources through a number of activities:
- Database development - compiling and making publicly-available relevant data from geothermal exploration, development and assessment studies
- Resource Assessments - developing improved techniques for assessing geothermal resources and expanding the national assessment to cover both conventional and unconventional geothermal resources
- Hydrothermal field studies - conducting field investigations and modeling to understand the spatial and temporal occurrence, and evolution of targeted, prioritized natural hydrothermal systems.
- Enhance Geothermal Systems (EGS) – characterizing the unconventional Enhanced/Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) resource base and evaluating the implications of EGS development.
- Other unconventional resources – studying low temperature and sedimentary basin geothermal resources (from thermal aquifers to deep basin brines) to characterize their resource potential and understand the factors controlling their formation.
- Impacts of geothermal development - monitoring and modeling the effects of geothermal production including Induced seismicity associated with fluid injection, as well as impacts that expanding production may have on groundwater and vegetation.
Research Highlights
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Below are publications associated with this project.
Evaluating geothermal and hydrogeologic controls on regional groundwater temperature distribution
Analysis and interpretation of stress indicators in deviated wells of the Coso Geothermal Field
Geologic setting of the proposed West Flank Forge Site, California: Suitability for EGS research and development
Differentiating induced and natural seismicity using space-time-magnitude statistics applied to the Coso Geothermal field
Natural or Induced: Identifying Natural and Induced Swarms from Pre-production and Co-production Microseismic Catalogs at the Coso Geothermal Field
Geologic setting of the proposed Fallon FORGE Site, Nevada: Suitability for EGS research and development
Understanding heat and groundwater flow through continental flood basalt provinces: insights gained from alternative models of permeability/depth relationships for the Columbia Plateau, USA
Structural controls on geothermal circulation in Surprise Valley, California: A re-evaluation of the Lake City fault zone
Geochemical investigation of the hydrothermal system on Akutan Island, Alaska, July 2012
Geophysical investigations of the geologic and hydrothermal framework of the Pilgrim Springs Geothermal Area, Alaska
Geophysical studies in the vicinity of Blue Mountain and Pumpernickel Valley near Winnemucca, north-central Nevada
Natural gas production and anomalous geothermal gradients of the deep Tuscaloosa Formation
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
- Overview
Mission: to characterize and assess geothermal energy resources in the United States and to work with the Department of Energy and other partners to advance the technologies applied to discover, characterize, and utilize those resources.
Geothermal energy is a significant source of renewable electric power in the western United States and, with advances in exploration and development technologies, a potential source of a large fraction of baseload electric power for the entire country. The USGS Geothermal Resource Investigations Project is focused on advancing geothermal research through a better understanding of geothermal resources and the impacts of geothermal development. This is achieved by applying a wide range of research methods to characterize resource occurrences, perform monitoring, and develop resource assessments. The project team works closely with a number of external collaborators from federal and state agencies, academia and industry on projects throughout the US and internationally (provide link to map of field study areas).
Overview
U.S. map showing current Geothermal Resource Study Areas. Based on current projections, the United States faces the need to increase its electrical power generating capacity by approximately 300,000 Megawatts-electrical (MWe) over the next 20 years. A critical question for future energy planning is the extent to which geothermal resources can contribute to this increasing demand for electricity. Geothermal energy constitutes one of the nation’s largest sources of renewable and environmentally benign electric power, yet the installed capacity of approximately 3000 MWe falls short of the estimated resources.
The USGS 2008 National geothermal resource assessment (provide link to 2008 assessment) estimated potential power production capacity from identified and undiscovered conventional geothermal resources at approximately 40,000 MWe. In addition, a provisional evaluation of the potential from Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) was estimated to be approximately 518,000 MWe. This indicates that substantial geothermal resources are available to contribute to the nation’s electric power mix.
Still, significant questions remain regarding the nature and extent of undiscovered conventional geothermal resources as well as the viability of EGS as a new technology for producing geothermal electric power. This project is focused on addressing these issues as well as producing comprehensive databases of geothermal information compiled in the course of the assessment work, expanding the scope of the 2008 assessment to lower temperatures and other unconventional geothermal resource types, and conducting further research into the nature of geothermal resources in order to develop improved methodologies for future assessments.
The project addresses key issues related to geothermal resources through a number of activities:
- Database development - compiling and making publicly-available relevant data from geothermal exploration, development and assessment studies
- Resource Assessments - developing improved techniques for assessing geothermal resources and expanding the national assessment to cover both conventional and unconventional geothermal resources
- Hydrothermal field studies - conducting field investigations and modeling to understand the spatial and temporal occurrence, and evolution of targeted, prioritized natural hydrothermal systems.
- Enhance Geothermal Systems (EGS) – characterizing the unconventional Enhanced/Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) resource base and evaluating the implications of EGS development.
- Other unconventional resources – studying low temperature and sedimentary basin geothermal resources (from thermal aquifers to deep basin brines) to characterize their resource potential and understand the factors controlling their formation.
- Impacts of geothermal development - monitoring and modeling the effects of geothermal production including Induced seismicity associated with fluid injection, as well as impacts that expanding production may have on groundwater and vegetation.
Research Highlights
September 1-13, 2012, the USGS led a NASA-funded project, where a team of scientists and engineers, collected magnetic data using ground surveys and an aircraft that can fly without a pilot or crew, called an unmanned aerial system, or UAS, to map the geophysics below the surface of Surprise Valley, CA. The UAS shown here is known as SIERRA (Sensor Integrated Environmental Remote Research Aircraft).The Geothermal Project team is leading an effort, in collaboration with NASA Ames and a number of other institutions from academia and industry, developing Unmanned Aerial Systems for collecting airborne data to aid geothermal research. Akutan Island, in Alaska’s east-central Aleutian Islands, hosts the City of Akutan and is home to the largest seafood production facility in North America. It also hosts Akutan Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the United States. Read the full story, "USGS Potential Geothermal Resources for Akutan, Alaska." (Photo by Deborah Bergfeld, USGS) - Data
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 29Evaluating geothermal and hydrogeologic controls on regional groundwater temperature distribution
A one-dimensional (1-D) analytic solution is developed for heat transport through an aquifer system where the vertical temperature profile in the aquifer is nearly uniform. The general anisotropic form of the viscous heat generation term is developed for use in groundwater flow simulations. The 1-D solution is extended to more complex geometries by solving the equation for piece-wise linear or uniAnalysis and interpretation of stress indicators in deviated wells of the Coso Geothermal Field
Characterizing the tectonic stress field is an integral part of the development of hydrothermal systems and especially for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). With a well characterized stress field the propensity of fault slip on faults with known location and orientation can be identified. Faults that are critically oriented for faulting with respect to the stress field are known to provide naturaGeologic setting of the proposed West Flank Forge Site, California: Suitability for EGS research and development
The proposed West Flank FORGE site is within the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS), China Lake, CA. The West Flank is west of the Coso geothermal field, an area of China Lake NAWS dominated by the Quaternary Coso volcanic field largely comprised of rhyolite domes and their volcaniclastic and epiclastic horizons. The largest dome flow complex, Sugarloaf Mountain, marks the northwestern maDifferentiating induced and natural seismicity using space-time-magnitude statistics applied to the Coso Geothermal field
A remarkable characteristic of earthquakes is their clustering in time and space, displaying their self-similarity. It remains to be tested if natural and induced earthquakes share the same behavior. We study natural and induced earthquakes comparatively in the same tectonic setting at the Coso Geothermal Field. Covering the preproduction and coproduction periods from 1981 to 2013, we analyze inteNatural or Induced: Identifying Natural and Induced Swarms from Pre-production and Co-production Microseismic Catalogs at the Coso Geothermal Field
Increased levels of seismicity coinciding with injection of reservoir fluids have prompted interest in methods to distinguish induced from natural seismicity. Discrimination between induced and natural seismicity is especially difficult in areas that have high levels of natural seismicity, such as the geothermal fields at the Salton Sea and Coso, both in California. Both areas show swarm-like sequGeologic setting of the proposed Fallon FORGE Site, Nevada: Suitability for EGS research and development
The proposed Fallon FORGE site lies within and adjacent to the Naval Air Station Fallon (NASF) directly southeast of the town of Fallon, Nevada, within the large basin of the Carson Sink in west-central Nevada. The site is located on two parcels that include land owned by the NASF and leased and owned by Ormat Nevada, Inc. The Carson Sink in the vicinity of the Fallon site is covered by QuaternaryUnderstanding heat and groundwater flow through continental flood basalt provinces: insights gained from alternative models of permeability/depth relationships for the Columbia Plateau, USA
Heat-flow mapping of the western USA has identified an apparent low-heat-flow anomaly coincident with the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, a thick sequence of basalt aquifers within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). A heat and mass transport model (SUTRA) was used to evaluate the potential impact of groundwater flow on heat flow along two different regional groundwater flow paths. LStructural controls on geothermal circulation in Surprise Valley, California: A re-evaluation of the Lake City fault zone
Faults and fractures play an important role in the circulation of geothermal fluids in the crust, and the nature of that role varies according to structural setting and state of stress. As a result, detailed geologic and geophysical mapping that relates thermal springs to known structural features is essential to modeling geothermal systems. Published maps of Surprise Valley in northeastern CalifoGeochemical investigation of the hydrothermal system on Akutan Island, Alaska, July 2012
We have studied the geochemistry of the hot springs on Akutan Island in detail for the first time since the early 1980s. Springs in four discrete groups (A-D) along Hot Springs Creek showed generally higher temperatures and substantially higher Na, Ca, and Cl concentrations than previously reported, and total hot-spring discharge has also increased markedly. The springs now account for a heat outpGeophysical investigations of the geologic and hydrothermal framework of the Pilgrim Springs Geothermal Area, Alaska
Pilgrim Hot Springs, located on the Seward Peninsula in west-central Alaska, is characterized by hot springs, surrounding thawed regions, and elevated lake temperatures. The area is of interest because of its potential for providing renewable energy for Nome and nearby rural communities. We performed ground and airborne geophysical investigations of the Pilgrim Springs geothermal area to identifyGeophysical studies in the vicinity of Blue Mountain and Pumpernickel Valley near Winnemucca, north-central Nevada
From May 2008 to September 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected data from more than 660 gravity stations, 100 line-km of truck-towed magnetometer traverses, and 260 physical-property sites in the vicinity of Blue Mountain and Pumpernickel Valley, northern Nevada (fig. 1). Gravity, magnetic, and physical-property data were collected to study regional crustal structures as an aid to undNatural gas production and anomalous geothermal gradients of the deep Tuscaloosa Formation
For the largest producing natural gas fields in the onshore Gulf of Mexico Basin, the relation between temperature versus depth was investigated. Prolific natural gas reservoirs with the highest temperatures were found in the Upper Cretaceous downdip Tuscaloosa trend in Louisiana. Temperature and production trends from the deepest field, Judge Digby field, in Pointe Coupe Parish, Louisiana, were i - Web Tools
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