Geothermal Fault Zone and Fluid Imaging through Joint Airborne ZTEM and Ground MT Data Inversion Analysis Award Number: DE-EE0007697 CX(s) Applied: A9, B3.1, B3.2 Geothermal technologies Office Date: 8/5/2016 Location(s): UT Office(s): Golden F...
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August 11, 2016
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Geothermal Fault Zone and Fluid Imaging through Joint Airborne ZTEM and Ground MT Data Inversion Analysis
Award Number: DE-EE0007697
CX(s) Applied: A9, B3.1, B3.2
Geothermal Technologies Office
Date: 8/5/2016
Location(s): UT
Office(s): Golden Field Office
DOE is proposing to provide federal funding to the University of Utah to achieve detailed electrical resistivity resolution at geothermal reservoir scales by combining airborne natural electromagnetic field surveying with ground magnetotelluric (MT) measurements at the Roosevelt Hot Springs geothermal system in southwest Utah to approximate an airborne MT geophysical method in an attempt to delineate with high resolution the presence of prospective fracture zones or controlling structures in geothermal systems.
Project activities include airborne field surveying, ground-based MT surveying, soil gas sampling, data processing, modeling, and project management/reporting. Airborne surveying would be completed over an approximate eight-by-eight square mile area with flight levels of approximately 500 feet. Ground-based MT surveying would occur on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed lands. Any work occurring on BLM managed lands would be submitted to the appropriate district office for review prior to initiating field activities on those lands. Field work would require little or no surface disturbance with any surface disturbance being completed by hand. At MT station locations (approximately 75), cylindrical coils (2.5" x 48” tubes, two horizontal and one vertical) and electrode plates (three per site) would be buried so a small amount of surface disturbance would be required. Disturbance at each MT site would involve two trenches 5 inches deep for the horizontal coils, approximately 2.5 feet deep for the vertical coil, and small six by six inch holes for the electrode plates with an electronic data logger remaining on the surface. Total surface disturbance at each site would be less than 10 square feet. All disturbance would be reclaimed within 24 hours. Installation of soil noble gas detectors would require minimal surface disturbance (similar to an MT coil) for installation and minimal time in the field for sampling (less than one week).