The University of Hawaii at Manoa conducted a Play Fairway Analysis of the state of geothermal potential for the islands. Phase I included the aggregation of all existing geologic, geophysical and geochemical data available. A probability model incorporating heat, fluid, and permeability was then created to assess the probability of viable geothermal development. Phase II is the focus of this paper, with new data collection as the goal for this funding period. The Play Fairway Project collected new geothermal groundwater data from 60 wells and 1 spring across the State of Hawaii. Geochemical geothermal indicators used previously in Hawaii, and around the world, were investigated for the newly acquired data in Phase II. These indicators include groundwater temperature, chloride:magnesium ratios, sulfate:chloride ratios, and silica concentrations. All chemical analyses were collected by ... the Play Fairway team and analyzed at various labs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Of the ten target areas identified for Phase II, two of the sites provide encouraging groundwater geochemical results for potential geothermal resources. These sites include the Southwest Rift Zone of Haleakala, Maui, and the Palawai Basin, Lanai. Multiple geothermal indicators have been observed in these areas and, therefore, provide encouragement to further explore for subsurface heat. Further investigation is recommended in these target areas through geological, geophysical, and geochemical exploration. The Hawaii Play Fairway project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office, and the Hawaii Groundwater and Geothermal Resources Center (Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa) executed the project. For more information, go to HGGRC's website that is linked in the resources.
This study is part of a joint effort by the University of Wyoming (UW) School of Energy Resources (SER), the UW Engineering Department, Idaho National Laboratories (INL), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to describe rare earth element concentrations in oil and gas produced waters and in coal-fired power station ash ponds. In this work we present rare earth element (REE) and trace metal behavior in produced water from four Wyoming oil and gas fields and surface ash pond water from two coal-fired power stations. Using the methods of the INL team members, we measured REEs in high salinity oil and gas produced waters. Our results show that REEs exist as a dissolved species in all waters measured for this project, typically within the parts per trillion range.
Presentation given to National Groundwater Association meeting on deep basin brines. This presentation discusses why produced waters are being observed, the importance of REE's, the study areas examined, the data collected, and the relationship between REE concentration and possible ligands.
These brine samples are collected from the Soda Geyser (a thermal feature, temperature ~30 C) in Soda Springs, Idaho. These samples also represent the overthrust brines typical of oil and gas plays in western Wyoming. Samples were collected from the source and along the flow channel at different distances from the source. By collecting and analyzing these samples we are able to increase the density and quality of data from the western Wyoming oil and gas plays. Furthermore, the sampling approach also helped determine the systematic variation in REE concentration with the sampling distance from the source. Several geochemical processes are at work along the flow channels, such as degassing, precipitation, sorption, etc.
This submission contains geospatial (GIS) data on water table gradient and depth, subcrop gravity and magnetic, propsectivity, heat flow, physiographic, boron and BHT for the Southwest New Mexico Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis by LANL Earth & Environmental Sciences. GIS data is in ArcGIS map package format.
This study is a joint effort by the University of Wyoming (UW), the UW Engineering Department (UW-ENG), and Idaho National Laboratories (INL) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to describe rare earth element concentrations in oil and gas produced waters. In this work we present the Rare Earth Element (REE) and trace metal character of produced water in several oil and gas fields and three coal fired power stations.
This work was developed to complement the geochemical assessments of produced water and geothermal water samples. Specifically, this task was designed to test the influence of reservoir rock-type and corresponding mineralogy/geochemistry on the concentrations of REE found in oil and gas produced waters. There has been no direct investigation of REE reactions relative to rock-type in deep oil and gas brine prior to this investigation.
This submission includes two modeled drawdown scenarios with new supply well locations, a total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration grid (raster dataset representing the spatial distribution of TDS), and an excel spreadsheet containing well data.