ingenious-great-basin-regional-dataset-compilation

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation.

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National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Shapefile delineating the INGENIOUS study area boundary in NAD 83 Geographic.

Study Area Boundary.zip

Shapefile and .csv (NAD83 Geographic). This dataset is a compilation of the spring deposits and associated features that are mapped or previously documented in the Great Basin region. These have been compiled from prior studies and compilations (e.g., Yap et al., 2018), extracted from legacy geological maps, identified using satellite imagery where possible, and supplemented by new field observations by GBCGE team members and our partners at the Utah Geological Survey and Idaho Geological Survey. Note that many locations listed in this compilation have not been validated in the field. 

Paleo Geothermal Features.zip

This data release presents electrical conductance maps estimated from a 3D model of the Great Basin, USA, at five different depth ranges, spanning 2 to 200 km depth. Electrical conductance is the integration of electrical conductivity in a depth range. Great Basin electrical conductivity is estimated through 3D inverse modeling of over 800 publicly available magnetotelluric (MT) transfer functions. 

Electrical Conductance Maps - MT

The heat flow maps in this data release were created using a process that sought to remove hydrothermal convective influence from predictions of background conductive heat flow. Heat flow maps were constructed using a custom-developed iterative process using weighted regression, where convectively influenced outliers were de-emphasized by assigning lower weights to measurements that are very different from the estimated local trend (e.g., local convective influence). The weighted regression algorithm is 2D LOESS (locally estimated scatterplot smoothing; Cleveland et al., 1992), which was used for local linear regression, and smoothness was controlled by varying the number of nearby points used for each local interpolation. Three maps are included in this data release, allowing comparison of the influence of measurement confidence: all wells are equal-weight, and two different published categorizations of measurement quality were used to de-emphasize low-quality measurements. Each map is an estimate of background conductive heat flow as a function of assumed data quality, and a point coverage is also provided for all wells in the compiled dataset. The point coverage includes an important new attribute for geothermal wells: the residual, which can be interpreted as the well’s departure from estimated background heat flow conditions, and the value of residual may be useful in identifying hydrothermal or groundwater influence on conductive heat flow.

Heat Flow Maps

This database contains the results of slip tendency and dilation tendency analysis of Quaternary faults in the Great Basin region, including parts of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. This effort was undertaken to help identify faults and fault segments that are appropriately oriented to be stress-loaded for slip or to dilate under the ambient stress conditions. Both conditions may make such faults likely to host as-yet-undiscovered hydrothermal processes. The data are provided as shapefiles and KMZ files for both the Great Basin study area and the INGENIOUS study area.

Quaternary Faulting Slip and Dilation Tendency

Thermal conductivity (TC) data taken for different wells at a specified drill depth. This is an abridged version of the complete SMU heat flow database. All columns in this database are the same as the SMU database, except for 2 additions associated with this project. INGENIOUS notes are individual notes that were written for specific data points during the analysis process. INGENIOUS TC Value includes 4 values:  1.	  Assumed Measured - These are values that are assumed to be measured thermal conductivity values, either within a specific well or within the same study region.   2.  	  Data release, assumed measured - These are values in the SMU database that are from proprietary data that were added to the SMU database and are labeled as data release for their reference.   3.	  Known measured - These are values that have a reported measurement, either as an original file in the SMU data files on the NGDS or a reported table in a publication. In the rare circumstances, Maria Richards or David Blackwell confirmed measurement. Confirmation of measurement would be written in the INGENIOUS notes column.  4.	  Unmeasured - Unmeasured values are those that are known to be unmeasured, either estimated from another report or no information given. In the SMU database, there are wells that have a heat flow but no thermal conductivity. These are categorized as unmeasured. There are also heat flow values that are stated to have estimated or generalized average thermal conductivity values for the region and rock type.   5.	  Blank - Blank values are either A quality or X quality. These quality values are stated in the INGENIOUS notes. 


Thermal Conductivity

Shapefile (NAD83 Geographic) containing updated quaternary fault traces, ages, and slip rates for the INGENIOUS study area. Attributes conform to USGS Qfault Database standard schema. This compilation builds upon the USGS Qfault database, with updates and quality assurance contributed by Idaho and Utah State Geological Surveys, and the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG).

Quaternary Faults.zip

Shapefiles (NAD83 Geographic) containing quaternary volcanic features for the INGENIOUS study area: vents (point features) and flows (polygon features). This compilation builds upon the Great Basin geochronology and volcanic feature database maintained at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG), with updates contributed by Idaho and Utah State Geological Surveys. Vent attributes:[State: State the volcanic vent resides in; Map_Symbol: geologic unit label from published map; Type: Volcanic vent feature type; Name: Name of the volcanic vent (where applicable); Descriptio (alias: Rock_Des): Name of geologic unit or rock description from published map; Rock_Type: volcanic rock type (basalt, andesite, rhyolite, etc…); Rock_Comp: Composition of the volcanic vent (mafic, intermediate, felsic, or unknown); Geo_Age: Geologic time scale age; Age: radiometric age where applicable ; Age_Source: Source of the radiometric age; Source: Source map for the volcanic vent; Lat: latitude of the vent point (datum: GCS_North_American_1983); Long: longitude of the vent point (datum: GCS_North_American_1983)]. Flow attributes:[State: State the lava flow resides in; Map_Symbol: geologic unit label from published map; Flow_Name: Name of the lava flow, where aplicable; Descriptio (alias: Rock_Des): Name of geologic unit or rock description from published map; Rock_Type: Type of rock (basalt, andesite, dacite, etc…); Rock_Comp: Composition of the lava flow (mafic, intermediate, felsic, or unknown); Geo_Age: Geologic time scale unit; Age: radiometric age, where applicable. ; Age_Source: Source of the radiometric age; Source: Source map for the volcanic flow polygon]


Quaternary Volcanics.zip

Regional geophysical maps of the Great Basin, USA were generated from new and existing sources to support ongoing efforts to characterize geothermal resource potential in the western US. These include: (1) a provisional regional gravity grid that was produced from data compiled from multiple sources: data collected by the USGS and Utah Geological Survey under various projects, industry sources, and regional compilations derived from two sources: a Nevada state-wide database (Ponce, 1997), and a public domain dataset (Hildenbrand et al., 2002), (2) a regional magnetic grid derived from the North American magnetic compilation map of Bankey et al. (2002) and, (3) a regional depth-to-basement grid derived from Shaw and Boyd (2018).

Geophysical Maps - Gravity and Magnetics

Geodatabase containing well and spring features (NAD83 Geographic) compiled for the INGENIOUS study area. Feature class tables are the primary well and spring feature locations and metadata attributes (well and spring "headers"), related aqueous geochemistry analyses, and temperature measurements.

This compilation builds upon the GBCGE Great Basin Groundwater Geochemistry Database, and mirrors the data available through the GBCGE Subsurface Database Explorer web application at the time of publishing.

All attributes have descriptive field names. Units, where appropriate, are designated in the field name following an underscore (e.g. examplefield1_m has units of meters).

Well and Spring Temperature and Chemistry.zip

Geotiffs and accompanying ASCII, .csv, and metadata that describe independent and dependent earthquake density for the INGENIOUS study area, developed at the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG). Files contain: longitude, latitude, and various alpha values. The unit for the rate density for the different cases is  10-12 y-1 m-2. The ASCI and .csv contain points in WGS84. Geotiffs have been projected and resampled to a custom INGENIOUS grid in NAD83 Contiguous USA Albers, with central meridian of -117.

Dataset description (independent): Earthquake rate density derived from the ANSS catalog for M≥2 earthquakes between Jan 1, 2003 and Dec 31, 2020. This dataset is based on independent earthquakes as identified by the algorithm of Zaliapin et al.  That algorithm allows for different threshold values (alpha) that set the aggressiveness of separating dependent from independent events, with lower alpha identifying fewer independent events. The algorithm to derive the rate density is described in a manuscript in review with Seismological Research Letters. We present results for three different values of number of events considered (N) and results cover the entire western U.S. (clipped to INGENIOUS study area for this compilation).

Dataset description (dependent): Earthquake rate density derived from the ANSS catalog for M≥2 earthquakes between Jan 1, 2003 and Dec 31, 2020. This dataset is based on dependent earthquakes (i.e., foreshocks and aftershocks) as identified by the algorithm of Zaliapin et al.  That algorithm allows for different threshold values (alpha) that set the aggressiveness of separating dependent from independent events, with lower alpha identifying fewer independent events. The algorithm to derive the rate density is described in a manuscript in review with Seismological Research Letters. We present results for three different values of number of events considered (N) and results cover the entire western U.S. (clipped to INGENIOUS study area for this compilation).

Earthquake Density Models.zip

Geotiffs and accompanying ASCII, .csv, and metadata that describe geodetic shear and dilation models for the INGENIOUS study area, developed at the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG). Rate units are 10E-9/yr.


Geodetic Shear and Dilation Models.zip

Shallow temperature measurements in the upper 2-meters of the earth's surface can be used to identify subtle thermal anomalies that may be associated with geothermal systems. This dataset is a compilation of multiple 2-meter surveys conducted in the Great Basin region by the GBCGE, NBMG, UNR and other partners over the last 20 years. For these surveys, temperatures are typically measured at 1m, 1.5m and 2m depth. Dataset header descriptions are included in an accompanying readme file. 

2m Temperature Probes.zip

This site includes information regarding the INGENIOUS Project including project background, project goals, and project collaborators.