Diffuse Degassing Measurements as a Geochemical Exploration Tool: A Case Study from the Brady’s Geothermal System (Nevada, USA)
- Key words
- Diffuse degassing; geothermal exploration; Brady’s geothermal system; geochemistry
- Location
- Brady's Hot Springs, Nevada
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2012
- Session
- Exploration; Geochemical surveys; Soil gas surveys; Radioact
- Language
- English
Abstract
Due to subsurface degassing processes of volatiles in magma and/or groundwater, geothermal systems often emit great volumes of various gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and others) to the atmosphere through deep reaching fault zones. Some of the gas emissions can provide valuable insights into the reservoir characteristics of unexplored geothermal systems (exploration stage), but also into systems, which are under exploitation already (monitoring stage). Areas with high degassing rates can be used as indicator for permeable fault zones, which could act as potential target zones for geothermal production drillings. In this study we present a combination of three different techniques for the assessment of diffuse degassing processes.
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