Preliminary Geothermal Assessment Surveys for the State of Hawaii

Abstract

The Geothermal Resource Assessment Program of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics has conducted a series of geochemical and geophysical surveys in ten separate locations within the State of Hawaii in an effort to identify and assess potential geothermal areas throughout the State. The techniques applied include groundwater, chemistry and temperatures, soil mercury surveys, ground radon emanometry, time domain electromagnetic surveys and Schlumberger resistivity sounding. Although geochemical and geophysical anomalies were identified in nearly all the survey sites, those areas which show most promise, based on presently available data, for a geothermal resource are as follows: Puna, Kailua Kona, and Kawaihae on the island of Hawaii; Haiku-Paia and Olowalu-Ukumehame canyons on Maui; and Lualualei Valley on Oahu. Further surveys are planned for most o these areas in order to further define the nature of the thermal present.