Geothermal Reconnaissance on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation Using Electrical Methods

Abstract

Reconnaissance for geothermal resources was conducted in 1979 in eastern Arizona. The exploration involved Schulumberger resistivity profiling and measurements of telluric currents. The results show: 1. Low resistivity's near Pinetop and Whiteriver possibly indicating saline or warm regions of the Rim Gravel formation or the paleozoic Supai formation. 2. Low telluric current power ratios for stations southwest of Pinetop. These lows could be dur to a deep hot body such as a magma chamber, possibly the source of nearly volcanoes and lava flows. Other geophysical data show that most of the survey may be underlain by a hot conductor, the top of which is 6 to 12 km deep. These data include a nearly magenetotelluric profile, Curie point depths determined from aeromagnetic data, groundwater geochemical thermometry and heat flow.