The Distribution of Natural Isotopes within the Kawah Kamojang Geothermal Field, Indonesia

Abstract

The Kawah Kamojang geothermal field is located 35 km SE of Bandung, Indonesia, and falls within a resistivity low extending over an area of 14 km2. 32 steam condensate samples from Kamojang wells were collected for Oxygen 18 Deuterium and Tritium analyses. The distribution of these natural isotopes within the field, especially Oxygen 18 and Tritium, shows lateral gradients. The observed gradients provide of the existence of natural recharge into the inner part of the field through two different paths, one shallow and the other deep. The shallow one has undergone mixing and/or steam heating. The deeper source represents the hot water/steam convective circulation entering the main reservoir. The lateral gradients similarly suggest the possibility of natural recharge flows into the system in three directions, north, (well n. 13), west (well no. 42) and southeast (well no. 23).