Geothermal Map of the Northeastern United States and the West Virginia Thermal Anomaly

Abstract

In the development of geothermal resources in the Eastern United States, mapping of heat flow may be the first major step towards discovering geothermal anomalies. The sparseness of conventional heat flow measurements in the region has in the past made mapping of surface heat flow and subsurface temperature problematic. As part of this study a new procedure for calculating heat flow from bottom-hole temperature (BHT) data has been developed and applied to the eastern US. The focus of this paper are results for the New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio areas. Using existing heat flow measurements with the addition of 2950 bottom hole temperature points a 5’ X 5’ contour map of surface heat flow for the Eastern United States was generated. Based on the preliminary results from this work, the Appalachian Basin may contain some of the most favorable potential targets for EGS geothermal exploration in the eastern 1/3 of the United Stated and especially in eastern West Virginia. Temperatures of at least 150?C exist at a depth of 4.5km.