EGS Potential in the Northern Midcontinent of North America
- Key words
- Thermal conductivity; EGS; Heat flow; Hydrodynamics; Radio-active heat production
- Location
- Nebraska; South Dakota; Central United States
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2010
- Session
- HDR/EGS; Heat flow; Thermal conductivity; Exploration
- Language
- English
Abstract
Heat flow in the midcontinent ranges from 20 mW m-2 to 140 mW m-2. Anomalously high heat flow occurs in parts of Nebraska and South Dakota is due to gravity-driven regional groundwater flow. The region of high heat flow coveras an area of about 1,500 km2 and is a promising target for EGS. High heat flow observed in a mining exploration well drilled into carbonatite body in southeastern Nebraska is due to high radioactive heat production in the carbonatite. Observed heat flow outside the anomalous regions in the midcontinent region averages 60 mW m-2 ± 25 mW m-2. More than 300 new thermal conductivity measurements of Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks in the Williston Basin can be used to calculate temperature vs. depth profiles in the sedimentary formations of the midcontinent. The depositional environments for the platform sediments and the intracratonic basins in the midcontinent of North America were similar enough that formations correlate by rock type and rock properties.
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