Department of the Navy Geothermal Exploration on Naval Air Station Fallon (NASF) Managed Lands in Dixie Valley, Nevada

Abstract

The Department of the Navy Geothermal Program Office (DON GPO) is currently engaged in geothermal exploration on Naval Air Station Fallon (NASF) Training Ranges (Fallon, NV) with a focus on discovering a geothermal resource is Southern Dixie and Fairview Valley’s. Results of the drilling of 20 ( 500- foot deep) temperature gradient holes, and 125 2-meter (2M) temperature probes have validated data from exploration activities in these valleys from the 1970’s and 1980’s, and have also identified previously unknown geothermal anomalies (Skord et. al, 2011). 2M temperature probes, LiDAR, and hyperspectral data were acquired and analyzed in partnership with SEI Group, Inc. and the University of Nevada-Reno Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy (UNR-GBCGE). A primary goal of this work is to understand the nature of the left-stepping oblique to vertical slip transition zone between the Dixie Valley Structural Basin and the Fairview Valley Structural Basin. Previous geophysical studies in Dixie Valley (Mankhemthong 2008) suggest this transition zone to be the structural control of the geothermal anomalies at Eleven Mile Canyon and Pirouette Mountain. Additional geophysical surveys are currently being pursued to better define this apparent transition zone at depth. Those geophysical surveys include gravity, magnetic, and magneto-telluric (MT). The synthesis of these data will be used to generate several intermediate to deep slim-hole drilling targets to test our exploration model and further delineate potential geothermal resources at NASF.