Integrated Mineralogical and Fluid Inclusion Study of the COSO Geothermal System, California

Abstract

Coso is one of several high-temperature geothermal systems on the margins of the Basin and Range province that is associated with recent volcanic activity. This system, which is developed entirely in fractured granitic and metamorphic rocks, consists of a well-defined thermal plume that originates in the southern part of the field and then flows upward and laterally to the north. Fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures and salinities demonstrate that cool, low salinity ground waters were present when the thermal plume was emplaced. Dilution of the thermal waters occurred above and below the plume producing strong ,gradients in their compositions. In response to heating and mixing, clays and carbonate minerals precipitated, sealing the fractures along the margins of the reservoir and strongly influencing its geometry. The alteration mineralogy varies systematically with depth and temperature. Based on the clay mineralogy, three zones can be recognized: the smectite zone, the illite-smectite zone, and the illite zone. The smectite zone thickens from the north to south and is characterized by smectite, kaolin, stilbite and a variety of carbonate minerals. The illite-smectite zone contains mixed-layer clays and also thickens to the south. The deepest zone (the illite zone) contains illite, chlorite, epidote, and wairakite. Quartz and calcite veins occur in all three zones. Comparison of mineral and fluid inclusion based temperatures demonstrates that cooling has occurred along the margins of the thermal system but that the interior of the system is still undergoing heating.