Vapor-dominated geothermal systems are proposed to originate by downward extension (by the "heat pipe" mechanism) into hot dry fractured rock above a large cooling igneous intrusion. High temperature zones found by drilling are shallow parts of the original hot dry rock where the penetration of the vapor reservoir was limited, and hot dry rock may extend under much of these reservoirs. An earlier hot water geothermal system may have formed during an early phase of the heating episode.

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