Yunnan-Tibet Geothermal Belt

Abstract

The distribution of thermal springs in China is concentrated in the southwest. According to statistics, Tibet has 907, western Sichuan has 342 and western Yunnan has 694 thermal springs. The region is called the Yunnan-Tibet Geothermal Belt. This paper is mainly restricted to the earth science of the Yunnan-Tibet Geothermal belt, including geological setting and resources assessment. The emergence of the Yunnan-Tibet Geothermal Belt is caused by collision of the fast-advancing Indian plate with the Eurasian plate. The main part of this paper deals with the geothermal resources of 1028 convective systems, which consist of 61 high temperature hydrothermal systems, 194 sub-high temperature systems, 112 middle temperature systems and 661 low temperature systems based on geochemical data. The tentative evaluation of geothermal energy of these convective systems is summarized in this paper.