Preliminary Exploration of Geothermal Resources in Khorasan Province, NE-Iran

Abstract

Khorasan province, the biggest province of Iran, is located in the North-Easternmost part of the country. There are several hot and warm springs, hydrothermal altered regions, some volcanic craters which are the main surface manifestations of geothermal energy in Khorasan province.
Geothermal explorations in this region are included the following stages: geology, aeromagnetic surveying, remote sensing and geothermometery. According to the investigations, three potentially favorable areas were determined which all of them are located in the southern part of the province. Those are Ferdows, Naiband and Birjand areas. Their relevant areas are 3200, 2000 and 2400 km2 respectively. Estimated reservoir temperatures of the selected regions are as follows; Ferdows (85?C), Naiband (113?C) and Birjand (90?C) according to the Na-K, Na-K-Mg and Sio2 geothermometers. All the geothermal prospect areas are located in the vicinity of the young volcanic rocks.