| Abstract |
The USGS resource assessment (Williams et al., 2009) outlined a mean 30GWe of undiscovered hydrothermal resource in the western US. One goal of the Geothermal Technology Office (GTO) is to accelerate the development of this undiscovered resource. To help guide future exploration efforts, GTO funded a data gap analysis in FY2012 to identify high potential geothermal areas where critical data is needed. The gap analysis collected information about existing data and data coverage, and then created data coverage maps with this information. These maps were then compared with the USGS resource potential maps to identify priority sites for exploration data collection. Seven types of exploration data were selected for collecting data coverage. These data types were selected for their regional reconnaissance value and include many of the primary exploration techniques currently used by the geothermal industry. The data types include: 1) geothermal mineral occurrence maps; 2) well data; 3) geologic maps which includes structural maps and surface fault data; 4) fault maps; 5) geochemistry data, 6) geophysical data; and 7) surface deformation maps. To determine data coverage, exploration data metadata (including data type, data status, coverage information) were collected and cataloged. Many industry, university, laboratory and agency personnel were contacted directly to collect metadata for this effort. Also, data collection and metadata generation completed by the contributors to the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS) were incorporated in the gap analysis. Additionally, an online tool was developed to allow all geothermal data providers to directly add metadata information themselves. A grid of the contiguous US was created with 88,000 10 km by 10 km grid cells and each cell was populated with the data coverage status, and other collected metadata, for the seven data types. Using the data coverage maps and the USGS Resource Potential Map, 20 locations were selected for future data collection efforts where data gaps exist and correspond with areas of high favorability of occurrence of geothermal resources. |