| Abstract |
Pakistan has been facing with energy crisis for last several years. Present government has fully realized this Problem and made efforts boost power generation. Additional Power plants are being constructed to meet its Energy requirements as a result of which there is a considerable reduction in power breakdown mostly in urban areas of the country. Simultaneously, the need for the development of alternate energy resources intensely felt. Unfortunately due to various political/economic reasons not enough work has been done in this sector though the country is bestowed with enormous geothermal potentials in different in different parts of the Country. It is the need of the hour to convince authorities in Pakistan about the importance of this cheaper and Environmentally benign resource geothermal energy. Geothermal activity in Pakistan owes its Origin to the Collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate whereby Main Mantle Thrust (MMT) and Main Karakorum Thrust(MKT) were produced. Geothermal manifestations are concentrated along these features. Hotsprings occur mostly in Northern areas and Azad Kashmir where the surface Temperature is about 25oC indicative of higher subsurface temperature. High enthalpy are generally confined to the zones of crustal weakness such as plate margins and other areas of Volcanic activity. During rifting of Indian Plate (L. Jurassic to Early Cretaceous) widespread volcanic eruption resulted in hotspot activity in the area. In Northern areas rock units represent Indian mass, Karakoram Island Arc and Eurasian mass. The rock units exposed in the area are metamorphic to granitic and range from Pre=Cambrian to tertiary in age. Numerous hotsprings are found along Main Mantle Thrust (MMT) in Chilas and Hunza areas respectively. In Sindh province thermal Springs are concentrated in the vicinity of Karachi. These are mostly confined in hilly terrain in Northwest and in plain areas in southeast. In Punjab the hotsprings and seepages follow the alignment of syntaxial bend and are scattered in wide area. In Balochistan Province Hamaun-e- Mashkhel which is a large Graben structure also indicates geothermal activity as observed by aeromagnetic study. |