| Title | GEOLOGY AND OXYGEN-ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY -- AUDREY A-1 GEOTHERMAL WELL, SULPHUR BANK MINE AREA, LAKE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA |
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| Authors | Mark A. Walters, Jeffrey B. Hulen, Joseph N. Moore |
| Year | 1997 |
| Conference | Stanford Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | Results of new whole-rock oxygen-isotopic and mineralogic analyses of drill cuttings, combined with prior exploration data, suggest that deep (true vertical depth 2.9 km) exploratory well Audrey A-1 penetrated the fringes of a small, high-temperature (up to 300?C), but fault-restricted and sparingly permeable hydrothermal system beneath a soil mercury anomaly surrounding the historic Sulphur Bank mercury mine. Although this is an area of very high heat flow (up to more than 420 mW/m2), the new data strongly suggest that the hydrothermal system is unlikely to yield thermal fluids at the rates currently required for commercial viability. |