Exploration for Blind Geothermal Resources in the State of Hawaii Utilizing Dissolved Noble Gasses in Well Waters

Description

This study is an extension of the Hawaii Play Fairway Analysis (PFA), a statewide geothermal exploration project funded by the United States Department of Energy. Based on results from prior phases of the PFA, this project targeted 66 wells on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Oahu, and Kauai for sampling of dissolved noble gases, trace metals, common ions, and the stable isotopes 2H and 18O. Ultimately, 23 of the 66 well targets were sampled. The noble gas helium is used as an indicator of geothermal heat when excess 3He and/or 4He is present when compared to the atmospheric ratio of those isotopes (R/Ra). R/Ra is minimally affected by dilution and transport, allowing even those wells not perfectly situated over a geothermal system to indicate a geothermal anomaly. R/Ra anomalies are present on every island in this study. There is a strong correlation between R/Ra anomalies and proximity to rift zones and calderas. Across the islands R/Ra ranged from 15-16 on Kilauea's lower east rift zone, which is a mantle plume value, to 0.37 on Lanai, which is a crustal value. The majority of anomalous well samples had R/Ra values consistent with an upper mantle source. Mixing between upper mantle and crustal helium is evident on all islands. Geographically, R/Ra decreases from the high at Kilauea to upper mantle values at Mauna Loa, and remains at upper mantle values for all wells across the other volcanoes, with the exception of two of four sampled wells on Lanai.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
53 This data includes the dissolved noble gas measurements in the water found in the 23 tested wells in Hawaii. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1410/Supplementary_Data_Thesis.xlsx
21 Available on ScholarSpace, University of Hawaii at Manoa's institutional repository. This acts as an alternate source with the thesis and data for blind geothermal detection with noble gases. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/ed186dd4-2d6b-4bb1-b081-2de63962fe2d
33 Thesis from the Earth Sciences Department, University of Hawaii at Manoa. This thesis is based off of the "Blind Geothermal Resource Dissolved Noble Gases Data" resource in this submission. https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/earthsciences/academics/theses/Ferguson_CM_2020_Thesis.pdf
21 HGGRC produced the Hawaii Play Fairway project. HGGRC is a research laboratory in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa. https://www.higp.hawaii.edu/hggrc/

Tags

  • helium
  • maui
  • lanai
  • play-fairway
  • isotope
  • noble-gas
  • trace-metal
  • hawaii
  • kauai
  • r-ra
  • indicator-gas
  • kilauea
  • resource-detection
  • indicator
  • geothermal
  • energy

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