Raft River geoscience case study

The Raft River Geothermal Site has been evaluated over the past eight years by the United States Geological Survey and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory as a moderate-temperature geothermal resource. The geoscience data gathered in the drilling and testing of seven geothermal wells suggest that the Raft River thermal reservoir is: (a) produced from fractures found at the contact metamorphic zone, apparently the base of detached normal faulting from the Bridge and Horse Well Fault zones of the Jim Sage Mountains; (b) anisotropic, with the major axis of hydraulic conductivity coincident to the Bridge Fault Zone; (c) hydraulically connected to the shallow thermal fluid of the Crook and BLM wells based upon both geochemistry and pressure response; (d) controlled by a mixture of diluted meteoric water recharging from the northwest and a saline sodium chloride water entering from the southwest. Although the hydrogeologic environment of the Raft River geothermal area is very complex and unique, it is typical of many Basin and Range systems.