Sustainable development of Canada’s North requires an increased focus on renewable, zero-emission energy sources. Burwash Landing in Yukon is prospective for geothermal energy based on a high geothermal gradient, local occurrence of warm groundwater and proximity to the active, crustal-scale Denali fault. Uncertainties about the potential geothermal system include the nature and geometry of fluid pathways, and heat sources required to drive a hydrothermal system. In this study, we inverted three passive electromagnetic datasets—321 extremely low frequency electromagnetic, 33 audiomagnetotelluric and 51 magnetotelluric stations—to map the subsurface electrical structure to 8 km depth. Our new model reveals vertical conductive structures associated with the two main faults, Denali and Bock’s Creek, which we interpret to represent fluid-deposited graphite and hydrothermal alteration, respectively. Our model supports an interpreted releasing bend on the main Denali fault strand. This is associated with the deepest conductivity anomaly along the fault and potential for deeper penetration of fluids. Enigmatic conductive bodies from 1 to > 6 km depth are associated with intermediate to mafic intrusions. Fluids released from these bodies may advect heat and provide a possible heat source to mobilize hot fluids and sustain a geothermal system in the region.
<p>Mount Meager is located ~150 km north of Vancouver, British Columbia Canada, and is a part of the Garibaldi volcanic belt. Exploration at Mount Meager for geothermal energy resources has been ongoing since 1974 and has shown, based on well data, that there is a permeable zone at a depth of 1200-1600 m and that the reservoir has a temperature of 270 &#176;C near 2500 m depth. In this study, we have utilized recordings and related information from a new network of 84 audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) stations collected during the summer of 2019 plus 37 stations from previous studies to investigate the geothermal potential of the area around Mount Meager and Pylon peak. We used Phoenix Geophysics&#8217; MTU-5C recording equipment and their proprietary software for data processing, separating extensive noise from the signal, to calculate the components of the natural electrical and magnetic signals in the frequency domain. After manual processing and editing, the data showed good quality in the frequency range of 1 to 1000 Hz. The ModEM inversion algorithm (Egbert and Kelbert, 2012) was then used to model the data. Modelling started using a coarse grid mesh with different starting resistivities, and then a finer grid size and topography was added to refine the model. The preliminary result of this 3D inversion defines the shape and location of conductors in the study area. The results show a conductor at a depth 2000 m located to the southwest of Mount Meager. Comparison of the 3D model and the geological setting of the area demonstrated that this conductor shallows toward the southern portion of the No-good Fault.</p>
Our understanding of factors that control fluid flow pathways plays a vital role in numerous disciplines including oil, gas, and geothermal exploitation, and 𝐴𝐴 CO2 sequestration studies (Fox et al., 2015;Jansen, 2011;Lepillier et al., 2019;Li, 2020). Fluid flow pathways are often controlled by permeable and porous material created by geological features such as fractures, joints, and faults (Hanano, 2000). Fracture and fault patterns dictate the flow distribution in reservoirs (Brown et al., 1999) and contribute to the convection of heat within geothermal systems (Hanano, 2000). Therefore, the knowledge of fracture and fault distribution is of great importance in modeling the viability of both natural and engineered geothermal systems (Li, 2020;Miranda et al., 2018).
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