Geothermal Potential on Kirtland Air Force Base Lands, Bernalillo County, New Mexico.
Abstract
Public policy expressed in a number of national directives in recent years stresses the conservation of conventional fuel supplies, a switch to alternative fuels, and the application of advanced energy technologies at federal installations. Natural gas currently furnishes 85 to 95 percent of the average 94 x 1,000,000 Btu/hr energy requirements for space heating and cooling at Kirtland Air Force Base. Studies of alternatives to the use of natural gas at the base include examination of the geothermal option. Four of North America's major physiographic provinces coalesce in central New Mexico on or near Kirtland AFB. Their junction is identified throughout much of this region by a tectonic depression occupied by the Rio Grande that is structurally complex, stratigraphically and hydrologically unique, and coincides with geologically recent volcanic centers. This trough, the Rio Grande rift, has been identified as a major geothermal resource area. The western part of Kirtland AFB is in the Albuquerque Basin segment of the Rio Grande rift. Extensive sampling and geochemical analysis of groundwater in and near the base disclosed no significant geothermal parameters. However, structural conditions and current hydrologics regimes strongly suggest that thermal waters would be masked by near surface, low temperature meteoric water originating as rain and snowfall in the nearby mountains.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA107044
Entities
People
- P. R. Grant Jr
Organizations
- Sandia National Laboratories