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USGS1998

Tectonic controls on fault-zone permeability in a geothermal reservoir at Dixie Valley, Nevada

To determine factors controlling permeability variations within and adjacent to a fault-hosted geothermal reservoir at Dixie Valley, Nevada, we conducted borehole televiewer observations of wellbore failure (breakouts and cooling cracks) together with hydraulic fracturing stress measurements in six wells drilled into the Stillwater fault zone at depths of 2 to 3 km. Measurements in highly permeable wells penetrating the main geothermal reservoir indicate that the local orientation of the least horizontal principal stress, Shmin, is nearly optimal for normal faulting on the Stillwater fault. Hydraulic fracturing tests from these wells further show that the magnitude of Shmin is low enough to lead to frictional failure on the Stillwater and nearby subparallel faults, suggesting that fault slip is responsible for the high reservoir productivity. Similar measurements were conducted in two wells penetrating a relatively impermeable segment of the Stillwater fault zone, located approx. 8 and 20 km southwest of the geothermal reservoir (wells 66-21 and 45-14, respectively). The orientation of Shmin in well 66-21 is near optimal for normal faulting on the nearby Stillwater fault, but the magnitude of Shmin is too high to result in incipient frictional failure. In contrast, although the magnitude of Shmin in well 45-14 is low enough to lead to normal faulting on optimally oriented faults, the orientation of the Stillwater fault near this well is rotated by approx. 40?? from the optimal orientation for normal faulting. This misorientation, coupled with an apparent increase in the magnitude of the greatest horizontal principal stress in going from the producing to nonproducing wells, acts to inhibit frictional failure on the Stillwater fault zone in proximity to well 45-14. Taken together, data from the nonproducing and producing wells thus suggest that a necessary condition for high reservoir permeability is that the Stillwater fault zone be critically stressed for frictional failure in the current stress field.

Conference Paper↗

USGS1997

In-situ stress and fracture permeability in a fault-hosted geothermal reservoir at Dixie Valley, Nevada

As part of a study relating fractured rock hydrology to in-situ stress and recent deformation within the Dixie Valley Geothermal Field, borehole televiewer logging and hydraulic fracturing stress measurements were conducted in a 2.7-km-deep geothermal production well (73B-7) drilled into the Stillwater fault zone. Borehole televiewer logs from well 73B-7 show numerous drilling-induced tensile fractures, indicating that the direction of the minimum horizontal principal stress, Shmin, is S57 ??E. As the Stillwater fault at this location dips S50 ??E at approximately 3??, it is nearly at the optimal orientation for normal faulting in the current stress field. Analysis of the hydraulic fracturing data shows that the magnitude of Shmin is 24.1 and 25.9 MPa at 1.7 and 2.5 km, respectively. In addition, analysis of a hydraulic fracturing test from a shallow well 1.5 km northeast of 73B-7 indicates that the magnitude of Shmin is 5.6 MPa at 0.4 km depth. Coulomb failure analysis shows that the magnitude of Shmin in these wells is close to that predicted for incipient normal faulting on the Stillwater and subparallel faults, using coefficients of friction of 0.6-1.0 and estimates of the in-situ fluid pressure and overburden stress. Spinner flowmeter and temperature logs were also acquired in well 73B-7 and were used to identify hydraulically conductive fractures. Comparison of these stress and hydrologic data with fracture orientations from the televiewer log indicates that hydraulically conductive fractures within and adjacent to the Stillwater fault zone are critically stressed, potentially active normal faults in the current west-northwest extensional stress regime at Dixie Valley.

Conference Paper↗