Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta
A large number of bottom-hole temperature (BHT) data from Alberta (55 246 BHT from 28 260 wells) have been used to construct Paleozoic and Precambrian surface-temperature maps. A northward increase of average heat flow in Alberta results in higher subsurface temperatures at the Precambrian basement...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Canadian Science Publishing
1985
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e85-188 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e85-188 |
id |
crcansciencepubl:10.1139/e85-188 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcansciencepubl:10.1139/e85-188 2024-09-15T18:31:42+00:00 Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta Jones, F. W. Lam, H.-L. Majorowicz, J. A. 1985 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e85-188 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e85-188 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 22, issue 12, page 1774-1780 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 journal-article 1985 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/e85-188 2024-07-11T04:12:01Z A large number of bottom-hole temperature (BHT) data from Alberta (55 246 BHT from 28 260 wells) have been used to construct Paleozoic and Precambrian surface-temperature maps. A northward increase of average heat flow in Alberta results in higher subsurface temperatures at the Precambrian basement and at the top of the Paleozoic toward the north and northeast than at the same depths in the south and southeast. However, the temperature distribution at these surfaces is more depth dependent than gradient dependent, and so higher temperature values occur in the western part of the basin. As a result, good geothermal energy potential exists throughout the western half of the province, especially for regions west of the Calgary – Swan Hills – Grande Prairie – Rainbow Lake line. Through the central part of the basin, zones occur where the isotherms and the isopach lines of the Phanerozoic are parallel. These zones probably represent regions where little disturbance to heat transport by vertical water motion occurs. It is suggested that zones in the central part of the basin where such parallelism does not occur may represent areas where conductive transport of heat is perturbed by local, nonlateral fluid flow or zones with nonuniform heat contribution from the crystalline crust or upper mantle. The effect of hydrodynamics in the deeper sediments of the Paleozoic that lie below the BHT observations may also contribute to such zones. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rainbow Lake Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 22 12 1774 1780 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
A large number of bottom-hole temperature (BHT) data from Alberta (55 246 BHT from 28 260 wells) have been used to construct Paleozoic and Precambrian surface-temperature maps. A northward increase of average heat flow in Alberta results in higher subsurface temperatures at the Precambrian basement and at the top of the Paleozoic toward the north and northeast than at the same depths in the south and southeast. However, the temperature distribution at these surfaces is more depth dependent than gradient dependent, and so higher temperature values occur in the western part of the basin. As a result, good geothermal energy potential exists throughout the western half of the province, especially for regions west of the Calgary – Swan Hills – Grande Prairie – Rainbow Lake line. Through the central part of the basin, zones occur where the isotherms and the isopach lines of the Phanerozoic are parallel. These zones probably represent regions where little disturbance to heat transport by vertical water motion occurs. It is suggested that zones in the central part of the basin where such parallelism does not occur may represent areas where conductive transport of heat is perturbed by local, nonlateral fluid flow or zones with nonuniform heat contribution from the crystalline crust or upper mantle. The effect of hydrodynamics in the deeper sediments of the Paleozoic that lie below the BHT observations may also contribute to such zones. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jones, F. W. Lam, H.-L. Majorowicz, J. A. |
spellingShingle |
Jones, F. W. Lam, H.-L. Majorowicz, J. A. Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta |
author_facet |
Jones, F. W. Lam, H.-L. Majorowicz, J. A. |
author_sort |
Jones, F. W. |
title |
Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta |
title_short |
Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta |
title_full |
Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta |
title_fullStr |
Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta |
title_full_unstemmed |
Temperature distributions at the Paleozoic and Precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in Alberta |
title_sort |
temperature distributions at the paleozoic and precambrian surfaces and their implications for geothermal energy recovery in alberta |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1985 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e85-188 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e85-188 |
genre |
Rainbow Lake |
genre_facet |
Rainbow Lake |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 22, issue 12, page 1774-1780 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/e85-188 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
1774 |
op_container_end_page |
1780 |
_version_ |
1810473442214936576 |