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Exploration for Blind Geothermal Resources in the State of Hawaii Utilizing Dissolved Noble Gasses in Well Waters

Metadata Updated: May 22, 2024

This study is an extension of the Hawaii Play Fairway Analysis (PFA), a statewide geothermal exploration project funded by the United States Department of Energy. Based on results from prior phases of the PFA, this project targeted 66 wells on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Oahu, and Kauai for sampling of dissolved noble gases, trace metals, common ions, and the stable isotopes 2H and 18O. Ultimately, 23 of the 66 well targets were sampled. The noble gas helium is used as an indicator of geothermal heat when excess 3He and/or 4He is present when compared to the atmospheric ratio of those isotopes (R/Ra). R/Ra is minimally affected by dilution and transport, allowing even those wells not perfectly situated over a geothermal system to indicate a geothermal anomaly. R/Ra anomalies are present on every island in this study. There is a strong correlation between R/Ra anomalies and proximity to rift zones and calderas. Across the islands R/Ra ranged from 15-16 on Kilauea's lower east rift zone, which is a mantle plume value, to 0.37 on Lanai, which is a crustal value. The majority of anomalous well samples had R/Ra values consistent with an upper mantle source. Mixing between upper mantle and crustal helium is evident on all islands. Geographically, R/Ra decreases from the high at Kilauea to upper mantle values at Mauna Loa, and remains at upper mantle values for all wells across the other volcanoes, with the exception of two of four sampled wells on Lanai.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons Attribution

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Dates

Metadata Created Date August 15, 2022
Metadata Updated Date May 22, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from OpenEI data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date August 15, 2022
Metadata Updated Date May 22, 2024
Publisher University of Hawaii
Maintainer
Doi 10.15121/1881307
Identifier https://data.openei.org/submissions/5770
Data First Published 2020-11-01T06:00:00Z
Data Last Modified 2024-05-21T22:40:53Z
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 019:20
Metadata Context https://openei.org/data.json
Metadata Catalog ID https://openei.org/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Data Quality True
Harvest Object Id 07a23add-f2a1-4c14-b140-9356afb92fac
Harvest Source Id 7cbf9085-0290-4e9f-bec1-91653baeddfd
Harvest Source Title OpenEI data.json
Homepage URL https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1410
License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Program Code 019:006
Projectlead Holly Thomas
Projectnumber EE0006729
Projecttitle Comprehensive analysis of Hawaiis geothermal potential through Play Fairway integration of geophysical, geochemical, and geological data
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 1d1d0c1b6b3360f7ec9386d0dbe2c7ca6e52eae2099b2b00296b5fbe5c2beb47
Source Schema Version 1.1
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