Structural Controls of Neal Hot Springs Geothermal Field, Malhuer County, Oregon
Abstract
Detailed mapping (1:24,000) of the Neal Hot Springs area (90 km2) in eastern Oregon is part of a larger study of geothermal systems in the Basin and Range, which focuses on the structural controls of geothermal activity. The study area lies within the intersection of two regional grabens, the middle-late Miocene, N-striking, Oregon-Idaho graben and younger late Miocene to Holocene, NW-striking, western Snake River Plain graben. The geothermal field is marked by Neal Hot Springs, which effuse from opaline sinter mounds just north of Bully Creek. Wells producing geothermal fluids, with temperatures at 138°C, intersect a major, W-dipping, NNW-striking, high-angle normal fault at depths of 850-915 m. Displacement along this structure dies southward, with likely horse-tailing, which commonly produces high fracture density and a zone of high permeability conducive for channeling hydrothermal fluids. Mapping reveals that the geothermal resource lies within a local, left step-over. 'Hard-linkage' between strands of the left-stepping normal fault, revealed through a study of well chips and well logs, occurs through two concealed structures. Both are W-striking faults, with one that runs parallel to Cottonwood Creek and one 0.5 km N of the creek. Injection wells intersect these two transverse structures within the step-over. Stepping and displacement continue to the NW of the known geothermal field, along W-dipping, N-striking faults that cut lower to middle Miocene Hog Creek Formation, consisting of silicic and mafic volcanic rocks. These N-striking faults were likely initiated during initial Oregon-Idaho graben subsidence (15.3-15.1 Ma), with continued development through late Miocene. Bully Creek Formation deposits, middle to upper Miocene lacustrine and pyroclastic rocks, concomitantly filled the sub half-grabens, and they dip gently to moderately eastward. Younger, western Snake River Plain deposits, upper Miocene to Pliocene fluvial, lacustrine, and pyroclastic rocks, show various dip directions and gentle tilting. Extensive alluvial fan cover hinders collection of fault kinematic data, which coupled with limited regional seismicity, precludes careful calculation of local stress field orientations. However, the proximity of Neal (4 km) to the active, N- to NW-striking, oblique-normal slip Cottonwood Mountain fault and active hot springs (~90°C), opaline sinter mounds, and geothermal fluid flow at Neal suggest that the geothermal field lies within a reactived (Quaternary), southward-terminating, left-stepping, fault zone, which probably accommodates oblique-slip with a dominant normal component. Sugarloaf Butte (completely silicified and replaced) lies within a left step of this fault zone, ~5 km of Neal Hot Springs and is possibly related to the evolution of the geothermal system. Epithermal deposits and argillic to propylitic alteration in other nearby areas (e.g., Hope Butte, ~3 Ma, 5 km N) indicate previous geothermal activity.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.V13A2830E
- Keywords:
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- 8000 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY