Date of Award

2013-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Geophysics

Advisor(s)

Laura F. Serpa

Abstract

The Primary objective of this study is to increase geologic and tectonic understanding of the geothermal resources at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, Nevada. The seismic reflection method is employed to study faults, fractures and other tectonic structures in the subsurface in order to identify geothermal drill targets. The efficiency of geothermal systems is strongly dependent on water circulation. Discrete faults may be permeable and provide pathways for water flow depending on the fracture density. It is therefore desirable to detect and map faults and fracture zones and characterize their physical properties when evaluating a geothermal prospect.

The seismic data for this project were provided by the NAS environmental research program in Ridgecrest, CA. However, the data collection information was not available so the work includes determining the line geometry and mapping shot points to field files in order to process the data. ProMAX 2DTM is the software used to determine the geometry and to process the data. Data processing includes eliminating noise, datum and refraction statics, trace muting, bandpass filter, automatic gain control, amplitude recovery, CMP sorting, velocity analysis and NMO correction, stacking and migration. The results of this study indicate the presence of thick basin fill including Tertiary and Quaternary sediments underlain by Tertiary basalts which are interpreted to be capping rocks for the geothermal reservoirs. This seismic reflection study also reveals the presence of strongly fractured pre-Tertiary basement complex with their top at about 1500m on the north and west and about 900 m on the eastern and southern part of the study area

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

45 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Alay Ghebremariam Gebregiorgis

Download

Share

COinS