Open AccessThermal Data of the Black Rock Desert area Humbolt and Washoe Counties, Nevada
Author(s) -
Frank Hadsell,
L.T. Grose,
George W. Berry
Publication year - 1967
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/894416
Subject(s) - geothermal gradient , desert (philosophy) , geologist , geology , carnot cycle , thermal power station , archaeology , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , engineering , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , philosophy , epistemology , physics , thermodynamics , waste management
This is a progress report on analysis of thermal data from the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada. Hot springs at Soldier Meadows, Fly Ranch, Gerlach, and Pinto Mountains were mapped, and water flows and temperatures measured, by G.W. Berry and G.R. Downs in 1965 and 1966. These data have been studied further by Frank Hadsell (geophysicist) and L.T. Grose (geologist) at the Colorado School of Mines and with the computer facilities of the School of Mines Graduate Research Center, in an effort to determine geothermal power potentials. Power generation by hypothetical Carnot engines has been calculated for the four thermal areas. Data from seven prospect holes at Pinto Mountains have been exploited in plotting geothermal gradients and computing heat flows. It is emphasized that this report is to a large extent an exercise in arithmetic and thermodynamics, fraught with assumptions that may not endure. All of the conclusions are tentative. However, they consider this a valid line of practical research. To the extent that the figures and conclusions are applicable, they are generally encouraging in themselves and in comparison with those of developed geothermal areas, as to the geothermal power potential of Sun acreage in the Black Rock Desert areas