Geothermal Resources
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Geothermal Resources 
 

The Geology and Earth Resources Division (the Washington Geological Survey) provides geologic information to government, industry, and individuals to encourage and aid in the prudent development of the state's geothermal energy resources, inventories, and documents.

With few exceptions, the higher-temperature geothermal areas in Washington occur in the Cascade Range. A large “low”-temperature zone also occurs in the Columbia Basin in Eastern Washington.

Washington’s geothermal potential for generating power has not had a lot of study. However, the Geology and Earth Resources Division has published Geologic Map GM-25 (Korosec and others, 1981) which is a 1:500,000-scale map showing the distribution of thermal (at or above 20 degrees C or 68 degrees F) springs and wells in the state and a tabulation of basic information about them. GM-25 reported on 31 thermal springs, 29 mineral springs, and 338 thermal wells. The thermal and mineral springs are, for the most part, located in the Cascade Range, and many are associated with stratovolcanoes. Most of the thermal wells are located in the Columbia Basin. In 1994, three thermal springs and 603 thermal wells were added to the inventory.

Reference
Korosec, Michael A.; Kaler, Keith L.; Schuster, J. E.; Bloomquist, R. G.; Simpson, S.; Blackwell, D. D., compilers, 1981, Geothermal resources of Washington: Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Geologic Map GM-25, 1 sheet, scale 1:500,000.

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 Contacts

Dave Norman
State Geologist and Oil & Gas Supervisor
360-902-1439
dave.norman@dnr.wa.gov

 Files

ger_geothermal_resources.pdf  Geothermal Resources of Washington  (12,298KB  PDF)

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