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Word of the Week

District heating - A scheme for distributing centrally produced thermal energy via a network of pipes to heat residential and commercial buildings. Such schemes are energy efficient and ideally suited for utilizing geothermal resources.
Steam-heated water - A shallow formed water resulting from condensation of steam into groundwater accompanied by absorption of carbon dioxide to form a bicarbonate water or by absorption of H2S that oxidizes to sulfate to produce an acid-sulfate water.
Heat Exchanger - A system by which heat is transferred from one media (solid or fluid) to another with applications in heating and cooling. They are used in geothermal binary power plants and cooling towers.
Chlorite - A micaceous mineral that is commonly green-colored, composed of iron and/or magnesium, and forms due to hydrothermal alteration of amphiboles, pyroxenes, and feldspars.
Breccia - Angular to sub-angular fragments of broken rock that are cemented together that are highly permeable and form on the surface due to sedimentary or igneous processes or in fault zones.
Hydrothermal Eruption - Rare explosive discharge of hot water and steam that is powerful enough to excavate a crater and lift rock fragments and its pulverized equivalents into the air to produce an apron deposit around the eruption vent.
Geochemical Tracer - An environmentally benign chemical that is injected to trace fluid movement through the geothermal reservoir and that can be easily detected in produced hot fluid.
Stable Isotopes - Refers to non-radioactive isotopes of elements, including those of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen. In geothermal geochemistry, the stable isotope ratios of oxygen (18O/16O) and hydrogen (2H/1H) in thermal waters are used to trace its origin (e.g., meteoric, magmatic).
Tephra - Airborne particles of rock and ash produced by an explosive volcanic eruption. Tephra commonly deposits as a blanket that drapes over the underlying topography.
Lava Flow - A product of an erupting volcanic cone or fissure made up of liquid molten rock that flows downhill and eventually solidifies due to cooling.
Transcurrent Fault (Strike-Slip Fault) - Vertically dipping fault that results from horizontal shear stress. Slip movement during an earthquake is sideways rather than up or down.
Normal Fault - Refers to a steeply dipping planar fault in which the upper block slides downward relative to the lower block. Such fault movement is characteristic of extension and extensional tectonic regimes like the Basin and Range province of the western USA.

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