Did you know… Alaska uses geothermal energy to produce electricity? It might seem highly unlikely...
Drill Bit
A tool that is placed on the end of a string of pipe to drill a well. Rotary drill bits are commonly used in oil and gas and geothermal drilling. Coring bits are used to obtain cylindrical core samples of rock that preserve mineralogical and textural features which are commonly destroyed during rotary drilling.
Geothermal Glossary
Word of the Week – Proppant
Proppant Sand-sized solid grains that are injected in a fluid suspension and used to hold open stimulated fractures in a geothermal reservoir.
Word of the Week – Propylitic Alteration
Propylitic Alteration A term borrowed from studies of hydrothermal ore deposits that refers to an assemblage of secondary hydrothermal minerals which forms in igneous rocks. This assemblage is made up of chlorite, illite, feldspar (both Na and K-rich varieties),...
Word of the Week – Rhyolite
Rhyolite Light colored fined grained volcanic rock composed of glass, quartz, K-feldspar and plagioclase, with relatively high silica (69-77 wt %). The composition reflects partial melting of continental crust. Rhyolitic volcanism is a feature of both Yellowstone...