Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

Stillwater Geothermal Field

Stillwater geothermal field is located near the small community of Stillwater, Nevada, approximately 20 km east of Fallon and just south of the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge. The community of Stillwater is near the center of a thermal groundwater anomaly covering 52-65 km2 .

Steamboat Springs Geothermal Field

The Steamboat Springs geothermal resource is located south of Reno, Nevada, just off U.S. Highway 395. Two electric generating facilities utilize geothermal waters believed to be related to a single high temperature fluid that rises from depths beneath the Steamboat Hills and cools along a path to the area of the lower facility, the SB Geo plant. North and northeast-striking faults predominate in the Steamboat Hills area and probably provide the main conduits for fluid flow to the resource areas tapped by the two companies.

Soda Lake Geothermal Area

Soda Lake, 10 km northwest of Fallon, Nevada, was not identified as a geothermal resource until drilling for a water well encountered boiling water north of the lake in 1903. Some surface evidence of geothermal activity is present in sediments that demonstrate shallow subsurface boiling; a hot spring may have discharged at this site through the end of the nineteenth century.

Salt Wells, Eight Mile Flat

Salt Wells, also known as Eight Mile Flat, is located near Fallon in Churchill County, Nevada. This geothermal area was originally drilled by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in the early 1980s.

Rye Patch, Humboldt House Geothermal Area

The Rye Patch (Humboldt, or Humboldt House) geothermal area is located in the Humboldt River valley 50 km north of Lovelock, Nevada. Humboldt House was founded there in 1868 as an eating station along the Central Pacific Railroad. No thermal springs are present at the surface in the area, but sinter (evaporative deposits) is visible nearby.

Ralph J. Roberts

Ralph Roberts is best known as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologist who performed extensive regional geologic mapping in northern Nevada and published research on the geologic framework of northern Nevada that led to the discovery of the Carlin trend gold-producing province.

Wabuska Hot Springs

The Wabuska geothermal area is located at the margin of Mason Valley, in Lyon County, Nevada, where both the valley margin and the thermal springs coincide with a northeast-trending zone of faults referred to as the Wabuska lineament. Hot springs, about 1.6 km north of Wabuska, range in temperature from 59 to 72°C and occur over a large area. Gas bubbles issue from the pools with a faint odor of H2S. The springs occur along an east-west line that coincides with the course of a post-Lahontan fault, which is plainly shown by an irregular scarp, in some places 6 m high.

John Livermore

John Livermore is a former Newmont Mining Exploration geologist credited with locating or collaborating in the location of at least four major gold deposits, including the Carlin deposit, the origin of the modern-day Carlin trend gold province in Nevada. Livermore is also known as the man who discovered "invisible gold" in Nevada deposits.

Empire, San Emidio Desert Geothermal Field

The San Emidio Desert is an area of major displacement of a fault southwest of Gerlach, Nevada. Geothermal potential in the San Emidio Desert was unknown until the late 1960s, when exploration drilling for sulfur along the east side of the desert encountered hot water. An approximately 4.4 km long zone, presumably the surface expression of a fault, exhibited hydrothermal alteration and the presence of mercury and sulfur, but no surface springs were present. Water in shallow drill hole–1 m below ground surface–had a temperature of 53C.

Dixie Valley Geothermal Field

The Dixie Valley Caithness plant is the largest single geothermal power generating facility in Nevada. It is located in the northern end of Dixie Valley about 100 km northeast of Fallon, Nevada.

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