Virginia Tech Geothermal Data WWW Home Page

Geothermal Data at Regional Geophysics Laboratory

SAGE -- Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience

Welcome to the WWW home page for southeastern United States Geothermal Data at the Regional Geophysics Laboratory in the Department of Geological Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Development of this site was funded primarily by the Department of Energy under Agreement Number DE-FG07-96ID13454 to Virginia Tech. The site is useful for those interested in terrestrial heat flow, practical applications of low-temperature geothermal energy, and also provides an excellent temperature versus depth data base for those wanting to do their own calculations to evaluate hypotheses of global warming using a geothermal approach to climate reconstruction. This site is occasionally updated to include temperature data from hundreds of temperature and other geophysical logs, rock thermal conductivity, and heat flow values from New Jersey to Georgia. Datasets can be displayed and/or downloaded for use by the user. Clicking on the items below will provide information on the data available. To browse this page correctly we suggest that you get a copy of the Microsoft Internet Explorer or the Netscape Navigator.

Heat contained within the Earth that can be recovered and put to useful work is called geothermal energy. The heat energy is contained in normal occurrences of subsurface groundwater, which is transported to the surface of the earth by pumping. Low- to moderate-temperature (20^oC to 150^oC [68^oF to 302^oF]) geothermal resources in the United States are widespread and are used to provide direct heat for homes and industry. High-temperature (above 150^oC [302^oF]) geothermal resources in the United States, present primarily in the west, are used in electric power generation. And, throughout the country, the stable temperature of the ground just below the surface can be used by geothermal heat pumps to both heat and cool buildings (geothermal energy). The low- to moderate-temperature geothermal resources constitute an important renewable non-electric power energy resource that is just beginning to be utilized in the eastern United States to heat and cool buildings. As these space-heating applications grow in popularity to include entire residential and industrial complexes instead of just single residential dwellings or buildings, we will need to know more about the deeper (to many kilometers), and therefore hotter, fractured rocks that make up the groundwater plumbing system that cradles the geothermal fluids. The higher the water temperature, the more efficient will be the geothermal resource. Although the groundwater temperatures in the eastern United States are relatively low, it is well known from a thermodynamic standpoint that a lot of warm water at a lower temperature is considerably better from the standpoint of geothermal resource potential than a little water of considerably higher temperature. Thus, the nature and quantity of the deeper and warmer normal groundwater resources needs to be explored and better defined. This web site is dedicated to a description of what we know so far about the data base in the southeastern United States that will allow us to use this renewable resource in the future.