Fluid Chemical and Isotopic Signatures Insighting the Hydrothermal Control of the Wahongshan-Wenquan Fracture Zone (WWFZ), NE Tibetan Plateau

Tingxin Li, Rui Lu, Wenping Xie, Jinshou Zhu (), Lingxia Liu and Wenjing Lin ()
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Tingxin Li: Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China
Rui Lu: Qinghai Geological Survey Bureau, Xining 810000, China
Wenping Xie: Qinghai Geological Survey Bureau, Xining 810000, China
Jinshou Zhu: Qinghai Geological Survey Bureau, Xining 810000, China
Lingxia Liu: Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China
Wenjing Lin: Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Compared to the southern Tibetan Plateau, the northern part has been regarded as relatively lacking geothermal resources. However, there is no lack of natural hot springs exposed in beads along large-scale fracture systems, and research on them is currently limited to individual hot springs or geothermal systems. This paper focuses on the Wahongshan-Wenquan Fracture Zone (WWFZ), analyzes the formation of five hydrothermal activity zones along the fracture zone in terms of differences in hot water hydrochemical and isotopic composition, and then explores the hot springs’ hydrothermal control in the fracture zone. The results show that the main fractures of the WWFZ are the regional heat control structures, and its near-north–south- and near-east–west-oriented fractures form a fracture system that provides favorable channels for deep hydrothermal convection. Ice and snow meltwater from the Elashan Mountains, with an average elevation of more than 4,500 m above sea level, infiltrates along the fractures, and is heated by deep circulation to form deep geothermal reservoirs. There is no detectable mantle contribution source heat to the hot spring gases, and the heat source is mainly natural heat conduction warming, but the “low-velocity body (LVB)” in the middle and lower crust may be the primary heat source of the high geothermal background in the area. The hot springs’ hydrochemical components show a certain regularity, and the main ionic components, TDS, and water temperature tend to increase away from the main rupture, reflecting the WWFZ controlling effect on hydrothermal transport. In the future, the geothermal research in this area should focus on the hydrothermal control properties of different levels, the nature of fractures, and the thermal contribution of the LVB in the middle and lower crust.

Keywords: hydrogeochemistry; geothermal gas isotopes; geothermal systems; Wahongshan-Wenquan Fracture Zone (WWFZ) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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