Evaluation of the solute geothermometry of thermal springs and drilled wells of La Primavera (Cerritos Colorados) geothermal field, Mexico: A geochemometrics approach

Abstract

A detailed study on the solute geothermometry of thermal water (18 springs and 8 drilled wells) of La Primavera geothermal field (LPGF) in Mexico has been carried out by employing a geochemical database compiled from the literature and by applying all the available solute geothermometers. The performance of these geothermometers in predicting the reservoir temperatures has been evaluated by applying a geochemometrics (geochemical and statistical) method. The springs of the LPGF are of bicarbonate type and the majority have attained partial-equilibrium chemical conditions and the remaining have shown non-equilibrium conditions. In the case of geothermal wells, water is dominantly of chloride-type and, among the studied eight geothermal wells, four have shown full-equilibrium chemical conditions and another four have indicated partial-equilibrium conditions. All springs of HCO3−​ type water have provided unreliable reservoir temperatures, whereas the only one available spring of SO42− type water has provided the reservoir temperature nearer to the average BHT of the wells. Contrary to the general expected behavior, spring water of non-equilibrium and geothermal well water of partial-equilibrium chemical conditions have indicated more reliable reservoir temperatures than those of partially-equilibrated and fully-equilibrated water, respectively. Among the chemical concentration data, Li and SiO2 of two springs, SO42− and Mg of four springs, and HCO3 and Na concentrations of two geothermal wells were identified as outliers and this has been reflected in very low reservoir temperatures predicted by the geothermometers associated with them (Li–Mg, Na–Li, Na–K–Mg, SiO2 etc.). Identification of the outlier data points may be useful in differentiating the chemical characteristics, lithology and the physico-chemical and geological processes at the sample locations of the study area.In general, the solute geothermometry of the spring waters of LPGF indicated a dominantly (94%) of underestimated deep reservoir temperatures, whereas in the case of the geothermal wells, many temperatures (54%) are underestimated, some are (43%) overestimated and a very small number (3%) are similar to an average bottom-hole temperatures (BHT) of the wells. 28 out of the total applied 29 geothermometers for spring waters have predicted the deep reservoir temperatures that are characterized by statistically significant large differences compared to the average BHTs of the geothermal wells. In the case of waters of the geothermal wells, 23 out of the total applied 28 geothermometers have predicted the reservoir temperatures similar (statistically no significant differences) to the BHTs of the corresponding geothermal wells.