Quantitative analysis of the hydrothermal system in Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lassen Known Geothermal Resource Area

Abstract

The Lassen hydrothermal system is in the southern Cascade Range, approximately 70 kilometers east-southeast of Redding, California. The conceptual model of the Lassen system is termed a liquid-dominated hydrothermal system with a parasitic vapor-dominated zone. The essential feature of this model is that steam and steam-heated discharge at relatively high elevations in Lassen Volcanic National Park (LVNP) and liquid discharge with high chloride concentrations at relatively low elevations outside LVNP in the Lassen Known Geothermal Resource Area (KGRA) are both fed by an upflow of high-enthalpy, two-phase fluid within the Park. Liquid flows laterally away from the upflow area towards the areas of high-chloride discharge, and steam rises through a vapor-dominated zone to feed the steam and steam-heated features. The geometric model corresponds to an areally restricted flow regime that connects the Bumpass Hell area in LVNP with regions of chloride hot springs in the Mill Creek canyon in the KGRA south of LVNP. Simulations of thermal fluid withdrawal in the Mill Creek Canyon were carried out in order to determine the effects of such withdrawal on portions of the hydrothermal system within the Park. 19 refs., 17 figs., 4 tabs.