HR: 0800h
AN: NS31A-10    [Abstracts]
TI: Geoelectrical Characterization of the Punta Banda System: A Possible Structural Control for the Geothermal Anomalies
AU: * Arango-Galvan, C
EM: claudiar@geofisica.unam.mx
AF: Departamento de Geomagnetismo y Exploracion, Instituto de Geofisica, UNAM, Circuito Exterior s/n Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico, D.F., 04510, Mexico
AU: Flores-Marquez, E
EM: leticia@geofisica.unam.mx
AF: Departamento de Geomagnetismo y Exploracion, Instituto de Geofisica, UNAM, Circuito Exterior s/n Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico, D.F., 04510, Mexico
AU: Prol-Ledesma, R
EM: prol@geofisica.unam.mx
AF: Departamento de Geomagnetismo y Exploracion, Instituto de Geofisica, UNAM, Circuito Exterior s/n Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico, D.F., 04510, Mexico
AU: Working Group, I
AF: Proyecto Impulsa, Instituto de Ingenieria, UNAM, Circuito Escolar s/n Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico, D.F., 04510, Mexico
AB: The lack of sufficient drinking water in México has become a very serious problem, especially in the northern desert regions of the country. In order to give a real solution to this phenomenon the IMPULSA research program has been created to develope novel technologies based on desalination of sea and brackish water using renewable sources of energy to face the problem. The Punta Banda geothermal anomaly is located towards the northern part of Baja California Peninsula (Mexico). High water temperatures in some wells along the coast depicted a geothermal anomaly. An audiomagnetotelluric survey was carried out in the area as a preliminary study, both to understand the process generating these anomalous temperatures and to assess its potential exploitation to supply hot water to desalination plants. Among the electromagnetic methods, the audiomagnetotellurics (AMT) method is appropriated for deep groundwater and geothermal studies. The survey consisted of 27 AMT stations covering a 5 km profile along the Agua Blanca Fault. The employed array allowed us to characterize the geoelectrical properties of the main structures up to 500 m depth. Two main geoelectrical zones were identified: 1) a shallow low resistivity media located at the central portion of the profile, coinciding with the Maneadero valley and 2) two high resitivity structures bordering the conductive zone possibly related to NS faulting, already identified by previous geophysical studies. These results suggest that the main geothermal anomalies are controlled by the dominant structural regime in the zone.
DE: 1835 Hydrogeophysics
DE: 1859 Rocks: physical properties
SC: Near-Surface Geophysics [NS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly