CORE HOLE DRILLING AND TESTING AT THE

LAKE CITY, CALIFORNIA GEOTHERMAL FIELD

Dick Benoit, Consultant
Joe Moore, Energy and Geoscience Institute
Colin Goranson, Consultant
David Blackwell, Southern Methodist University

ABSTRACT
Three core holes have been drilled at the Lake City, California geothermal field to depths of
1728, 3435, and 4727 ft since 2002. The shallowest hole was terminated in soft Quaternary
lacustrine deposits for a variety of reasons and has not been tested. The two deeper holes
encountered temperatures of 327 and 329 oF and permeable fractures in Tertiary sedimentary and
volcanic rocks that enabled injection and flow testing at rates up to 70 gpm. Two mineral
parageneses are present, an earlier clay, quartz, zeolite and calcite assemblage and a more recent
quartz vein assemblage. Quartz fluid inclusions give temperatures of 264 to 316 oF. The core
holes and the previously drilled Phipps #2 production well demonstrate that the Lake City
geothermal field extends for at least 1 miles along the Surprise Valley fault zone.
INTRODUCTION
The Lake City geothermal field is located in the far northeastern corner of California along the
Surprise Valley fault zone that separates the western margin of the Surprise Valley graben from
the Warner Mountains (Benoit et al., 2004).
Three core holes have been drilled in the southern, central, and northern parts of the Lake City
thermal anomaly in the past 3 years to depths of 1728, 3435, and 4727 ft (Figure 1). These
core holes are step out exploration efforts from the 1972 Phipps #2 discovery well in the southern
part of the geothermal field.
CORE HOLE OH-1
OH-1 is located 1 mile north-northeast of the Phipps #2 discovery well at the northern end of the
Lake City hot springs (Figure 1). It is located about 400 ft east of the toe of a lobe shaped
feature that is interpreted to be a landslide. It is approximately mile east of the projected
surface trace of the range-front fault beneath the landslide. OH-1 was drilled to a depth of 3436 ft
in 36 days in 2002 in Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks, principally lahars, sandstones and
mudstones. There is a concentration of interbedded andesitic lava flows between depths of 2400
and 3000 ft offering the only obvious candidate for stratigraphic correlation with other holes
(Figure 2).
The Tertiary-Quaternary boundary is within the top 263 ft of the hole and perhaps within a few
tens of feet of the surface. Above 263 ft the core is less indurated than below. The Quaternary
(?) rocks are primarily volcanic sandstone and siltstone. This thin veneer of alluvium is evidence
of a buried shallow bedrock bench along at least part of the western margin of Surprise Valley,
allowing the presence of more than one fault strand separating Surprise Valley and the Warner
Mountains.

Intense hydrothermal alteration extends to within 50 feet of the surface as evidenced by soft red
oxidized clay-rich intervals. Calcite veining is present below a depth of 163 ft and secondary
silica is first noted at a depth of 246 ft (Hardyman, 2002). This mineralogy is consistent with the
very high near surface temperature gradient (Figure 3).
OH-1, like all the other holes along the front of the range, has a complex static temperature
profile suggesting lateral flow of thermal fluid above a depth of 1000 ft and perhaps vertical
movement of thermal fluid below a depth of 2500 ft. Maximum reading thermometer data
obtained during drilling gave temperatures as high as 355 oF below a depth of 2500 ft. The
inability to replicate these temperatures under static logging conditions instigated an injection
testing program to assess the possibility that the true formation temperatures were being masked
by down flow of cooler water inside the wellbore. The injection testing produced ambiguous
results with respect to down flow deep in OH-1 (McKenna, et. al., 2004) but proved that the
primary permeable interval in OH-1 is at a depth of 947 ft where a 1 foot void in intensely
silicified (botryoidal silica and drusy quartz) and fractured Tertiary sandstone is present. Calcite
is noticeably absent. This permeable zone has a static temperature of 272 oF and is cooler than
the overlying and underlying rocks (Figure 3).
Below a depth of 947 ft there is noticeably less evidence of an active geothermal system in the
core in terms of fracturing and veining, especially in the bottom few hundred feet where a soft,
thick mudstone layer of very limited permeability is present.
OH-1 was completed with 4 inch (O. D.) casing cemented to 310 ft and NQ core rods (2 3/8 I.
D.) hanging in a 3.83 inch diameter HQ core hole. The bottom twenty feet of the NQ rods were
slotted. OH-1 was flow tested for 6 hours at a rate of 46 gpm through the NQ rods and at 35
gpm through the annulus. Temperature logs demonstrated that most, if not all, of the produced
fluid entered the hole at a depth of 947 ft. The flow testing gave a productivity index of 5.8
gpm/psi with flow through 2 3/8 inch (I. D.) NQ core rods. The chemistry of four water samples
from OH-1 is intermediate in character between the Phipps #2 well and the thermal springs
(Sladek and Arehart, 2004).
Following the flow test, the 2 3/8 inch tubing hanging in the OH-1 hole was grouted in place
below a depth of 947 ft in a final attempt to eliminate any down flow of cooler water. A
temperature log following the grouting showed no change in the static temperature profile
indicating that the maximum reading thermometer data obtained during drilling were in error and
there was no down flow of cooler water masking higher formation temperatures. The bottom
hole temperature in OH-1 is 327 oF at a depth of 3220 ft. This is 10 oF cooler than the maximum
measured temperature of 337 oF in the Phipps #2 well (Figure 3). The temperature gradient in the
bottom of 100 of OH-1 is 1.5 oF/100 so a temperature of 337 oF could be reached by a depth of
3750 if OH-1 was deepened.
CORE HOLE LCSH-1a
The LCSH-1a site, located 0.35 miles east of the mud volcano eruption area (see White, 1955),
was drilled for the following reasons. First, the shallow thermal anomaly extends east of the
thermal springs, suggesting the possibility of a buried east-dipping normal fault, allowing thermal
water to rise in a westerly direction to the thermal springs. Several unpublished conceptual
models have hypothesized such a fault(s) and there is some geophysical evidence for such a
structure. Such a fault (if it exists) could be a very attractive production or injection target for a
geothermal power plant as it may have stored enough thermal energy to power the 1951 mud
volcano eruption. Second, in 1959 the Nevada Thermal Power Company (Magma) drilled the

Parman 2 well to a depth of 1968 approximately 1750 northwest of LCSH-1a and only a few
hundred feet east of the Lake City hot springs. No temperature log was obtained from Parman 2,
but mud circulating temperatures reached 156 oF. Last, the LCSH-1a location is the only place
within the eastern part of the Lake City thermal anomaly with access and an existing graveled pad
large enough to support wintertime drilling.
The LCSH-1a hole was drilled in soft sticky Quaternary blue lacustrine clay and cased with 7
inch casing to a depth of 500 ft with a rotary rig. Coring proceeded to a total depth of 1728 ft in
the blue clay in 14 days. The decision to terminate drilling substantially short of the planned
total depth of 3000 to 4000 ft was based on multiple concerns. A 65% core recovery substantially
slowed the drilling. The penetration rate declined from an average of 60 feet per 12 hour drilling
shift between depths of 486 to 854 ft to an average of 37 feet per shift at total depth. LCSH-1a
could have been drilled quicker with a rotary rig but removing a much larger volume of cuttings
and mud would have increased the drilling costs substantially. Due to the very shallow water
table no sump could be constructed.
A casing point near a depth of 2000 ft had been planned. However, the soft clay in the bottom of
the hole would not make a good casing shoe and since the lithology was not changing, there was
no compelling reason to expect stronger rocks in the next 300 ft. The Gulf 1 ST hole, located
about 1.4 miles south-southeast of LCSH-1a penetrated 6720 ft of fine grained valley fill
sediments so it is possible that even at depths of 4000 ft or more LCSH-1a could be in soft
lacustrine rocks. By terminating the hole without installing the 4 inch casing, the option is
preserved for reentering the hole at a later date with a rotary rig.
The monotonous clay sequence argues against a shallow and significant east-dipping normal fault
supplying thermal fluid to the Lake City hot springs from the east. A major buried normal fault
in this area should have shed some coarser debris to the east, which was not found.
The LCSH-1a hole has a conductive temperature profile (Figure 3). The temperature gradient
above 600 ft is 9.4 oF/100 ft. By a depth of 1500 ft the gradient has smoothly decreased to 7.4
o
F/100 ft. Presumably, this decrease is primarily due to the thermal conductivity of the clay
increasing as it becomes more compacted with depth. There were no indications of fluid
movement below a depth of 500 ft during the core drilling. The maximum temperature of 193 oF
was recorded at the maximum logged depth of 1656 ft. The LCSH-1a temperature profile is
similar in shape to the Surprise Valley 1-ST profile with a continuously declining temperature
gradient. This suggests LCSH-1a is probably located near a margin of the geothermal field.
Extrapolating this declining gradient to greater depths suggests temperatures of 320 oF may be
present near depths of 4500 to 5000 ft, which is comparable to the other holes drilled along the
range front.
CORE HOLE LCSH-5
The LCSH-5 site was selected because it had a nearby 453 ft temperature-gradient hole with a
temperature gradient of 15 oF/100 ft and was the most distant site that was permitted for slim hole
drilling from the Phipps #2 well (Figure 1). LCSH-5 is located mile east of the Warner
Mountains range front on overlapping alluvial fans below two closely spaced canyons.
Rotary drilling through coarse Quaternary fanglomerate took 14 days before 395 ft of 7 inch
casing could be cemented in place. Core drilling from 395 to 4727 ft took 61 days. The coring
time was lengthened by a counting error in setting the 4 inch casing 100 ft too shallow which
caused drilling complications that ultimately required weeks to rectify. It also resulted in a

reduced (NQ) hole diameter. There were no other significant drilling problems beyond high mud
costs due to lost circulation. LCSH-5 is completed with 4 inch casing cemented to a depth of
1470 ft. Uncemented HQ (3 inch O. D.) core rods are hanging to a depth of 2250 and
uncemented NQ (2 O. D.) core rods are standing on the bottom of the hole at 4727 ft and
extend up to 2226 ft inside the bottom of the HQ rods. The NQ rods are slotted between 4707
and 4727 ft an 4427 and 4447 ft. This completion maximized the hole diameter for flow testing
and logging but creates difficulty in interpreting the temperature logs as fluid can, and in this case
does, flow both inside and outside the core rods, allowing them to serve as a counter flow heat
exchanger in certain depth intervals. The slots were located to optimize flow into the core rods
but it now appears these slots may not be in the optimal locations.
LCSH-5 penetrated 1270 ft of fanglomerate before entering a very fine grained light green
rhyolite lava flow at the top of a sequence of Tertiary mud flows, volcaniclastic sediments
ranging in character from conglomerate to mudstone, and mafic lava flows (Figure 2). If the top
of the rhyolite lava flow is interpreted as the position of the range-front fault, then a single fault
model would have a dip of 30 degrees. If there are faults outboard of the range front, the dips of
the faults can be higher. A single range front fault model would require a dip greater than 62 o to
pass beneath the bottom of LCSH-5. No major range front fault was visible in the core between
depths of 1270 and 4727 ft, although there is considerable small scale shearing throughout the
section.
At 3400 ft the mud flows in LCSH-5 greatly changed character from being composed of angular
Tertiary age cobbles to being composed of very well rounded and containing granite and quartzite
cobbles. Below 4244 ft the rocks are hard distinctive poikilitic mafic lava flows with plagioclase
crystals up to one inch long, reminiscent of the Steens basalt of eastern Oregon. This mafic lava
flow sequence has not previously been recognized in the other drill holes or in surface exposures.
It is the lowest stratigraphic unit so far recognized in the Tertiary sequence in the Surprise Valley
area.
Even though LCSH-5 and OH-1 are only mile apart there are no obvious stratigraphic or
gamma ray correlations between the two holes (Figure 2). The distinctive rhyolite, granite cobble
mud flows, and poikilitic lava flows found in LCSH-5 are absent in OH-1. This is somewhat
surprising as the lower part of the mountain range above the geothermal field has both a tan ash
layer and bench forming andesitic lava flows that can be continuously traced for distances > 1.5
miles suggesting there are no cross cutting faults with significant offset between these two holes.
There is no credible lithologic log of the Phipps #2 well but there is a gamma log that can be
compared with OH-1 and LCSH-5 (Figure 2).
LCSH-5 penetrated several permeable intervals based on drilling and core observations and
complex static and flowing temperature logs. During drilling, circulation was first lost at a depth
of 1470 ft and losses continued more or less to total depth with approximately one million gallons
of drilling fluid being lost. A large number of open and sealed mineralized fractures are present
in the Tertiary section but most of these fractures are not hydraulically conductive. Below 3955
ft there are several open steeply dipping quartz lined fractures. Between about 1950 ft and 3955
ft open, quartz lined fractures in the core are rare or nonexistent. This is also the interval where
most of the mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone are present (Figure 2).
The most important shallow permeable intervals on the temperature logs are between 1270 and
1923 ft (Figure 4). Within this broad zone the core and temperature logs suggest two thin
mineralized fractured zones lying between 1645 and 1651 ft and between 1917 and 1923 ft are
the most important. The active lateral flow in the 1645-1651 ft zone defines the overturn on the

nonequilibrium April 27 and May 25 static temperature logs (Figure 4). Under static
conditions the 1645-1651 ft zone is at the bottom of a convecting column flowing either up or
down from a fracture(s) at 1500 ft. This zone accepted 33 gallons per minute of injectate at no
wellhead pressure during injection testing and logging with the well at a temporary total depth of
4257 ft. This injection rate was limited by the fact the injectate had to exit the bottom of the HQ
rods and then flow back up the 0.1975 inch annulus between the HQ rods and the wellbore.
Under flowing conditions the 1917-1923 ft zone appears to be the major shallow fluid entry into
the well. Fluid entering from this zone flows down outside the HQ rods and at the base of the
rods mixes with rising hotter fluid to give the sharp temperature change at 2250 ft (Figure 5).
The low temperature gradient interval between 2250 and 1917 ft under flowing conditions is
essentially a counter flow heat exchanger. There may be a similar heat exchanger effect
occurring between depths of 1270 and 1650 ft under flowing conditions.
The obvious and major permeable fracture deeper in the hole identified during drilling was
confined to a single 6 inch wide quartz lined void, at a depth of 4439 ft in the andesite lava flow
sequence. This fracture accepted up to 71 gpm of cold injectate with no wellhead pressure during
open hole logging and testing at the time of completion on April 27 (Figure 5). None of the
other smaller quartz-lined fractures penetrated below a depth of 3955 ft accepted measurable
injectate on April 27.
The maximum temperature measured in LCSH-5 during static conditions is 323 oF at a depth of
3384 ft. While flowing at +60 gpm temperatures as high as 329 oF were measured between
depths of 2250 and 3400 ft (Figure 5). Either higher temperature fluid enters the well during
flowing conditions or this part of the well is cooled by downflow under static conditions. It is
unclear as to exactly where the higher temperature fluid is entering the annulus between 2250 and
3400 ft. No large open fractures are present in the core in this interval. It is possible that this
fluid could be flowing both up and down the NQ annulus in this depth interval. The small size of
the NQ and HQ annulus must be severely limiting the flows from LCSH-5.
Surprisingly, the major fracture at 4439 ft that accepted all the injectate during the completion
testing on April 27 (Figure 4) did not produce any fluid during flow testing (Figure 5). It is also
surprising that there are several sharp temperature changes or spikes totaling 7 oF below 4439 ft
that are present on both the flowing and static logs (Figure 5). These confirm that below a depth
of about 3500 ft the well may truly be static. There are still other features on the temperature logs
that defy obvious explanations.
HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION
The secondary mineral assemblages in OH-1 and LCSH-5 are being investigated to determine: 1)
the relationship between the mineral assemblages and the production zones; the hydrothermal
history of the rocks; and 3) the temperatures of alteration. Preliminary petrographic studies
indicate the rocks contain at least two mineral parageneses. The earliest consists of clay minerals,
quartz, zeolites, and calcite. Clay minerals appear to represent the earliest phase, occurring as a
pervasive alteration of the volcanic rocks and as thin veins that cut the volcaniclastic deposits and
their contained fragments. Quartz occurs as an alteration product of phenocrysts, within the
matrix of the volcaniclastic rocks and as vein mineral. It is intergrown with the clay minerals.
The zeolites and calcite fill veins. The zeolites postdate that quartz and are in turn encapsulated
in calcite. Epidote and illite are present in the deepest samples (> 4645 ft) from LCSH-5
indicating that temperatures exceeded ~500 oF (Henley and Ellis, 1983) sometime in the past.

The second assemblage consists almost exclusively of quartz. Quartz veins crosscut both the
calcite veins and epidote-bearing rocks. In both OH-1 and LCSH-5, these quartz veins are
usually associated with zones that accept or produce fluids. The quartz crystals typically display
complex extinction patterns and in samples from relatively shallow depths, botryoidal textures are
present within the interiors of drusy quartz aggregates, demonstrating that some of the silica was
deposited as amorphous silica or chalcedony. Sericite and calcite, where present, postdate the
quartz, but these minerals occur only in trace amounts.
Primary fluid inclusions trapped in quartz crystals from depths of 947 ft in OH-1 yielded
homogenization temperatures of 264 to 284 oF. Primary and secondary inclusions from depths of
4439 and 4453 ft in LCSH-5 yielded temperatures from 307 to 316 oF. These temperatures are
close to the present static downhole temperatures (Figure 3) and suggest that the inclusions
formed recently.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Core drilling at Lake City has allowed an understanding of the geology and geothermal system
that could never have been obtained from cuttings in this particular geologic setting. Previous
ambiguous descriptions of cuttings from Lake City wells refer almost exclusively to igneous
rocks while it is now clear that the bulk of the section is sedimentary. The mudflow units in
particular would be very difficult to reconstruct because of the mixed lithologies.
The core hole drilling has demonstrated that temperatures > 325 oF and significant permeability
can be found over a distance of at least 1 miles along the Surprise Valley fault zone and that
the geothermal field extends at least mile north of the northernmost thermal springs.
Significant permeability has been documented over a depth interval ranging from 947 ft in OH-1
to 4946 ft in Phipps #2 (Benoit, et al., 2004). All of the holes drilled along the Surprise Valley
fault zone have complex temperature profiles indicative of an active geothermal system.
The primary structural controls on the permeability at Lake City remain ambiguous. As the
Phipps #2 well is sited directly on the range front, its permeable interval between depths of 4500
and 4946 ft should be well within the Warner Range hundreds to perhaps thousands of feet from
any easterly dipping normal range front fault (unless the range front fault is near vertical). The
relationship of LCSH-5 and OH-1 permeability to range front faults is more ambiguous. The
permeable fractures seen in these cores are associated with strong silicification and quartz
veining. They do not resemble major normal fault zones but are much more akin to small fairly
widely separated fractures. Every well drilled along the range front in the geothermal field to
date has encountered temperatures over 325 oF and permeable fractures.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge Amp Resources for the opportunity to work on this project and for
permission to publish this paper. This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy,
Assistant Secretary Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under DOE Golden Field Office
Financial Assistance Award DE-FC04-2003AL68301.

REFERENCES
Benoit, D., Goranson, C, Blackwell, D., and Wesnousky, S., 2004, Overview of the Lake City,
California geothermal system, Geothermal Resources Council Transactions, Vol. 28, p. 311
315.
Hardyman, R. F., 2002, Lake City Geothermal, LLC Lake City Observation Hole No. 1.
Lithological Description of OH-1 Core, 59 p.
Henley, R.W., and Ellis A.J., 1983, Geothermal systems ancient and modern: a geochemical
review: Earth-Science Reviews, Vol. 19, p. 1-50.
McKenna, J. R., Benoit, W. R., Goranson, C., and Blackwell, D. D., 2004, Injection experiments
and thermal recovery in well OH-1, Lake City, California, Natural Resources Research, Vol. 13,
Issue 4 Dec. 2004, p. 241 253.
White, D. E., 1955, Violent mud-volcano eruption of Lake City hot springs, Northeastern
California, Geol. Soc. of America Bull., Vol., 66, p. 1109 1130.
FIGURE CAPTIONS
Figure 1. Location map of Lake City holes, wells, and geothermal features.
Figure 2. Lithologic and gamma ray logs of OH-1, LCSH-5, and Phipps #2.
Figure 3. Static temperature logs of wells and core holes at Lake City. The profile from LCSH-5
is slightly different than shown on Figure 4 to eliminate the effect of rising thermal water between
depths of 1450 and 1800 ft.
Figure 4. Static and nonequilibrium temperature logs of LCSH-5
Figure 5. Flowing and static temperature logs of LCSH-5

Groundwater
Well

L E G E N D
Temperature
Gradient Well
Existing Well
Abandoned Well

F
15

Well Pad

E FRONT

NG
RA

Y
CI T
KE
LA A R Y
D

Siliceous Deposits

U
B O

Phipps-2

(November-2003)

Fossil Hot Spring Deposit

Seep

Silica
Terrace

Silicified
Sands

Snow Melt Boundary

Hot Spring

ME LT

FAULT

Mound

Range Front Fault

(dashed where uncertain)

OW
S N

Fossil Hot Spring

OH-1

Contour (F/100')

(dashed where uncertain)

'

'
/100

Temperature Gradient

10F/100

LCSH-5

Parman-2
Phipps-1

FA

Parman-1
Parman-3

7 ULT
LCSH-1a
ZO
NE

0'
1 5 F/10
0'
0
1
1 0 F/
6

E
NG

RA

5F/

Lake City

Gulf ST-1(abd)

1 0 0'
R15E
R16E

NT
FRO

FAULT

11

44N

Figure 1. Temperature Gradient Data Contours, Thermal Features and Major Faults at the Lake City Geothermal Area

L AKE C ITY C ORE H OLE L ITHOLOGIC & G AMMA R AY L OGS

Figure 2.

LCSH-5
Depth 0
in feet

Lithology

Phipps #2

OH-1

Gamma Ray
30 50 70 90
API Units

Depth 0
in feet

Lithology

Gamma Ray

Gamma Ray

30 50 70 90
API Units

10

500

500

500

1000

1000

1000

1500

1500

1500

2000

2000

2000

2500

2500

2500

3000

3000

3000

90
API Units

10 30 50 70 90
3436
3500

3500

LEGEND
Qal
4000

sandstone

4000

siltstone

10 30 50 70

90

mudstone
mudflow

4500

4500

pebble conglomerate
4727

JNM05207
052405_0630

rhyolite
andesite flow/dike
andesite ash-flow tuff

5000

10 30 50 70 90