The Future of Geothermal in New Mexico
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A Land of Geothermal Enchantment
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A Land of Geothermal Enchantment
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The Land of Enchantment is beautifully and geographically diverse. Across its nearly 78 million acres are wide deserts, broken mesas, high peaks, and forested wilderness. Beneath the surface — oil, gas, minerals, and heat. Lots of heat. At the top of the state lies a chain of Cenozoic volcanic fields called the Jemez Lineament. Cutting through the state's middle is the Rio Grande rift, a geologic zone that separates the Colorado Plateau from an old, stable part of the Earth's continental lithosphere.
In large part because of those two ancient geologic formations, New Mexico and its Tribal lands are also a place of extraordinary geothermal potential—sixth in the nation, in fact. Much of that potential lies in traditional hydrothermal power generation. But the state also has rich potential for next-generation geothermal energy — accessing the Earth's heat in locations without subsurface water via advanced drilling and other technologies. Taken all together — the geologic attributes and the technologies — it is possible to develop one or another kind of geothermal energy solution in every location across all of New Mexico.
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Contact Information
Requests for geothermal data from a specific area can be sent to our Geothermal Program manager, Shari Kelley.