Preliminary geochemical study of thermal waters at the Puracé volcano system (South Western Colombia): An approximation for geothermal exploration

Abstract

The Puracé Volcano is located in the Cauca department, SW of Colombia, along the Coconucos volcanic chain. This volcano is an interesting target for geothermal exploration, because it is a young caldera-type volcano, with thermal activity (e.g. hot springs and fumaroles). Using hydro-geochemical analyses of hot springs, we determine the type of water, origin and relation with the geothermal system, reservoir temperature, mixing process and finally the potential areas for future exploration. The analyzed water-types are bicarbonate, dilutechloride, sulphate-chloride, acid-sulphate and heated steam-acid sulfated. The conservative elements, allow to identify the correlation between different springs and to infer commune sources. Moreover, the applied solutes geothermometers for each suitable thermal-water group were used to estimate the reservoir temperature. The Silica geothermometers resulted within a range of 120°C -170°C while those the Cation geothermometers are above these temperatures reflecting values from 160°C to 220°C. However, the Cation geothermometer of low temperature clearly identify another zone of lower temperature. Mixing and recharge processes, were identified through of stable isotopes. Finally, the preliminary geothermal model shows two zones of high enthalpy system ( > 150°C). © 2018, Boletín de Geología.