PROCEEDINGS, Thirty-First Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering

Stanford University, Stanford, California, January 30-February 1, 2006

SGP-TR-179

RESERVOIR STUDIES AT TATAPANI GEOTHERMAL FIELD,

SURGUJA DISTRICT, INDIA

P.B. Sarolkar, A. K. Das

Geological Survey of India, Nagpur, India 440006
gsipgrs_ngp@sancharnet.in

ABSTRACT
Tatapani geothermal prospect is a promising
geothermal resource in Surguja district, Chhattisgarh
State. Total 26 boreholes were drilled in the area, out
of which five boreholes produce hot water. The five
boreholes, drilled up to the depth of 350m, initially
produced 1800 lpm of thermal water with maximum
temperature of 112.5° C. At present, four boreholes
have free flow discharge of 1159 to 1224 lpm.
Thermal logging of the boreholes has indicated
presence of thermal anomaly along ENE- WSW
direction. The thermal gradient data and well testing
data suggest that the reservoir may continue below
1000 m depth. The isotherms at 300m and 1500 m
depths indicate that the aerial extent of the reservoir
increases with depth. The thermal logging data
suggest that the reservoir may have temperature of
>150°C, at the depth of 1500m. The ENE extension
of the reservoir and its depth persistence needs to be
verified by deeper exploration to augment the
presently established resource potential of 300 Kwe Fig.1, Location map of Tatapani Geothermal area.
at the depth of 350m.
Geological Survey of India in association with Oil
1. INTRODUCTION and Natural Gas Corporation, carried out down hole
testing of the production wells for measuring
Tatapani Geothermal field is a promising hot water temperature and pressure profiles in the borewells
reservoir along the Son- Narmada lineament. (Sarolkar 1999). The available sub surface data and
Thermal manifestations in Tatapani consists of hot temperature - pressure profiles are utilized to prepare
springs (50°C -90°C) in marshy ground and a preliminary reservoir model of Tatapani
hydrothermally altered clay zones, covering an area Geothermal area.
of about 0.1 sq km (Ravishanker 1987). The thermal
anomaly zone at Tatapani extends along the E-W 2. GEOLOGY
direction and shows continuity to northeast. The
Tatapani geothermal anomaly is located along a The Tatapani geothermal field is located at the
regional fracture extending for several kilometers in southern margin of the Tatapani- Ramkola coalfield
either direction (Guha 1987). at the contact with Achaean rocks. Tatapani fault,
trending ENE-WSW, separates Archaean rocks
Detailed investigations for assessment of geothermal exposed to the south of fault from Lower Gondwana
resource were carried out by GSI since 1980s. Total sandstone exposed to the north west of the Tatapani
26 boreholes were drilled at Tatapani covering an fault (Fig. 2). Lower Gondwana sandstone is
area of nearly 20 sq km, of which five bore wells, encountered in the boreholes down to a depth of
drilled at the spacing of around 50 m, GW/Tat/6 and 120m, below which pink granitic gneiss with coarse
GW/Tat/ 23 to 26, produce hot water (Pitale et al feldspar is reported. Most of the hot springs are
1995). The cumulative discharge of five located along the Tatapani fault.
borewells was measured to be 1800 lpm, producing
water of ≈110°C at the surface.
 Geological map of Tatapani area, Surguja district
Scale
80 0 80 160 240 m

F F
75
75
F
Tat/04
INDEX
F Gondwana Sandstone
Tat/06 Tat/23 F
F
Tat/24
Tat/25
Granites
Tat/26

Borehole No.
ult

To A
pni fa
Tata

mbik
Hot spring

apu
F- Fault

r
Fig.2, Geological map of Tatapani area.

3. DISCHARGE 4. GEOTHERMOMETERS
Out of the 26 boreholes drilled at Tatapani, five bore The chemical analysis of thermal water indicated
wells GW/Tat/6, 23, 24,25 & 26 produce free moderate sodium, chloride, silica and sulphate content;
flowing hot water. Monitoring of the wells at low calcium, potassium and arsenic. The reservoir
different times, for a period of up to two weeks has temperature indicated by various geothermometers
shown that on continuous flow there is slight varies as below: silica 127°C to 157° C, Na/K from
variation in the discharge. Variation in discharge of 178°C to 232°C, and K/ Mg from 66°C to 97°C.
boreholes since 1992 is presented in Fig.3.

Diagram showing variation in Discharge

600

500
Discharge lpm

400

300

200

100

0
11

16

21

26

31

36

41

46

51

56

61

66

71

76

81

86

91
1

Observation no.
Tat/6 Tat/23 Tat/24 Tat/25 Tat/26

Fig.3, Diagram showing variation in discharge of boreholes

 The K/ Mg ratio re-equilibrates to the Cold-water injection test of the production wells
changing reservoir conditions and dilution by reveals that the thermal profile has gentle slope up
ground water adds more Mg to the water, affecting to 175m depth and temperature shoots up to 97 °C
the K/Mg ratio significantly, which is reflected in at 200m and 110°C at 320m depths, due to
lesser indicated reservoir temperatures. Dilution convective circulation (fig.5).
has affected the silica saturation also, resulting in
lower indicated reservoir temperature.
Temperature °C
90.00 100.00 110.00
5. TEMPERATURE OF HOMOGENIZATION
0
(Th) 20
40
Static T Static T
The temperature of homogenisation (Th) measured 60 Flow T
Flowing T
on 33 fluid inclusions from quartz and zeolites 80
100
crystals, varies from 137°C to 258°C. The 120 Static P Static P

Depth m
majority of fluid inclusions measured Th of 140 Flowing P
160
>200°C and a few of the inclusions measured Th of 180
<150°C. The rest of the fluid inclusions fall in the 200
220
range of 150°C to 200°C, which is comparable to 240
the temperatures indicated by the aqueous geo- 260
Flow P
280
thermometers. The frequency distribution diagram 300
of Th is shown in Fig.4. 320
340

10.00 20.00 30.00

Pressure kg/cm2
Fig.5, P and T profile of bore well Tat/ 23
15%

47% The main thermal water feeder zones are at 300-320m,

275m and 175-200 m depths. The permeable zone
38% below 320m causes cold-water inflow resulting into the
temperature inversion.
>200°C 151-200°C <150°C
6. PERMEABILITY
Fig.4, Diagram showing frequency of fluid inclusions
at Tatapani. .

Thus, the fluid inclusion data suggest that the

geothermal system at Tatapani has was initiated at
around 250°C, which continued for considerable 22

period at around 180 °C. The Th of 140°C -150° C 1

Tetardih
may be attributed to the effect of local mixing.
13 19

The temperature of final melting TM measured in 21

the fluid inclusions varies from -0.3°C to –21.5°C, 8 A'

27
indicating salinities ranging from 0.5%o to 23.3%o 11
7
15
Tatapani
NaCl equivalent. The low salinity of most of the 17 5
623
2
4
3

2426
fluid inclusions suggests a meteoric origin for the 14
9
Tank
25
12
10
geothermal waters. A
16

4. THERMAL PROFILE
Temperature and pressure logging of the five 20

borewells was carried out in association with Oil & 18

Natural Gas Corporation. Static well temperature
profile recorded temperature of 97°C at wellhead
rising to 100°C at 50m and 110°C at 110m depths.
Maximum temperature of 112.5°C was recorded at Fig.6, Location map of boreholes at Tatapani.
275m depth, below which temperature inversion is
noticed. The flowing well temperature fluctuates
within narrow range of 110°C at wellhead to
112.5°C at 275m further reducing to 110°C at the
bottom i.e. 350m depth (Pitale et al 1995).
 FRACTURE PATTERN ALONG SECTION AA'
14 10 9 5 24 4 37 15
D epth in m

-100

-300
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
A Distance in m A'
0 20 40 60 80 100
O

O
fracture

Fig.6, Vertical section showing sub-surface fracture abundance in Tatapani area.

The Gondwana sandstone is porous and permeable while
the Talchir shale and siltstone are fine grained rocks,
creating an impermeable horizon acting as a cap rock.
The reservoir rocks are mostly granites and gneisses
whose permeability is mainly controlled by fracture
pattern. The borehole cores show profuse fracturing at
30°, 40°, 60° and 70° (Pitale et al 1995) to the horizontal.
Besides fractures, development of cavities due to leaching
is observed in the boreholes GW/Tat/25 and 26, which
helps in improving the permeability. The fractures are
mostly thin and are occasionally filled in with secondary
silica, zeolites or platy calcite. Though the thin fractures
subsurface granite near boreholes Tat/23, Tat/7 & 8, show
moderate to high fracture frequency suggesting better
permeability.
Most of the boreholes yielding hot water are located on
the area showing good fracture abundance, thus,
suggesting that the geothermal reservoir is confined to the
zone of moderate to high fracture abundance.
Isotherms at depth of 350m
9000.00

in sub-surface rocks show secondary deposition, the 8500.00 Temperature °C

major fractures are comparatively open and act as conduit 8000.00 105.00

for free flows of water. 100.00

95.00
7500.00
90.00
85.00
The fracture zones are few meters wide, but mostly inter 7000.00
80.00

connected, facilitating free flow of hot water within the 6500.00

75.00
70.00
bore wells. All the boreholes show inversion in 65.00
6000.00
60.00
temperature at the depth of around 300m indicating rather 55.00

high permeability and good recharge zone at this depth. 5500.00 50.00
45.00
Joga Rao (1987) postulated low resistivity zones at the 5000.00 40.00

depths of about 300m to 600m, based on the 4500.00

35.00
30.00
Schlumberger soundings.
4000.00

4500.00 5000.00 5500.00 6000.00 6500.00 7000.00 7500.00 8000.00 8500.00 9000.00 9500.00
The abundance of fractures was studied in the borehole
cores. The relative abundance of the fractures with respect
0.00 1000.00 2000.00 3000.00 4000.00
to the maximum fractures noted in the borehole cores
was measured at different depths. The relative abundance Fig.7, Distribution of isotherms at 350m depth.
of the fractures in selected boreholes is plotted along the
section A – A’ (Fig 6).

The sub-surface fracture abundance observed in the

boreholes was plotted to get relative abundance. The
fracture pattern near borehole Tat/10 clearly indicates that
the Gondwana rocks west of Tatapani, and the granitic
gneiss to the east of Tatapani near borehole Tat/15 show
less abundance of fractures, hence, less permeability. The
 9000

Depth in meters
indicating that the fractured granite / fault zone may
8500 provide conduit for the upward movement of hot water.
-200
8000
-400
-600 The thermal profile data shows positive correlation with
7500 -800
-1000
the fracture pattern. The zones of high fracture abundance
7000 -1200
-1400
(Fig.6) are also areas of high thermal anomaly,
6500
-1600
-1800
confirming the sub-surface limits
6000
-2000 of the geothermal reservoir. The observation also
-2200
-2400 confirms that the fracture permeability controls the
5500 -2600
-2800 discharge of hot water at Tatapani.
-3000
5000
-3200

4500
-3400
-3600
The thermal profile data were utilized to project
configuration of isotherms at the depth of 350 m and 1500
4000
m. The maximum temperature at the depth of 350 m is
4500 5000 5500 6000 6500 7000 7500 8000 8500 9000 9500
reported to be 112.5°C and extrapolated temperature of
Fig.8, Depth wise distribution of 100°C isotherm 195°C at the depth of 1500 m. The area covered 100°C at
at Tatapani. 350m depth is 0.29 sq km

The Thermal gradient in the boreholes varies from and >7.2 sq kmat the depth of 1500m. The depth wise
configuration of 100°C isotherm is shown in Fig, 8. The
26°C/km in borehole Tat/1 to 266°C/km in the borehole
Tat/4A. The high thermal gradient zone is confined to the average temperature of the reservoir may be assumed to
boreholes nearer to the Tatapani fault i.e.Tat/23, 12 and be 130°C to 150°C, considering that at surface the
7A. The thermal gradient data as well as the sub-surface temperature of the reservoir is less than the indicated
isotherms distribution, on correlation suggest that the reservoir temperatures and the possibility of mixing with
thermal anomaly is at cold ground water at shallow levels may reduce the
temperature of hot water discharge.
very shallow level near the production wells (i.e.
boreholes Tat/23 & 25) with a subsidiary peak near the The sub-surface isothermal configuration section A-A’,
borehole Tat/7. The data suggest that the thermal along the selected boreholes is presented in Fig.9. The
anomaly zone has rather steep slope towards north and possible sub-surface temperatures in the area of study
gentle slope towards south. Thus, the thermal reservoir along selected boreholes suggest that the geothermal
may extend to south of the boreholes Tat/25, 26 i.e. south reservoir shows dome shaped or conical pattern with crest
of Tatapani fault also (fig. 7). near boreholes Tat/23 & 25 and a secondary peak near
borehole Tat/7, respectively. The sub-surface isotherms
The boreholes Tat/9 & 10, drilled in Gondwana sandstone indicate persistence of reservoir to a depth of 1500m or
show less thermal gradient, while the boreholes drilled in more. The vertical section of isotherms distribution also
granitic gneiss viz. Tat/ 23, 4A show higher thermal indicates that the reservoir extends towards NE of
gradients. Tatapani (borehole Tat/15), as supported by the bit map of
isotherms at Tatapani geothermal area.
The maximum thermal gradient is observed in the
boreholes located near Tatapani fault and fracture zones

Subsurface temperature section along Tr. AA'

14 10 9 24 4 37 15
0
Depyh in m

-200

-400
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
A'
A Distance in m
Scale

10 30 50 70 90 110 oC

Fig.9, Vertical section showing sub-surface distribution of isotherms at Tatapani

7. CONCLUSION
The Tatapani Geothermal area is an active
geothermal system of medium enthalpy. The
geothermal reservoir at Tatapani is confined to
granite and gneisses. The thermal water discharge is
controlled by fracture permeability. The fracture
abundance pattern and thermal anomaly zones show
positive correlation suggesting that the reservoir is
confined to the areas of fracture abundance and fault
zones. The thermal reservoir displays conical shape
with two separate sprouts, observed near boreholes
Tat/23 and Tat/7, respectively.
The thermal configuration at the depth of 350 m and
1500 m indicates ENE-WSW extent of the reservoir,
mostly along Tatapani fault, and extension of
reservoir towards NE of Tatapani village. The
geochemical indicators, fluid inclusion studies, and
thermal profiles data indicate that the reservoir
temperature at Tatapani ranges from 150°C to 190°C.
The study suggests that the Tatapani Geothermal
prospect might have depth persistence beyond 1500
m, which needs to be confirmed by deep drilling.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Dr. K.S. Mishra,
Dy. Director General, GSI, Nagpur for granting
permission to publish this paper. Facilities provided
for work by Shri. S.C. Jain, Director, GSI, Nagpur
are gratefully acknowledged. Sincere thanks are
extended to Dr. R.S. Shukla for valuable suggestions.
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