Three areas of geothermal activity area known from the Warm Springs Valley area. Warm springs for which the valley is named are located in Secs. 22,23, T23N, R20E, and these are surrounded by an area of about 11 km2 of thermal groundwater. This thermal area and two others located to the southeast, one near the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Facility and one near the mouth of Curnow Canyon, are all along the west boundary of Warm Springs Valley (Tingley and others, 1999). Probably one or more northwest-striking faults form the valley-mountain range boundary here, and the geothermal areas are almost certainly related to that fault or system of faults.
Anomalous groundwater temperatures are known from several sections in the vicinity of the warm springs (Secs. 22, 23, 25, 26, and 35, T23N, R20E). The temperatures appear to be hottest (68°C) near the springs, and lower (down to 25°C) at a distance (unpub. well driller's reports in the Office of the Nevada State Engineer). The approximately 11 km2 geothermal area is apparently elongate in a northwest-southeast direction, parallel to a possible basin-bounding fault; the hotter temperatures at the west edge of this area suggest that the cooler temperatures to the east and south result from mixing of geothermal water, which rises along the fault, with shallower cool groundwater in the basin-fill deposits. Well depths range from 47 to 188 m.
An apparently more restricted area of thermal groundwater is found in an approximately 1 km2 area just south of State Route 445 in the vicinity of the Wild Horse Facility, in Sec. 7, T22N, R21E. Three wells there have reported water temperatures of 43 , 43 , and 29°C (unpub. well driller's reports in the Office of the Nevada State Engineer). A range-bounding fault may pass through this area.
Near the mouth of Curnow Canyon, about 8 km south of the Wild Horse Facility, another area of warm water wells is observed. Two driller's logs reported warm water from 225-m- and 107-m-deep wells, and another reported 60°C in a 188-m-deep well.
Photos
Marshall Property, Warm Springs Valley.