Magma, thermal source of energy
By Sandy Johnstone
Of the Emerald
First in a continuing series
highlighting the research and
goals of University professors.
Geophysicist Harve Waff may
not be burying his head in the
sanjj, but he is looking under
ground for the answers to,
Oregon’s energy future
Waff, a University professor, '
is trying to find existing magma
chambers and geothermal
deposits beneath the Cascade
Mountains.
"Oregon is one area with the
potential for geothermal re
sources because of the Cas
cades and other volcanoes," he
says. "Oregon has the potential
for clean, inexpensive energy
over a very long time period "
The amount of thermal energy
available in the upper six
kilometers of the earth is es
timated by the U S Geological
Survey to be at least 800 years
worth at current consumption
rates Waff estimates at least 15
percent of the total could be
housed in jDregon, which is
more than the known oil re
serves in #ie entire United
States
"Oregon happens to be one
of the exciting parts of the
country not/," he says "Our
research started out to be pure
ly scientific, but now we see its
potential for development
because it can be so big for
Oregon
Currently. Waff's research
aims at understanding the ther
mal structure beneath the
Oregon Cascades. Over the
past three years, he has been
accumulating the equipment
needed to make measurements
of the thermal structure He built
part of the SQUID magne
tometer himself to save money
(the SQUID would cost private
industry about $400,000), and
he spent 350 hours (about six
weeks) troqbleshooting to find
the problems, which all turned
University geophysicist taps underground potential
^ NUl' -vjHn
Photo by Dave Kao
Geophysicist Harve Waff displays the SQUID magnetometer which measures thermal structures.
t
out to be factory related
"The SQUID is possibly the
most sensitive instrument man
ever built,'1 he says
Why is such a sensitive tool
needed?
i "You can't tell from the sur
face where the heat is because
the rains flush out the heat from
tfie top 1,200 feet in the Cas
cades," he says "The system
senses minute magnetic fields
which we are able to induce into
electrically conducting bodies
beneath the ground "
Magma chambers conduct
electricity much better than
other parts of the earth As far
as we can tell, electrical signals
are the best way yet devised to
detect them," he says
They will use the system to
find magma fields and convert
the data into a map of the elec
trical structure under the
ground
It will take them two to five
years to cover most of the po
tential areas in Oregon and Wa
shington alone, he estimates
Then, he thinks it will take an
other two to five years to do
fine-scale measurements if a
company would want to drill
Using current technology,
after a magma chamber has
been located, a closed pipe with
a smaller pipe inside of it is
inserted into the ground down
to the magma chamber The
pipe is cooled down with water
on the perimeter of the inside
pipe Then the heat of the mag
ma chamber changes the water
into steam and provides heat
with very little pollution. It is also
possible to use an open pipe
which will form a bubble in the
magma chamber and work the
same way as the ciosed pipe
system, except it allows a few
pollutants in the air
Funding for the project comes
from three National Science
Foundation grants totaling
between $140,000 and
$150,000 per year However,
Waff says funding for energy
related projects has been cut by
the federal government so he is
hoping for money from private
companies
“I have not tried to take an
active posture because I don't
want to put the cart before the
ox," says Waff "I want to have a
firm foundation and demon
strate it works well first If the
first hole or two (drilled in the
Cascades) are successful then
there will be a much better pos
sibility of getting support (from
the government or private in
dustry)."
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