九大地熱・火山研究報告第 11 号 (2002) 7-11 頁

THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCESIN XINJIANG, CHINAZHANG WEI ZHOUABSTRACT
Geothermal resources is one of the mane mineral resources in Xinjiang, and this report introduces the basic
information on the distribution and the amount of hot springs and the characteristicss of their hydro-chemicaltypes, trace element concentration and temperature etc. The development and problem of geothermal resources infuture are discussed.
1. BASIC CHARACTERISTICS(Cu), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd),molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se) etc. and nitrogengas, sulfureted hydrogen, oxygen, methane as well asradioactive components such as uranium (U), radium(Ra), thorium, radon (Rn).

Xinjiang is located in the western part of China (Fig.
1). Its area is 1.66 million sq km2. From north to south
there are Altay, Tianshan and Kunlun mountains,among which there are two big basins of Jungarand Tarim. The geothermal is one of maple mineral
resources in Xinjiang. Most of geothermal resources
distribute along mountain series in Xinjiang. Great
deep faults and tectonic movement of Cenozoic Era
had been developed, which supplied better geologicalbackground for formation and reservoir of geothermal
resources. (Fig. 2)

According to the chemical analysis of 45 geothermal
occurrences, the silicic acid content of 70% of them ismore than 25mg/L, in which 50% of them the silicic
acid is more than 50mg/L. F concentration of themusually is 1mg/L, in which 62% of them F are morethan 2mg/L. The radon concentration of Alashan hot
spring located in Fuhai county, Altay region is 451.6± 108.7 eman/L, which is rare strong radioactivewater.

1.1 Geothermal Characteristics Of Mountain Area
According to survey data, 79 geothermal occurrences
have been found, among them there are 66 hotsprings, 7 steam springs and 6 hot wells. Most of theirtemperatures are less than 60oC, generally 25-55 oC,
the highest 72 oC. Hot spring flow is generally 1.5-30
m 3 /h, maxim 72 m 3 /h. Hot water mineralizationof 71% of them are less than 1 g/L. the others' arein 1-3 g/L. The mineralization distribution in theregional area is the highest in south Tianshan and thelowest in Altay. The adequate chemical types are as
following: HCO3SO4-Na type in Altay, SO4.HCO3Na or SO4.CL-Na, CL.SO4-Na.Ca in Tianshan andSO4.HCO3-Na or HCO3.SO4-Na in Kunlun (Table. 1).

1.2 Geothermal Characteristics Of Basin-Plain Area
In the basin-plain region hot water is found in oilboreholes and some supplying water-wells that
distribute along the margin of Jungar basin, Tarimbasin, To-ha basin and Bole rift. Those hot-water
occurrences belong to hot-layer-reservoir type exceptin Bole rift. Their formation is related to deep andgreat faults. The hot-layer-reservoirs are made of
Paleozoic and Mesozoic sand and volcanic clastic
rock. The buried depth is usually under 2000m. The
bottom temperature of borehole is 50-90 centigrade.
The maxim is 172.5 centigrade. The averagetemperature gradient is 1.5-2.9 oC /h.m. Hot watercontains Sr, B, Li, F, de-silicic-acid more. For example
in the hot-water-well 25 of kelamayi: silicic acid167.37mg/L, I 7mg/L; hot-water-well 89: silicic acid

The hot water contains trace elements fluorine (F),lithium (Li), boron (B), arsenic (As), strontium (Sr),iodine (I), manganese (Mn), aluminum (Al), copper
Geological Survey Institute of Xinjiang, China7

ZHANG WEI ZHOU

33.4mg/L, F 4.01mg/g, Sr 4.096mg/L, Li 0.382mg/L,
Boron acid 5.6mg/L, U 28.7 ± ug/L, Ra 36.4bq/L,radon 297.6 ± 37.7bq/L.

basic of local government, geothermal resources areexploited and utilized in the economic development
zone of Tianshan north slope and in the economic
development districts by the centers of Yili, Kashgar,
Kuerl and Bole. In those areas or around cities
agriculture and vice-product basement and the multifunction system for treating, bathing, heating, touring
and entertainment etc. will be built and use geothermal
resources. Eight geothermal-appeared zones arechosen for exploitation and utilization of geothermal
resources (Table. 5).

According to the data of oil-boreholes and geothermal
exploration, basin-plain region having hot water in
Xinjiang is divided into six geothermal appearing
areas (zones) (Table. 2).
There are seven steam springs in Xinjiang, which are
special type of geothermal resources. They distributein
Jurassic coal strata along two sides of Tianshan. The
formation of them is related to naturally burning coal.
The characteristics of their chemical and physical areseen Table 3 and Table 4.

4. PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS OF
DEVELOPMENT OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

The utilization of the geothermal resources in Xinjiang
still remains in a pretty low level at this moment.
Only a little of them has been developed for medical
treating and bathing use. For the geothermal resources
produced in plain areas and other fields of utilizationsuch as agriculture, industrial production, househeating, power generation and some useful elements
extracting are almost blankets. For Xinjiang, the main
problems to be solved for geothermal developmentare:1) lack of enough study on the forming conditions,
regulations of distribution and the life span of thegeothermal resources;
2) low level of exploration and exploitation due to thebackward means and technology;3) only a few fields be involved in the geothermal
utilization4) compared with coal, oil and gas, the geothermal
resource is a clearer one. Exploiting geothermal
resource in those regions, which are rich in geothermaland shortage of coal and oil and gas and difficult andremote in the traffic, is considered.
5) in the development process, geothermal resource
should be used synthetically such as touring, drying,heating, curing and planting etc.
6) there is no any active volcano in Xinjiang.

According to the statistic of 51 hot springs, the natural
heat discharge is 2.7*10-7J/s that is equal to standard
coal 2.944*10-7t/a.
2. THE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENTSTATUS OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

By now the exploration and utilization of geothermal
resources in Xinjiang is still in primary stage.
Geothermal survey extent corresponds to regional
geothermal survey level in 80s'. Utilization ofgeothermal resources is limited to cure diseases. 10
hot-spring hospitals have been founded. For instant,
Shuimegou hot spring, aided by Japanese government,
has been built to be modern synthetical hospital ofrecuperation and curing. The building area is 11770
m2. However, Most of hot springs have not been usedbecause of located in mountains and having difficult
traffic conditions.
3. THE EXPLORATION AND UTILIZATION OFXINJIANG GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES IN FUTURE

With the developing the western of China, theexploitation and utilization of Xinjiang geothermal
resources will play a great role in economic
development. Some geothermal resources with better
exploitation and utilization conditions distributein important economic zones of Xinjiang, whichis the basic for exploiting and utilizing geothermal
resources. According to Xinjiang's economic
development program, combined with the economic

REFERENCE

1. Proceedings of THE 2ND TIANJIN GEOTHERMALWORKSHOP 1993.

8

THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES IN XINJIANG, CHINA

Fig. 1 Map of China

Fig. 2 The distribution map of geothermal resources related with deep faults

9ZHANG WEI ZHOUTable. 1
Geography
unit
Altay
mountainregionWest Jungar
mountainregionTianshanmountainregionKunlunmountainregionGeography
unit

Jungar
basin

Tarim
basin
Bole rift

The Characteristics �f Geothermal Resources �n Mountainous Region
Water chemical feature
Mineralization
Water chemical(g/L)
type

Hot water
activity
extension

Hot-spring
occurrences

Temperature(0C)

Flow(L/s)

Strong belt

832-41.5,
the highest 52

0.4-1.79,
max. 6.18

0.14-0.30

HCO3�SO4-Na

Weak belt

133

0.24

1.29

SO4�CL-Na�Ca

2830-50,
the highest 54.5

3.33-5.56,
max. 20.0

0.3-0.99, max.
7.92

SO2�HCO3-Na
SO4�CL-Na�Ca

3

44-54

0.53-1.19

0.54-0.85

SO4�CL-Na

25-30,
the highest 66
40-60,
the highest 72

1.44-7,
max.13
1.39-8.33,
max. 121-4.4, max
138.8

CL�SO4-Na�Ca

39

4

9.41

North Tianshan
stronger belt
MiddleTianshanstrong belt
South Tianshan
beltWest Kunlun
strong belt

717

East Kunlunweak belt

20.3-0.9

SO4�HCO3-Na
HCO3�SO4-Na
CL�SO4�HCO3
�Na

Table. 2

The Geothermal Characters �f Plain Area �n Basins

Appeared
Geothermal
area

StratumsymbolTemperature-Measured
wells

Drilldepth(m)Drill Bottom
temperature(0C)

Averagegeothermal
gradient(0C/hm)West edge

C.P.T

92264-4374

53.7-93.4

2.1-2.7

East edge

C.P

61861-3210

51.4-93.8

2.6-2.9South edge

Q.N

20250-550

17-21

1.5

P.J.K.E

82330-5710

68.5-172.5

1.67-2.85

C.K.N

92600-5525

76.5-155

1.35-2.4r4>5040-90

11-37.1

North-west
marginSouth-west
marginCenter-linedbelt

10THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES IN XINJIANG, CHINA

Table. 3

The Characters �f Hot Steam Springs �n Xinjiang

Spring name

Occurrence Era

AmountTemperature

RemarkHefeng

J2X

1050-62.5

Sulphuric smell

Changji

J2X

2045-95

Boiling soundYili

J2>10100-187

Boiling sound140-60

Wensu
Luntai

J2X

2089-96

Sulphuric smell

Hutubi-1

J2X

670

Sulphuric smell

Hutubi-2

J2X

253-62Sulphuric smell

Table. 4

Gas Component �f Changji Hot Steam Springs

Gas Component
� (%)

O2

N2CO2Ar

No.1

18.09

74.90

3.02

0.41

No.2

21.90

78.88

1.90

0.38

Sampling number

Table. 5

The Geothermal Resources Characteristics �f Distribution Areas �or Exploitation
�nd Utilization

Distribution areaof geothermal
resource

Watertemperature(0C)

Flowamount(L/s)

Mineralization(g/L)

Urumqi belt

25-32.5

0.075-1.3

5.0-4.5

Tianshan northslope belt

31-57

1-20

0.18-0.38

Bele rift belt

32-65

2.1-180.42-2.2

Yili rift belt

54

0.53

0.85

FKuerl anormal
belt

244.5

1.65

F

Not being used

Tashikugan belt

57-65

1-5

1.12-2.66

Medicine treating

Jiashi anormalarea

H2SiO3, F, HBO2,Fe

24-42

Alashanhotsprings

25-52

Beneficialelements for
medicine
Sr, F, Ba, H2S,
HBO2
F, H2SiO3, HBO2,Rn
F, H2S, HBO2,
H2SiO3, Rn

Exploitation andutilization
Hospital for Medicine
treating
Hospital for Medicine
treating
Hospital for Medicine
treating
Medicine treating andfood processing

Not being used
2.5

0.23

11F, Rn, H2SiO3Medicine treating