Preliminary Study of The Geothermal Energy Potential In Kerman Province, Ne-Iran

Kerman province (KP) is located in the southeast of Iran. It has 183193 km2 area which consists %11 of whole country. There are 45 warm springs in KP. So, it is the highest amount of warm springs in all provinces of Iran. Their temperature varies from 25 to 73 °C. Kerman and Jiroft counties have the most number of geothermal regions in KP which have 7 and 6 geothermal prospects respectively. According to the geological data except one region almost all of geothermal regions are non-volcanic. There is a meaningful relation between main faults and warm spring’s location in KP. It is believed that two geothermal prospects in the southeastern most corner of the KP are related to neovolcanic activities. Also, there is a recognizable relation between earthquake epicenters and warm spring’s location in KP. In fact, faults strongly control the distribution of geothermal regions in KP. Based on the available data it is found that KP has 38 geothermal prospects. They are distributed in two narrow bands which are elongated in NW-SE direction. Also, they are coincided with the direction of the main faults in KP. Only a few prospects are positioned out of the elongated bands.