- Volcanic island arc geothermal plays can be located in a chain of islands or across the length of larger islands. These islands are formed when two oceanic tectonic plates converge and one plate is subducted below the other plate.
- As one plate is subducted, the associated crustal and mantle rock experiences high temperatures and pressures and begins to melt becoming less dense. This melted rock is called magma and it rises upwards through denser surrounding rocks until it can find lower pressure surroundings at shallower depths.
- Sometimes this magma pierces the Earth’s surface and volcanoes are formed where the magma becomes lava and the ground builds up. This happens over many millions of years to form these islands.
- The volcanic island’s geology often contains strike-slip and normal fault system that help provide a pathway for magmatic conduits to rise up from the subducting slab to the surface and create a stratovolcanic island.
- Volcanoes may have been formed, eroded, and covered by further volcanic activity or sedimentation over the history of the locations, but we are most focused on more recent manifestations where magmatic heat has risen up closer to the surface where we can economically access this heat for use to produce energy.
- Pursuit of this energy would begin with exploration to gather geological, geophysical, and geochemical data about the locations of interest.
