Inversion of synthetic aperture radar interferograms for sourcesof production-related subsidence at the Dixie Valley geothermalfield

We used synthetic aperture radar interferograms to imageground subsidence that occurred over the Dixie Valley geothermal fieldduring different time intervals between 1992 and 1997. Linear elasticinversion of the subsidence that occurred between April, 1996 and March,1997 revealed that the dominant sources of deformation during this timeperiod were large changes in fluid volumes at shallow depths within thevalley fill above the reservoir. The distributions of subsidence andsubsurface volume change support a model in which reduction in pressureand volume of hot water discharging into the valley fill from localizedupflow along the Stillwater range frontal fault is caused by drawdownwithin the upflow zone resulting from geothermal production. Our resultsalso suggest that an additional source of fluid volume reduction in theshallow valley fill might be similar drawdown within piedmont faultzones. Shallow groundwater flow in the vicinity of the field appears tobe controlled on the NW by a mapped fault and to the SW by a lineament ofas yet unknown origin