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Nationwide Heat Flow, Temperature Gradient, and Related Data - SMU Node of the NGDS
This dataset compiles heat flow and temperature gradient data from over 44,000 wells across the United States, along with more than 6,000 related geothermal exploration resources. Originally assembled prior to 2014 for the now-retired National Geothermal Data System (NGDS), the collection includes curated well data, scanned field notes, temperature-depth curves, publications, maps, and other supporting documents. SMU Geothermal Laboratory contributed two different nationwide heat flow databases to the project. One is based on equilibrium temperature measurements (over 14,000 sites) and the other is based on corrected bottom hole temperature (BHT) data from oil and gas industry wells (over 30,000 sites). In addition, scanned field notes and temperature-depth curves were associated with approximately 6,000 specific sites in the heat flow database. Records were corrected and overlapping sites in the equilibrium heat flow database were linked between the original SMU National database and the UND Global Heat Flow database. New or related sites, which were not previously published because they lacked full heat flow content, are now included as gradient only information along with their detailed temperature data to fill in data gaps. Finally, SMU submitted over 920 scanned publications, reports, and maps suitable for full text searching. The dataset is provided in two flat-structured zip archives: one containing the curated well data and another containing related resources. An Excel index file is provided for each archive, allowing filtering by well name, location, and description. Data files are labeled with state or institutional origin where available.
Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | public |
| bureauCode |
[
"019:20"
]
|
| contactPoint |
{
"fn": "Maria Richards",
"@type": "vcard:Contact",
"hasEmail": "mailto:geothermal@smu.edu"
}
|
| dataQuality |
true
|
| description | This dataset compiles heat flow and temperature gradient data from over 44,000 wells across the United States, along with more than 6,000 related geothermal exploration resources. Originally assembled prior to 2014 for the now-retired National Geothermal Data System (NGDS), the collection includes curated well data, scanned field notes, temperature-depth curves, publications, maps, and other supporting documents. SMU Geothermal Laboratory contributed two different nationwide heat flow databases to the project. One is based on equilibrium temperature measurements (over 14,000 sites) and the other is based on corrected bottom hole temperature (BHT) data from oil and gas industry wells (over 30,000 sites). In addition, scanned field notes and temperature-depth curves were associated with approximately 6,000 specific sites in the heat flow database. Records were corrected and overlapping sites in the equilibrium heat flow database were linked between the original SMU National database and the UND Global Heat Flow database. New or related sites, which were not previously published because they lacked full heat flow content, are now included as gradient only information along with their detailed temperature data to fill in data gaps. Finally, SMU submitted over 920 scanned publications, reports, and maps suitable for full text searching. The dataset is provided in two flat-structured zip archives: one containing the curated well data and another containing related resources. An Excel index file is provided for each archive, allowing filtering by well name, location, and description. Data files are labeled with state or institutional origin where available. |
| distribution |
[
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "Related Resources.zip",
"format": "zip",
"accessURL": "https://gdr.openei.org/files/1704/Cleaned_Related_Resources.zip",
"mediaType": "application/zip",
"description": "Archive containing supporting materials such as scanned publications, maps, well logs, and other documents associated with geothermal exploration efforts."
},
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "Download Data Files.zip",
"format": "zip",
"accessURL": "https://gdr.openei.org/files/1704/Download%20Data%20Files.zip",
"mediaType": "application/zip",
"description": "Archive containing all curated geothermal well data, including metadata-rich content from multiple institutions and data types, as detailed in the index file."
},
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "Download Data Index.xlsx",
"format": "xlsx",
"accessURL": "https://gdr.openei.org/files/1704/data_index.xlsx",
"mediaType": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet",
"description": "Index of all files in the curated well data archive, structured similarly to the resource index file."
},
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "Related Resources Index.xlsx",
"format": "xlsx",
"accessURL": "https://gdr.openei.org/files/1704/resource_index.xlsx",
"mediaType": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet",
"description": "Index of all files in the related resources archive, with metadata fields including location, description, and well name for filtering."
}
]
|
| identifier | https://data.openei.org/submissions/8566 |
| issued | 2014-03-01T07:00:00Z |
| keyword |
[
"BHT",
"NGDS",
"NGDS-SMU",
"SMU node",
"energy",
"geological data",
"geothermal",
"geothermal exploration",
"geothermal mapping",
"geothermal wells",
"heat flow",
"oil and gas wells",
"processed data",
"publications",
"radiogenic heat",
"subsurface data",
"technical reports",
"temperature gradient",
"thermal conductivity",
"well data"
]
|
| landingPage | https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1704 |
| license | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| modified | 2025-12-08T22:19:28Z |
| programCode |
[
"019:006"
]
|
| projectLead | Arlene Anderson |
| projectNumber | EE0002852 |
| projectTitle | American Recovery and Reinvestment Award: Geothermal Data Aggregation |
| publisher |
{
"name": "Southern Methodist University ",
"@type": "org:Organization"
}
|
| spatial |
"{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-167.7267,13.518],[-53.8316,13.518],[-53.8316,75.0714],[-167.7267,75.0714],[-167.7267,13.518]]]}"
|
| title | Nationwide Heat Flow, Temperature Gradient, and Related Data - SMU Node of the NGDS |
