Hot Spring Resources in Shanghe County

Shanghe County lies within the geothermal zone of northern Shandong, with clastic rock pore-fracture geothermal reservoirs. Within the economically exploitable depth of 2,000 metres, four geothermal reservoir formations occur from top to bottom: the Guantao Formation of the Neogene Period, and the Dongying Formation, Shahejie Formation and Kongdian Formation of the Paleogene Period. The Guantao Formation constitutes the primary geothermal reservoir.

The Guantao Formation is widely distributed across Shanghe County, covering an area of 1,147.19 square kilometres, accounting for approximately 98.6% of the county’s total land area.

The top boundary of the reservoir lies 1,000–1,200 metres underground, and the bottom boundary ranges from 1,100 to 1,500 metres in depth, with a formation thickness between 0 and 500 metres. Both burial depth and reservoir thickness gradually increase from the northeast and southeast toward the central and southwestern parts of the county.

Based on water yield capacity, the reservoir is divided into three zones: high-yield, medium-yield and low-yield zones.

High-yield zone
Single-well water yield ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 cubic metres per day. This zone stretches in a northeast-southwest strip roughly along Provincial Highway S316, covering the county seat, Jiazhuang and Longsangsi. It extends south to the Linyi-Huimin Fault and north to the western segment of the Zhengjiazhai-Yanghu Fault and the Longsangsi line, with an area of 411.62 square kilometres.
Medium-yield zone
Single-well water yield stands at 500–1,000 cubic metres per day. This zone sits on the northern and southern flanks of the high-yield zone, covering a total area of 434.74 square kilometres.
Low-yield zone
The remaining parts of the Guantao Formation reservoir fall into this category, where single-well water yield is less than 500 cubic metres per day, covering an area of 157.29 square kilometres.