REPORT IDENTIFIES REGIONS FOR CO2 STORAGE IN BASALTS

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
12/13/13

Regions of igneous rocks of the upper ocean crust near Australia, Japan, Siberia, South Africa and Bermuda could possibly store large volumes of carbon dioxide, according to University of Southampton scientists in a report published in Geophysical Research Letters. “We have found regions that have the potential to store decades to hundreds of years of industrial carbon dioxide emissions, although the largest regions are far offshore,” said postgraduate researcher Chiara Marieni, who developed maps of the ocean floor that identify where CO2 could safely be stored. “However, further work is needed in these regions to accurately measure local sediment conditions and sample the basalt beneath before this potential can be confirmed.”

The regions range in size from a half million square kilometers to about four million square kilometers. “At high pressures and low temperatures, such as those in the deep oceans, CO2 occurs as a liquid that is denser than seawater,” said a news release from the University of Southampton. “By estimating temperatures in the upper ocean crust, Chiara and her colleagues identified regions where it may be possible to stably store large volumes of CO2 in the basalts. These fractured rocks have high proportions of open space, and over time may also react with the CO2 so that it is locked into solid calcium carbonate, permanently preventing its release into the oceans or atmosphere. As a precaution, Chiara refined her locations to areas that have the additional protection of thick blankets of impermeable sediments to prevent gas escape.”