A global assessment of deep-sea basalt sites for carbon sequestration
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- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
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- Document Type:
- Poster
- Date:
- Received 11 December 2008 20:16 UTC; Posted 11 December 2008
- Subjects:
- Earth & Environment
- Abstract:
In recent years, the debate over the most effective means to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere has endorsed multiple approaches and a variety of technologies. Assuring secure storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide is one of our most pressing global scientific challenges that may contribute to achieving a stable solution over the next several decades. Geological sequestration by injection into deep-sea basalt formations provides unique and significant advantages over other potential storage options, including: (a) vast reservoir capacities with high porosity and permeability, sufficient to accommodate centuries-long U.S. production of fossil fuel CO2 at locations within a few hundreds of kilometers of populated areas; (b) chemical reactivity of CO2 with basalt and in situ fluids to produce stable, non-toxic carbonates; and (c) significant risk reduction for post-injection leakage by geological, gravitational, and mineral trapping mechanisms. We compare independent trapping mechanisms available in deep-sea basalts to those in saline aquifers, which have also been proposed as potential storage environments for anthropogenic carbon dioxide. We suggest that deep-sea basalts offer significant advantages over saline aquifers, in terms of reduced risk of post-injection leakage and storage capacity. Using a global site assessment strategy to highlight the most secure oceanic basalt sites that provide all trapping mechanisms, we initially identify potential target regions that occur in deep-sea basalt and calculate the potential injection volume for each. The largest volumes and most secure basalt sites occur in regions adjacent to intermediate- to fast-spreading seismic ridges as well as deep aseismic ridges. We then use site-specific criteria, such as abundance of ODP and IODP drill sites with basement penetration, permeability and/or porosity data, to refine volume calculations and to prioritize these target regions as promising locations to securely accommodate carbon dioxide injection. Pilot injection studies in deep-sea basalts are necessary to establish the viability of these reservoirs for future CO2 sequestration. We suggest that basaltic crust at deep ocean sites offers vast capacity and potential for permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide to mitigate atmospheric build-up of this greenhouse gas.
- Collection:
- Virtual Conference on Climate Change and CO2 Storage
- Presented at:
- Virtual Conference on Climate Change and CCS, 03 December 2008
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- License:
- This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- How to cite this document:
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Goldberg, David and Slagle, Angela. A global assessment of deep-sea basalt sites for carbon sequestration. Available from Nature Precedings <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2008.2640.1> (2008)
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