Partners Only

Kids

Educators

Natural Geologic Accumulations of CO₂

For much of its history, the Earth has generated CO₂ from molten rock deep in the ground. Learn more about the sources of geologic CO₂. Volcanic eruptions have long helped transfer CO₂ from deep in the earth to the atmosphere. Learn more about CO₂ over time. Learn more about CO₂ from volcanoes.


Halema'uma'u Crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii by Steve Young, www.volcanovillage.com.
Sometimes upward migrating geologic CO₂ became trapped beneath an impermeable layer of rock and accumulated just the way oil and natural gas accumulates. Major natural underground accumulations of geologic CO₂ have been found in the United States, Europe, and in other areas of the world.^1,2 We know about these secure subsurface deposits of CO₂ only because they were discovered during the search for underground deposits of oil and natural gas. In other areas the geologic CO₂ accumulations are fractured or cut by faults and the geologic CO₂ makes its way over time from these natural accumulations to the surface and then to the atmosphere.³ In a similar way, improperly sealed drill holes can act as conduits for geologic CO₂. ³

In northeastern New Mexico, geologic CO₂ from the Bravo Dome has been a source of CO₂ for the manufacture of dry ice as well as the source of CO2 used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the oilfields of West Texas. Learn more about the discovery, production, and usage of the Bravo Dome geologic CO₂.

Secure, natural subsurface accumulations of geologic CO₂ demonstrate that long-term storage of CO₂ from human activities can occur if geologic conditions are appropriate.

References

1. Evans, J.P., Heath, J., Shipton, Z.K., Kolesar, P.T., Dockrill, B., Williams, A., Kirchner, D., Lachmar, T.E., Nelson, S.T., 2001, Natural analogs for geologic storage of CO₂: an integrated global research program: www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/01/carbon_seq/6a1.pdf (accessed March 15, 2010).
2. Cassidy, M.M., Ballentine, C.J., Sherwood Lollar, B., Lawrence, J., 2007, Bravo Dome CO₂ gas field, New Mexico, USA, and associated noble gases: type example of accumulation of carbon dioxide and window to the mantle: www.searchanddiscovery.com/abstracts/html/2007/annual/abstracts/lbCassidy2.htm (accessed March 15, 2010).
3. Zhou, Z., Ballentine, C.J., Schoell, M., Stevens, S.H., 2003, Noble gas tracing of subsurface CO₂ origin and the role of groundwater as a CO₂ sink, American geophysical union: adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AGUFM.V51H0379 (accessed March 15, 2010).
4. Evans, J.P., Heath, J., Shipton, Z.K., Kolesar, P.T., Dockrill, B., Williams, A., Kirchner, D., Lachmar, T.E., Nelson, S.T., Natural leaking CO₂-charged systems as analogs for geologic sequestration sites: www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/04/carbon-seq/127.pdf (accessed March 15, 2010).