Scientists say buried volcanic rocks along the heavily
populated coasts of New York, New Jersey and New England, as well as further
south, might be ideal reservoirs to lock away carbon dioxide emitted by power
plants and other industrial sources. A recent study in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences outlines formations on land, as well as
offshore, where scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory say the best potential sites may lie.
Underground burial, or sequestration, of globe-warming
carbon dioxide is the subject of increasing study across the country. But up
till now, research in New York has focused on inland sites where plants might
send power-plant emissions into shale, a sedimentary rock that underlies much of
the state. Similarly, a proposed coal-fired plant in Linden, N.J. would pump
liquefied CO2 offshore into sedimentary sandstone. The idea is controversial
because of fears that CO2 might leak. By contrast, the new study targets
basalt, an igneous rock, which the scientists say has significant advantages.
Some basalt on land already is well-known and highly
visible. The vertical cliffs of the Palisades, along the west bank of the
Hudson River near Manhattan, are pure basalt, and the rocks, formed some 200
million years ago, extend into the hills of central New Jersey. Similar masses
are found in central Connecticut. Previous research by Lamont scientists and
others shows that carbon dioxide injected into basalt undergoes natural
chemical reactions that eventually will turn it into a solid mineral resembling
limestone. If the process were made to work on a large scale, this would help
obviate the danger of leaks.
The study's authors, led by geophysicist David Goldberg,
used existing research to outline more possible basalt underwater, including
four areas of more than 1,000 square kilometers each, off northern New Jersey,
Long Island and Massachusetts. A smaller patch appears to lie more or less
under the beach of New Jersey's Sandy Hook peninsula, opposite New York's
harbor and not far from the proposed plant in Linden. The undersea formations
are inferred from seismic and gravity measurements.
"We would need to drill them to see where we're
at," says Goldberg. "But we could potentially do deep burial here.
The coast makes sense. That's where people are. That's where power plants are
needed. And by going offshore, you can reduce risks." Goldberg and his
colleagues previously identified similar formations off the U.S. Northwest.
Goldberg says that the undersea formations are potentially
most useful, for several reasons. For one, they are deeper – an important
factor, since CO2 pressurized into a liquid would have to be placed at least
2,500 feet below the surface for natural pressure to keep it from reverting to
a gas and potentially then making its way back to the surface. The basalts on
land are relatively shallow, but those at sea are covered not only by water,
but hundreds or thousands of feet of sediment, and appear to extend far below
the seabed. In addition to providing pressure, sediments on top would form
impermeable caps, says Goldberg. The basalts are thought to contain porous,
rubbly layers with plenty of interstices where CO2 could fit, simply by
displacing seawater. On land, by contrast, there are concerns that drilling and
injection could disturb aquifers or otherwise get in the way of neighbors. The
scientists estimate that just the small Sandy Hook basin may contain about 7
cubic kilometers of the rock, with enough pore space to hold close to a billion
tons of CO2 – the equivalent of the emissions from four 1-billion-watt
coal-fired plants over 40 years.
"The basalt itself is very reactive, and in the end,
you make limestone," says coauthor Dennis Kent. "It's the ultimate
repository."
Previous
research has identified other areas of basalt sprinkled along the Appalachians.
The largest mass of all appears to extend offshore of Georgia and South
Carolina, as well as inland. This coast also is populous, and would make a good
target, says Goldberg. "The next step would be to get some exploratory
surveying and drilling going," he says. The paper suggests a half-dozen
spots around New York including the Sandy Hook area, and three off South
Carolina, as a start.