Posted on 03/09/2009 12:43:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Geologists have mapped 6,000 miles of large rock formations in the United States that could be used to store some of the excess carbon dioxide building up in Earth's atmosphere.
The carbon dioxide released by fossil fuel burning has been continually accumulating in the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution. ...
Scientists and engineers have proposed several ways to artificially trap and store some of this excess carbon dioxide in underground aquifers and other large rock formations.
Now scientists at Columbia University's Earth Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey have surveyed the United States and found 6,000 square miles (15,500 square kilometers) of so-called ultramafic rocks at or near the surface that could be ideal for storing the excess gas. The locations of the rocks are detailed in a USGS report.
Originating deep in the earth, these rocks contain minerals that react naturally with carbon dioxide to form solid minerals, a process called mineral carbonation that could make for an ideal storage mechanism. Other so-called carbon sequestration schemes have focused on storing carbon dioxide in liquid or gas form, but these proposals have met with concerns about leaks.
The major drawback to natural mineral carbonation is its slow pace: normally, it takes thousands of years for rocks to react with sizable quantities of carbon dioxide. But scientists are experimenting with ways to speed the reaction up by dissolving carbon dioxide in water and injecting it into the rock, as well as capturing heat generated by the reaction to accelerate the process.
"It offers a way to permanently get rid of carbon dioxide emissions," said Juerg Matter, a scientist at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where a range of projects to tackle the issue is underway.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
How about finding some rocks that provide for efficient storage of electricity?
Egads, global warming chicken littles - do something useful for a change.
What is a Carbon Sink?
http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/070524_carbon_sink.html
You won’t find it in your kitchen or bathroom: Carbon sinks are natural systems that suck up and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The main natural carbon sinks are plants, the ocean and soil. Plants grab carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to use in photosynthesis; some of this carbon is transferred to soil as plants die and decompose. The oceans are a major carbon storage system for carbon dioxide. Marine animals also take up the gas for photosynthesis, while some carbon dioxide simply dissolves in the seawater.
“Combined, the Earth’s land and ocean sinks absorb about half of all carbon dioxide emissions from human activities,” said Paul Fraser of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
But these sinks, critical in the effort to soak up some of our greenhouse gas emissions, may be stopping up, thanks to deforestation, and human-induced weather changes that are causing the oceanic carbon dioxide “sponge” to weaken, a new study led by Fraser and detailed in the May 18 issue of the journal Science found.
Scientists are looking for ways to help nature along by devising ways to artificially sequester, or store, carbon dioxide underground.
—snip—
We should never play with natural processes.
And the cost will be ... what? ... three trillion dollars?
“It offers a way to permanently get rid of carbon dioxide emissions,”
Yeah, but will it make that fat slob Algore a rich powerful fat slob?
lol .. Gore would be a great villain in a green James Bond movie.
Yeah, I trust them.
Let me guess. All they need is an enormous taxpayer-funded grant to make it work.
By then, we'll have entered the next Little Ice Age.
yay, we are gonna be saved by the rocks. does al gore own these?
Someone swap Oil deposits map with carbon rock map and let’s find Oil accidentally when we drill ?
I’ll take scotch on those rocks.
> The major drawback to natural mineral carbonation is its slow pace: normally, it takes thousands of years for rocks to react with sizable quantities of carbon dioxide. But scientists are experimenting with ways to speed the reaction up by dissolving carbon dioxide in water and injecting it into the rock, as well as capturing heat generated by the reaction to accelerate the process.
So we are down to rocks now for our future, instead of investing in technology that actually works. God help us from these nitwit algoreacles...
Great a solution for a non existent problem.
How about “FoGetAbouDit”...it’s all based on a hoax and a faux crisis in the first place.
The Bulls*it just never ends....
I wonder if these government paid geniuses ever thought about taking that CO2 laden water and using it to make cement blocks?
Then they could make more ugly government buildings with the blocks.
Can’t these people just hold their breath? Forever?
Removing carbon dioxide will starve plants thereby we will have less oxygen.
You don’t want that do you?
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