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Carbon dioxide sequestration in deep-sea basalt
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Communicated by Wallace S. Broecker, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, May 7, 2008 (received for review April 3, 2008)

Abstract
Developing a method for secure sequestration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in geological formations is one of our most pressing global scientific problems. Injection into deep-sea basalt formations provides unique and significant advantages over other potential geological storage options, including (i) vast reservoir capacities sufficient to accommodate centuries-long U.S. production of fossil fuel CO2 at locations within pipeline distances to populated areas and CO2 sources along the U.S. west coast; (ii) sufficiently closed water-rock circulation pathways for the chemical reaction of CO2 with basalt to produce stable and nontoxic (Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+)CO3 infilling minerals, and (iii) significant risk reduction for post-injection leakage by geological, gravitational, and hydrate-trapping mechanisms. CO2 sequestration in established sediment-covered basalt aquifers on the Juan de Fuca plate offer promising locations to securely accommodate more than a century of future U.S. emissions, warranting energized scientific research, technological assessment, and economic evaluation to establish a viable pilot injection program in the future.
Footnotes
- *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: goldberg{at}ldeo.columbia.edu
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Author contributions: D.S.G. designed research; D.S.G., T.T., and A.L.S. performed research; T.T. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.L.S. analyzed data; and D.S.G. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
- © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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