Geologic carbon storage is unlikely to trigger large earthquakes and reactivate faults through which CO2 could leak.

ABSTRACT: Zoback and Gorelick [(2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(26):10164-10168] have claimed that geologic carbon storage in deep saline formations is very likely to trigger large induced seismicity, which may damage the caprock and ruin the objective of keeping CO2 stored deep underground. We argue that felt induced earthquakes due to geologic CO2 storage are unlikely because (i) sedimentary formations, which are softer than the crystalline basement, are rarely critically stressed; (ii) the least stable situation occurs at the beginning of injection, which makes it easy to control; (iii) CO2 dissolution into brine may help in reducing overpressure; and (iv) CO2 will not flow across the caprock because of capillarity, but brine will, which will reduce overpressure further. The latter two mechanism

SUBMITTER: Vilarrasa V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4434732 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature