I’m immediately suspicious about “miracle cures”, so I’m less than enthused by the idea of sequestering all of that excess greenhouse gas we’re producing underground. “Hey, let’s dump the problem and forget about it” – that was the approached used, to disastrous, expensive, effect, with chemical weapons from World War I, and by far too many industries since then.
So I’m not surprised by a nasty surprise for those testing out the idea of “burying” carbon dioxide:
It’s staying where they put it, but it’s chewing up minerals. The reactions have produced a nasty mix of metals and organic substances in a layer of sandstone 1550 meters down, researchers report this week in Geology. At the same time, the CO2 is dissolving a surprising amount of the mineral that helps keep the gas where it’s put. Nothing is leaking out so far, but the phenomenon will need a closer look before such carbon sequestration can help ameliorate the greenhouse problem, say the researchers.
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