地质学家发现了美国和加拿大东海岸以外的几个地点可能成为大型、高效而且容易获取的碳封存贮藏库。
Dennis Kent及其同事发现了美国东海岸附近海底中央大西洋岩浆区的几个区域可能安全地封存大量的二氧化碳。这些2亿年历史的岩石是由火山玄武岩组成的，它能够吸收二氧化碳，并形成持久的矿物质。这组作者对这个沿着北美海岸线延伸的区域的分析显示了三个主要的地点：一个在佐治亚州海岸以外，另外两个靠近纽约市。这些玄武岩贮藏库都靠近大型工业化都市中心，而且被掩埋在了厚厚的沉积物之下。
这组作者说，这些地层对来自工厂和发电厂的二氧化碳具有很大的贮藏能力，它们稳定，而且不太可能泄漏。这组科学家提出，全世界类似的陆上地层可以用于测试，而当碳封存技术可行之后，在海底的更大的地层可以用于碳封存。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
PNAS January 4, 2010, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0913721107
Potential on-shore and off-shore reservoirs for CO2 sequestration in Central Atlantic magmatic province basalts
David S. Goldberga, Dennis V. Kenta,b,1 and Paul E. Olsena
aLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964; and
bEarth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
Identifying locations for secure sequestration of CO2 in geological formations is one of our most pressing global scientific problems. Injection into basalt formations provides unique and significant advantages over other potential geological storage options, including large potential storage volumes and permanent fixation of carbon by mineralization. The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province basalt flows along the eastern seaboard of the United States may provide large and secure storage reservoirs both onshore and offshore. Sites in the South Georgia basin, the New York Bight basin, and the Sandy Hook basin offer promising basalt-hosted reservoirs with considerable potential for CO2 sequestration due to their proximity to major metropolitan centers, and thus to large industrial sources for CO2. Onshore sites are suggested for cost-effective characterization studies of these reservoirs, although offshore sites may offer larger potential capacity and additional long-term advantages for safe and secure CO2 sequestration.
