EXAMINATION OF THE QUEENSTON FORMATION IN CENTRAL NEW YORK FOR GEOLOGIC CARBON DIOXIDE STORAGE POTENTIAL

A statewide reconnaissance of targets for subsurface geologic carbon dioxide storage in New York State by the New York State Museum highlighted the Upper Ordovician Queenston Formation as a potential target. We explore in greater detail the total pore volume and lateral variability of the Queenston Formation around five AES coal-fired power plants in central NY. In the study area, the Queenston Formation is a sequence of southwestward-thickening sandstones, and in western NY and Ontario, Canada, the Queenston Formation is composed of shale and siltstone. Several interpretations of the Queenston Formation depositional system may be made based on sparse well log, core, and seismic data from central and western NY. We believe the strongest hypothesis is that the Queenston Formation in central NY is nonmarine and accumulated primarily in braided streams, and that it grades westward into muddier distributary channel, beach, and marine deposits.

The available data sets reveal six stacked petrophysical zones (Queenston A (top) to F (base)). Well log and core data indicate that zones B and C are laterally continuous throughout the study area and have the highest porosity and permeability values within the formation, but seismic data suggest there are internal unconformities within these zones. Well core implies that zones B and C represent a series of baselevel changes. Zones B and C are both thickest in NW-SE trending “channels” in the study area. For wells with neutron porosity and gamma logs, maps of net sandstone thickness with >10% porosity were constructed for zones B and C, and ­areas with high net porous sandstone thickness coincide with the depocenter ‘channels.’

A static CO₂ storage calculation can be made for a specific AES power plant in Tompkins County, New York, where data are relatively abundant. Seismic, core, and well log data suggest that in a 5 mile x 5 mile area surrounding this AES power plant, the Queenston Formation can sequester approximately 52 million metric tons of CO₂ (~22 years of CO₂ production.) Further permeability studies, particularly fracture permeability, must be performed in order to gain insight on Queenston Formation fluid migration paths, and the uncertainty in the environmental interpretation plays a large factor in our confidence of pore volume interconnectivity available for sequestration.