PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL FOR CARBON STORAGE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC IGNEOUS PROVINCE

The formation of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) began roughly 56 million years ago, and is identified as a possible trigger for the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) [1], a global warming event caused by a rapid input of large amount of carbon in the ocean and atmosphere [2]. The PETM is of particular interest because it provides the best analog to present-day global warming associated with anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) launched Expedition 396 to investigate the causes of this intense volcanism and its link with the PETM. Another objective of this expedition was to evaluate the potential for carbon capture and storage in this basaltic province. In fact, because conventional reservoirs (e.g., sandstone formations) are estimated to only reach half the required volume, basalt deposits are increasingly being tested for their potential suitability. In theory, CO₂ injected into basalt can form stable carbonates. The main advantage of this method is the low risk of leakage due to the transformation of CO₂ into stable carbonate minerals [3]. Pilot projects such as CarbFix (Iceland) and Wallula (USA) have shown that basalt deposits could indeed offer a good alternative for long-term CO₂ storage. This work aims to preliminarily assess the NAIP’s capability of sequestering carbon by analyzing basaltic samples collected during the IODP Expedition 396. By conducting in situ analyses on the alteration material present in these basaltic samples, we test for the occurrence of natural carbon mineralization. Image analysis (with ImageJ) of the core pictures aims to approximate the amount of free space (vesicles and fractures) readily available for carbon storage. Calculations will then be carried out to extrapolate our results to the whole NAIP in order to estimate the volume of CO₂ that can potentially be stored in this basaltic province.

References: [1] Planke et al. (2023) doi:10.14379/iodp.proc.396.101.2023; [2] Bowen et al. (2014) doi:10.1038/ngeo2316; [3] Razza et al. (2022) doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104036