ASSESSMENT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MESOZOIC RIFT BASINS FOR CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is becoming an increasingly critical technology for mitigating climate change and reducing anthropogenic carbon emissions. Due to the economic and regulatory challenges of transporting captured CO2 across long distances, storing CO2 within geologic formations near to major point source emissions is often preferred. This presents a challenge in regions such as the Atlantic coast of North America, which hold significant carbon emissions but with a limited history of petroleum production. One potential storage location is within the Mesozoic rift basins along the east coast of North America. These basins stretch from the eastern Gulf of Mexico to the northeastern tip of Canada. Some of these basins have been previously investigated for hydrocarbon resources and some operate as oil producing fields, with highly favorable results. These previous investigations have discovered potential saline aquifers that may have properties suitable to act as reservoirs for carbon storage. Additionally, the rifting process during the breakup of Pangea deposited igneous formations including basalt, which may be viable for large-scale carbon mineralization. This, in combination with growing interest in oil production and carbon capture storage within these basins, puts the basin chain at a favorable disposition for a comprehensive carbon capture storage review, accompanied by the existent research into potential within basins of interest. This study conducts a comprehensive review of the Mesozoic rift basins of North America, examining their proximity to emission point sources and the geologic formations that may be suitable for permanently storing thousands to millions of tons of CO2. We identify the South Georgia Basin, Fundy Basin, and the Jeanne d’Arc Basin as highly suitable for CCS development based on these criteria.