CO2 Storage Potential of the CambroOrdovician Saline System in the Northern Great Plains Prairie Region of North America
A 3-year binational effort between the United States and Canada was initiated to characterize the 1.34-million-km2 CambroOrdovician saline system (COSS) in the northern Great PlainsPrairie region of North America and determine its CO2 storage resource. To date, no other studies have attempted to characterize the storage resource potential of large, deep saline systems that span the U.S.Canada international border. Significant effort is being devoted to understanding the geologic and hydrogeologic architecture of the COSS and its CO2 storage resource. Stratigraphically, the COSS is the lowermost saline system in the region and is dominated by thick, clean sandstone in Alberta and grades into alternating sandstone, shale, and carbonate lithologies in west-central North Dakota. Porosity of the system varies from less than 1% in the very deep areas to more than 25% in shallower regions. The saline system reaches a thickness of 400 meters in west-central North Dakota and central Saskatchewan and is capped by an extensive series of shale and low-permeability carbonates. The area of the basal saline system suitable for CO2 storage wasdetermined using the following criteria: a) CO2 should be stored at a distance greater than 20 km from the 10,000-mg/L water salinity isoline to protect groundwater resources, b) porosity should be greater than 4% to ensure storage resource and injectivity, and c) COView/Download Document
Event/Meeting Information
PCOR Partnership 2013 Annual Membership Meeting
9/25/2013
Minneapolis, MN