Colorado Plateau has sequestered CO2 for million years

A new scientific study from researchers at the University of Manchester finds that "carbon dioxide has been naturally stored for more than a million years in several gas fields in the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains, according to a summary in Science Daily.

The authors are quoted as saying "underground CO₂ storage, in the correct place, should be a safe option to help us cope with emissions until we can develop cleaner energy sources."

Some of the largest coal-fired electric power plants in the region operate on the Colorado Plateau, and their continuation may depend on viable methods and locations for sequestering carbon dioxide emissions.

Their findings are published in the latest issue of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

Ref: 'The noble gas geochemistry of natural CO2 gas reservoirs from the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountain provinces, USA', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 15th February 2008, Vol 72, No. 4, p1174-1198.