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Insights into deep carbon derived from noble gases

Nature Geoscience volume 2, pages 543–547 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Science and society are faced with two challenges that are inextricably linked: fossil-fuel energy dependence and rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Management of remaining hydrocarbon resources, the search for cleaner fuels and increasing interest in subsurface carbon storage all require a better understanding of the deep terrestrial carbon cycle. The coupling of noble gas and carbon chemistry provides an innovative approach to understanding this deep carbon. Whereas carbon geochemistry and isotopic signatures record the history of inorganic and organic reactions that control carbon mobility, the inert noble gases provide unique tracers of fluid origin, transport and age. Together, they have been used to show that groundwater has a key role as both the sink for geologically sequestered carbon dioxide, and in the transport and emplacement of hydrocarbon gas deposits. Furthermore, these tracers have also been used to show that groundwater and subsurface microbiology jointly influence the formation and alteration of fossil-fuel deposits to an extent not previously recognized. The age and distribution of groundwater in fractures in the Earth's crust exert important controls on the Earth's deepest microbial communities.

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Figure 1: Schematic showing that noble gases in any subsurface fluid are derived from three sources: the atmosphere, crust and mantle (see Box 1).
Figure 2: Combined noble gas and stable isotopes distinguish between and quantify different mechanisms of CO2 removal from natural CO2 gas deposits.
Figure 3: Principles used to quantify methane generation through microbial biodegradation of coal by integrating noble gas tracers.

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Acknowledgements

We express our thanks to all the many colleagues and co-workers whose scientific research and insightful advances in the use of noble gas geochemistry and carbon geochemistry informed the developments highlighted in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Toronto, 22 Russell Street, Toronto, M5S 3B1, Ontario, Canada

    B. Sherwood Lollar

  2. School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    C. J. Ballentine

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  1. B. Sherwood Lollar
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Contributions

B.S.L. and C.J.B. jointly conceived and wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to B. Sherwood Lollar or C. J. Ballentine.

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Lollar, B., Ballentine, C. Insights into deep carbon derived from noble gases. Nature Geosci 2, 543–547 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo588

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