2012/06/18 by Mark D. Zoback, Steven M. Gorelick · 8 citations
Environmental Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Chemistry · #CO2 Sequestration and Geologic Interactions #earthquake and tectonic studies #Geological and Geophysical Studies Worldwide #Greenhouse gas #Context (archaeology) #Carbon dioxide #Climate change #Environmental science #Scale (ratio) #Carbon capture and storage (timeline) #Coal #Geology #Waste management #Engineering #Chemistry #Geography #Paleontology #Oceanography
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1202473109
openalex publication_date 2012/06/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Despite its enormous cost, large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered a viable strategy for significantly reducing CO(2) emissions associated with coal-based electrical power generation and other industrial sources of CO(2) [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2005) IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eds Metz B, et al. (Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK); Szulczewski ML, et al. (2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109:5185-5189]. We argue here that there is a high probability that earthquakes will be triggered by injection of large volumes of CO(2) into the brittle rocks commonly found in continental interiors. Because even small- to moderate-sized earthquakes threaten the seal integrity of CO(2) repositories, in this context, large-scale CCS is a risky, and likely unsuccessful, strategy for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.