Carbon sequestration in ultramafic rocks from The Tablelands and White Hills, Newfoundland, Canada

Taylor, Benjamin (2023) Carbon sequestration in ultramafic rocks from The Tablelands and White Hills, Newfoundland, Canada. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (8MB)

Abstract

With the rising concentration of atmospheric CO₂ and a better understanding of its effect on global climate, there is increasing interest in developing methods of removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and its long-term storage. CO₂ mineralization is a naturally occurring process within igneous and ultramafic rocks that converts gaseous CO₂ into carbonate minerals. While a promising method, the many factors that affect CO₂ mineralization are not fully understood and require further investigation. This study focused on two ultramafic ophiolites located in Newfoundland, the Tablelands and the White Hills. In this study, field-based CO₂ sequestration experiments were conducted along with laboratory-based CO₂ sequestration experiments using rock samples from the two ophiolites. The field-based experiments recorded the CO₂ sequestration rates of naturally occurring ultra-basic springs with a pH of 11-12. The laboratory experiments varied parameters such as water chemistry, surface area, CO₂ supply, and sampling locations. This study found that the higher pH waters sequestered the most CO₂ and also had the greatest amount of carbonate mineral precipitation. Additionally, it was found that increasing CO₂ supply increased the amount of precipitated carbonate minerals in almost all experiments.

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