Carbon Sequestration


Carbon burial permanent under sea floor






On 10 February 2007 an amendment to international law came into force that allows greenhouse gas to be buried beneath the sea floor.


A team of environmental engineers say leakage worries are unfounded and that natural reactions will lock away the carbon dioxide within aquifers for millennia.


If the gas does leak out into the ocean a German team has found it will remain dissolved in seawater longer than previously thought.


This leads to increased acidity at greater depths, harming deepwater corals and marine life. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DO1:10.1073/pnas.0606574104)


It must be injected deep enough underground.


Sequestration is by no means an answer to all problems, but it is claimed by many to be an integral part of the solution.


(New Scientist, No 2591, 17 February 2007)

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