Geochemical Evaluation of the Basal Cambrian System
This geochemical modeling and laboratory study resulted from a binational effort between the United States and Canada to characterize the lowermost aquifer system in the Williston and Alberta Basins of the northern Great Plains prairie region of North America. The goal of the project was to determine the potential for geologic storage of CO2 in rock formations of the 1.34 million-km2 Cambro-Ordovician saline system (COSS). The focus of the report is to evaluate and discuss geochemical modeling and laboratory studies performed by the Energy & Environmental Research Center to determine potential chemical reactions between CO2, brine, and rock on the portion of the COSS that occurs in North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. A literature survey of the CO2-trapping mechanism, past work, and expected CO2rock reactions/interactions both from an experimental approach and a modeling approach is presented followed by a characterization of the study area used for this work and the approach/methodology. Results from geochemical modeling calculations and CO2rock exposure experiments are presented.View/Download Document