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Abstract The numerous CO 2 reservoirs in the Colorado Plateau region of the United States are natural analogues for potential geological CO 2 sequestration repositories. To understand better the risk of leakage from reservoirs used for long-term underground CO 2 storage, we examine evidence for CO 2 migration along two normal faults that cut a reservoir in east-central Utah. CO 2 -charged springs, geysers, and a hydrocarbon seep are localized along these faults. These include natural springs that have been active for long periods of time, and springs that were induced by recent drilling. The CO 2 -charged spring waters have deposited travertine mounds and carbonate veins. The faults cut siltstones, shales, and sandstones and the fault rocks are fine-grained, clay-rich gouge, generally thought to be barriers to fluid flow. The geological and geochemical data are consistent with these faults being conduits for CO 2 moving to the surface. Consequently, the injection of CO 2 into faulted geological reservoirs, including faults with clay gouge, must be carefully designed and monitored to avoid slow seepage or fast rupture to the biosphere.
Shipton et al. (Thu,) studied this question.