Artificial Carbon Sequestration in Utah Signee Storrud, Kendall Becker, Ph.D., and Scott Hotaling, Ph.D. Utah State University (USU) Extension Climate Resiliency Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas that helps keep Earth warm and habitable. But since humans began burning large quantities of fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution, there has been a rapid increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from approximately 280 parts per million in 1750 to more than 420 parts per million in 2024. Natural carbon storage processes have been unable to keep up with humans’ carbon dioxide emissions, and the sudden rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide has led to rapid global warming and climate change.
Highlights • Natural carbon storage processes cannot keep up with humans’ carbon dioxide emissions. •
To help rebalance Earth’s carbon cycle and reduce climate warming, humans can artificially store carbon underground.
One climate adaptation tool that may help rebalance Earth’s • Because of their geologic carbon cycle is artificial carbon storage. Geological carbon features, many areas in Utah sequestration, a form of artificial carbon storage, involves may be suitable for artificial capturing carbon dioxide gas and storing it within the Earth. geological carbon sequestration. Geological structures like deep saline aquifers, drilled oil and gas fields, subsurface sedimentary formations, subsurface folds of bedrock, buried flows of basalt from past volcanic activity, and deep coal beds can have the capacity to store carbon dioxide. Because some of these features are common in Utah, entities within the state may be well-positioned to take advantage of geological carbon sequestration.
The Carbon Dioxide Problem Over millions of years, the natural carbon cycle has regulated the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, causing Earth’s climate to fluctuate between periods of warming, when there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and cooling, when there is less. The carbon cycle is driven by two components: 1. Sources, which emit carbon. Earth’s natural carbon sources include volcanoes, fires, and animal respiration. 2. Sinks, which store carbon. Natural carbon sinks include forests, soils, oceans, and chemical weathering of rocks. Because human-caused carbon emissions have greatly outpaced Earth’s natural carbon sinks, we are currently in a period of rapid warming (Understanding Global Change, 2020). To help rebalance Earth’s carbon cycle and reduce climate warming, humans can use artificial carbon storage techniques, such as geological carbon sequestration. 1