Abstract

The recent ‘polar vortex’ in North America and the current heat wave in Australia is bringing climate change once again to the forefront of society’s mind. Carbon capture and geological storage represents a potential means of managing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. To allow the surface carbon cycle to attenuate atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and reduce atmospheric temperatures, carbon dioxide must be safely stored for at least 10,000 years. It is therefore crucial to accurately predict the performance of geological storage sites through and beyond this timescale for the demonstration of secure storage and to satisfy operational, regulatory and public acceptance criteria. Natural analogues allow study of carbon dioxide-water-rock reactions on timescales inaccessible to laboratory experiments, free from the uncertainties associated with computer models, and also without the costs associated with carbon dioxide injection experiments.