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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Environmental Geosciences (DEG)

Abstract

Environmental Geosciences, V. 20, No. 3 (September 2013), P. 109–135.

Copyright copy2013. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists/Division of Environmental Geosciences. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/eg.06101313003

An evaluation of porosity and potential use for carbon dioxide storage in the Upper Cretaceous Lawson Formation and Paleocene Cedar Keys Formation of south-central and southern Florida

Tina L. Roberts-Ashby,1 Mark T. Stewart,2 Brandon N. Ashby3

1Department of Geology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SCA 528, Tampa, Florida, present address : U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 956, Reston, Virginia 20192; [email protected]
2Department of Geology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SCA 528, Tampa, Florida; [email protected]
3Cardno Entrix, 3905 Crescent Park Drive, Riverview, Florida; [email protected]

AUTHORS

Tina Roberts-Ashby is a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. She received her Ph.D. in geology from the University of South Florida, and her M.S. degree in hydrogeology and her B.S. degree in environmental science with minor in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Research interests include reservoir characterization; geologic carbon sequestration; and carbonate sedimentology, diagenesis, and geochemistry.

Mark Stewart is a professor at the University of South Florida. He received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his M.S. degrees in water resources management and geology from the University of Wisconsin, and his B.A. degree in geological sciences from Cornell University. Research interests include carbon sequestration, mathematical modeling of hydrologic systems, and climate change effects on hydrologic systems.

Brandon Ashby is a consulting geoscientist who specializes in hydrogeologic and environmental investigations, research, and analysis within the southeastern United States. He currently works for Cardno ENTRIX as a senior hydrogeologist. He earned a B.S. degree in geology from Florida State University and is a licensed professional geologist and certified mapping scientist.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Thomas Scott for his review of this article and expert advice on Florida geology. Additionally, the authors thank the Florida Geological Survey for their gracious assistance with sample analyses.

ABSTRACT

The Cretaceous rocks of Florida have been recognized as potentially suitable reservoirs for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. Specifically, the upper member of the Upper Cretaceous Lawson Formation, together with the lower part of the Paleocene Cedar Keys Formation, is presented here as a potential composite CO2 storage reservoir that is mainly composed of porous dolostone sealed by thick anhydrites of the overlying middle Cedar Keys Formation. Many of the porous intervals within the Cedar Keys-Lawson storage reservoir display lateral continuity and have an average porosity range of 20%–30%. The estimated CO2 storage capacity for the reservoir is approximately 97 billion t of CO2, which means the Lawson and Cedar Keys Formations composite reservoir could potentially support CO2 sequestration for hundreds of large-scale power plants in the southeastern United States for their entire 40-yr lifespan. Because most of the previous research on the Lawson Formation is concentrated in north-central and northeastern Florida and southern Georgia, this study further characterizes the formation and its CO2 sequestration potential in south-central and southern Florida.

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