Rose Run Sandstone

This review article summarizes the factors that influence the storage of C02 in deep aquifers. A case study of expected mineral-brine-C02 reactions in the Rose Run Sandstone, a deep aquifer and oil- and gas-containing formation in the Appalachian Basin area of eastern Ohio, USA, is presented. Geochemical reactions between C02, brine, and formation minerals are emphasized in the example because these reactions determine the ultimate fate of C02. 

Case study C02 storage in the Rose Run Sandstone, Eastern Ohio... 

The Rose Run Sandstone is the best characterized of the Cambrian sandstones because it is also an oil and gas reservoir (Fig. 3). It is also the only one of the Cambrian sandstones that is known to retain its sandstone composition in the eastern part of the state rather than passing laterally into carbonate. The Rose Run Sandstone is a sandy layer in the middle of the Knox Dolomite (Fig. 4), which across much of eastern Ohio lies at depths suitable for injection of supercritical C02 (Fig. 3). The Rose Run Sandstone was deposited in a passive margin phase of the Appalachian Basin and consists of interbedded layers of carbonate, primarily dolos-tone, and sandstone (Fig. 5). The sandstone is compositionally mature, consisting largely of quartz. Subordinate reactive minerals are the alkali feldspars and locally abundant glauconite (Fig. 5). Dolomite and quartz are the dominant cements (Janssens 1973 Riley et al. 1993). 

Erosional truncation by the Knox unconformity restricts the Rose Run Sandstone to the... 

Fig. 3. Map showing depth to Knox Unconformity where it overlies the Rose Run Sandstone in eastern Ohio. (Contour interval in metres AEP, American Electric Power.)...

Fig. 5. Measured section of core through part of the Rose Run Sandstone. For location of core, see Fig. 3.

Estimates of storage capacity based on simple flow and equilibrium geochemical models indicate that the Rose Run Sandstone, by itself, potentially can store 30 years of emissions from the five largest coal-burning power plants in eastern Ohio. Ultimately the injected C02 can dissolve into the brine and be converted to the stable, immobile, carbonate mineral phases, primarily siderite, dawsonite, and calcite. 

The mineral content of the Rose Run Sandstone is similar to other deep formations that are being considered for sequestration of C02, including other Cambrian sandstones deep beneath Ohio (Janssens 1973) and the glauconitic sandstone in the Alberta Basin of Canada (Gunter et al. 1993). Like the Rose Run, these... 

Research on the carbon storage potential of the Rose Run Sandstone is supported by Ohio Coal Research Consortium Grant OCRC3-00-4.C4-1. The authors are grateful to J. Friedmann (University of Maryland) and S. Bachu (Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Canada) and R. Giere for their helpful reviews. 

Riley, R. A., Harper, J. A., Baranoski, M. T., Laughrey, C. D. Carlton, R. W. 1993. Measuring and Predicting Reservoir Heterogeneity in Complex Deposystems The Late Cambrian Rose Run Sandstone of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium, Morgantown, West Virginia. 

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