GLACISTORE

Understanding Late Cenozoic Glaciation and Basin Processes for the Development of Secure Large Scale Offshore CO2 Storage (North Sea)

Funding: GASSNOVA

Project period: 2014-2015

Project coordinator: SINTEF, Trondheim

Project partners: UiB, UiO, BGS, IFE, STATOIL, Lundin Norway AS, University of Edinburgh

People involved at UiB: Berit Oline Hjelstuen, Hans Petter Sejrup

Main objectives:  The sedimentary strata of the North Sea Basin (NSB) record the glacial and interglacial history of environmental change in the Northern Hemisphere, and are a proposed location for the engineered storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured from power plant and industrial sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These aspects interact in the geomechanical and fluid flow domain, as ice sheet dynamics change the properties of potential seal and reservoir rocks that are the prospective geological storage strata for much of Europe’s captured CO₂. An increased understanding of these sequences will assist and improve quantitative predictions of the performance of prospective CO₂ storage sites in glaciated areas in Europe and worldwide; to include improved resolution of glacial cycles,  characterise pore fluids, flow properties of CO₂ within glacial features (e.g. tunnel valleys) and the geomechanical effects (quantify compaction, rock stiffness, strength and stress profiles) of advancing and retreating ice on the underlying strata to verify and constrain models of glaciation.

 We are aiming at submitting a proposal to the International Ocean Discovery Program (852-Pre) with the objectives:

• A refined understanding and stratigraphic calibration of the Earth's Plio-Pleistocene climate history in an area where the most complete sequence is preserved;

• Better understanding of the geometry, dynamics, processes and wider impact of ice sheet development;

• Understanding the fluid communication and its evolution during a period of fluctuating pressure conditions in shale-dominated basins and its implications for CO₂ storage;

• Understanding and quantifying the effects of ice sheet loading/unloading on underlying strata, on geomechanical properties, horizontal stress and CO₂ storage site performance