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From air to stone

05.02.2009

Studies conducted by American geologists on large outcrops of peridotite in Oman give hope that excess carbon dioxide released into the air due to human activity will be neutralized by geological processes.

The peridotite rock contains large amounts of olivine, a magnesium-based mineral. Reacting with carbon dioxide and water saturated with it, which has turned into a weak solution of carbon dioxide, olivine forms magnesium carbonate - magnesite. There is also dolomite - calcium and magnesium carbonate.

Both minerals are 44% more voluminous than olivine, they push the rock apart, and microcracks the width of a human hair appear in it. Through them, air and water intensively penetrate into the stone, and the process is even more accelerated. It is calculated that Omani peridotites annually absorb hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from the air. A cubic kilometer of peridotite can hold a billion tons of carbon dioxide. For comparison: American coal-fired thermal power plants annually emit one and a half billion tons of this gas.

By drilling holes in the rocks and laying small explosive charges there, it is possible to crush the rock even more actively and increase the penetration of air into it. And if, in addition, the layers of peridotite are heated at the expense of deep geothermal waters, this will also accelerate chemical processes. In general, the earth's crust for the most part consists of peridotites, it's just that they do not always come to the surface in such large quantities as in Oman.

The excavation of peridotite layers, where possible, will also have a healing effect on the atmosphere.

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