Teen Science Cafe | Back to the Geosphere: Impacts of CO2 Sequestration Underground

Geological carbon sequestration involves capturing atmospheric CO2, condensing it into liquid form, and pumping it into deep underground aquifers.  Scientists have been exploring the environmental impacts of carbon sequestration, including changes to groundwater geochemistry, subsurface microbial community composition, and the potential for fracturing and escape of CO2 back into the atmosphere.  I’ll give an overview of these impacts and share data illustrating the impact of high CO2 concentrations on subsurface microbial communities.

About our speaker: Megan Plenge is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Her dissertation research focused on microbial controls on water chemistry. She is currently involved with the National Association of Geoscience Teacher (NAGT) as the North Carolina representative to the South East section, and as a program chair for their national conference, the Earth Educator Rendezvous.