112-8 Geologic Hydrogen Potential of the Midcontinent Rift System in Iowa, USA: Background and Preliminary Research Efforts Using Legacy Data

Session: Geophysics in Investigating and Exploring for Mineral, Energy and Groundwater Resources (Posters)

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The 1.1 billion year-old Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) that extends through much of the midwestern United States has recently become of great interest for exploration of geologic hydrogen. When in contact with water within a specific pressure-temperature regime, mafic and ultramafic source rocks associated with the MRS at depth would serpentinize to release hydrogen gas. In Iowa, subsurface data of the MRS are sparse, due mainly to all water wells being drilled in overlying Paleozoic or younger strata and the lack of oil and gas industry activity, the latter which effectively ceased in the 1980s. Because data at depth of the MRS is sparse, subsurface hydrogen system source rock, migration pathways, and trap components are poorly understood. The Iowa Geological Survey (IGS) has begun modernizing and analyzing legacy data from energy exploration and natural gas storage fields to facilitate research efforts in this domestic energy industry. Synthesis of high-resolution lithologic logs with wireline borehole surveys and seismic reflection data in the new context of hydrogen exploration may reveal important features or relationships that were missed in the original exploration for hydrocarbons. Particularly, the neutron borehole log has been shown as a proxy for proven subsurface hydrogen reserves (Maiga et al 2023) in the Bourakebougou, Mali system. The IGS is analyzing neutron and other wireline surveys from an abandoned natural gas storage field in north-central Iowa for possible hydrogen gas shows in different formations. 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-9087

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