aquifer

Burying carbon dioxide in underground geologic formations is an attractive option for dealing with increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But before employing such schemes, researchers need to be sure that the greenhouse gas will actually stay put. Scientists have done everything from computer modeling to pumping vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the subsurface to find out if — and how — the gas might be trapped, but gauging how sealed the formations are over geologic time scales is difficult.

Craig Beasley’s one-year term as president of the Society for Exploration Geophysicists had a challenging start. After about two months in office, a magnitude-9-plus earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggering a powerful tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

SEG members wanted to help, but did not know how to contribute their expertise. “I could encourage members to donate money and time, but how does that distinguish a contribution from SEG from what people would normally do?” Beasley says.