85 The Power of Hard Rocks: Driving the Energy Transition and Serving Society

This session examines how mafic and ultramafic rocks contribute to the energy transition by 1) generating hydrogen gas, 2) trapping CO2 through carbon mineralization, and 3) providing critical minerals for climate change mitigation and renewable energy production.

Monday, 20 October 2025
8:00 AM - 11:30 AM
HBGCC, 216AB

Assessing the Potential of Fluid Inclusion Degassing by Chemical and Mechanical Alteration of Exposed Rocks.

Paper number: 85-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:25 AM – 8:40 AM

Authors

Abstract

Quantifying geological fluxes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has been a subject of interest in the past decades to better understand present day climate change. Efforts to address the role of deep Earth processes in the global carbon cycle have mostly focused on estimating deep carbon sources and sinks in the Earth's crust and mantle, yet greenhouse gas emission contributions from exposed metamorphic rocks remain widely unconstrained. Here we present a preliminary assessment of greenhouse gases in fluid inclusions that are released by the mechanical and chemical alteration of exhumed metasedimentary rocks with the goal of quantifying CO2 and CH4 emission potential into the atmosphere.  

Preliminary CH4 and CO2 concentrations measured by bulk gas extraction analysis suggest that concordant quartz veins in metapelites have higher potential for fluid inclusion degassing when compared to their host rock. Emission potential estimates in veins were as high as 7.40 X 107 tons of CH4 per km3 of rock and 1.70 X 107 tons of CO2 per km3 of rock, while the host rocks yield CH4 and CO2 estimates three to four orders of magnitude less. Our dataset, even if preliminary, provides an important starting point for the assessment of the global scale contribution of fluid inclusion decrepitation to geologic greenhouse gas emissions. 

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

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-414401

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