“Kinder Morgan hit an unexpected ‘gusher’ of carbon dioxide reportedly from fractures in granite in the St. John’s CO2-helium field in eastern Arizona.”
… And if you don’t believe that… they are going to pipeline it to New Mexico and West Texas! (Quote from the Arizona Geology Blog.)
More at Arizona Geology Blog.
The Arizona Geology blog has two entries related to the federal helium reserve:
Bill would keep helium reserve open, promote competition [1]
Arizona could help avoid global helium shortage [2]
Related: Helium [3]: A byproduct of the natural gas industry
[1] http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/2013/02/bill-would-keep-helium-reserve-open.html
[2] http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/2013/02/arizona-could-help-avoid-global-helium.html
[3] http://geology.com/articles/helium/
Inaccurate News Reports about Newberry Caldera and Salton Buttes [1]
Life Beneath the Seafloor [2]
Not Caused by Fracking [3]
Rare Earth Elements in Arizona? [4]
Stolen Petroglyphs [5]
Dispute: Natural Gas Under Natural Gas Storage Fields [6]
Volcano Movies [7]
[1] http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/fearmongering-speculation-newberry-salton-buttes/
[2] http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=126049&WT_mc_id=USNSF_51&WT_mc_ev=click
[3] http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/ceus/usb0006klz/aftershocks.php
[4] http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/2012/11/rethinking-rare-earth-element-potential.html
[5] http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-petroglyphs-theft-20121119,0,6886011.story
[6] http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/11/gas_storage_fields_complicatin.html
[7] http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/your-guide-to-volcanoes-in-movies/
The United States and other countries are running out of helium [1]. Helium is a byproduct of the natural gas industry and is used in welding, cryogenics, controlled atmospheres, breathing mixtures, leak detection and for manufacturing a large number of optical and imaging technology products.
[1] http://geology.com/articles/helium/
More at Arizona Geology Blog.
“Helium is produced by the decay of uranium and thorium in granitoid basement rocks. The liberated helium is buoyant and moves towards the surface in porosity associated with basement faults. The helium then moves upwards through porous sedimentary cover until it is trapped with natural gas under beds of anhydrite or salt.” Quoted from the Geology.com article.
More at Geology.com.
“Hydraulic fracturing is rarely used in Arizona and thus is not a threat. There are no shale-gas wells in Arizona and there has been no horizontal drilling and no hydraulic fracturing associated with those types of wells.” Quoted from the Arizona Geological Survey article.
More at Arizona Geological Survey.
