Through these ancient pores: an autobiography of a sandstone reservoir

In Memory of an Island Species

Through these ancient pores: an autobiography of a sandstone reservoir By Andy Emery

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Artwork above: I still have energy to give: untitled reservoir by artist Emma Theresa Jude, 2021. © Emma Theresa Jude.

It is hard to say when I was born exactly, whether in a spinning mass of superheated gas, or in the kernel of a sprouting-seed earth, or when I was thrust up to the surface during continental collision. Births and rebirths, but in my current form I know I became myself in deep abyss, a hadal firth where sunlight cannot penetrate. I formed in mass flows, guided by deep-sea channels, a trillion shimmering fragments of quartz tumbling irresistible to gravity’s lure, pulled from the continental shelf to fan out on abyssal plain. In Lower Cretaceous sea, I became me. As time crept on, my languor sealed me in stifling shales. A growing heat, fluid flow from above and below changed my silica bones, altered my very pores, overgrowths, sealed inside of me a porosity and permeability.

That same heat affected my forebears differently, Kimmeridge kerogen cracking and degassing, charging my veins with -thanes, natural gas. Trapped inside of me, mixing with my blood waters, until it rose to impenetrable, impermeable barrier above my highest curves.

The pressure inside of me grew and grew. Release did not come until I found my faults, and through them my pore waters could escape, hydrodynamic flow. But my gas remained trapped, tilted contact pushed by buoyancy and flow, until my most recent history, when from above I was tapped by a multitude of drinkingstraw wells. The called me Captain, Kopervik, Britannia. They had many names for me, the humans, and I felt good to share my energy with them. Over timescales they can barely grasp, I did little with my life. Now on their timescale, I became important, my gases providing power to growing populations.

My energy is not without its drawbacks though, the humans realized. Their thirst to extract my power came with a planetary warning, an impending climate crisis. We are worried, the humans and I. What can I do to help? I am merely a sandstone reservoir, formed aeons ago, an antique collection of mountain shards. The answer lies in the very qualities that gave me my energy in the first place. I am a container, a tank for storage. So the gas I give off, combustionconverted carbon, I offer to take back in to store in my pore spaces. I still have energy to give, carbon dioxide and my gas can mix inside of me until humans can go through their energy transition. Once my gas is no longer needed, displace the water in my pores with captured carbon, sequester it. I can give my deep heat as power, too, geothermal, boiling water coursing through my underground river, brought to surface as steam, then down again to circulate endlessly. The humans have all the skills they need to work with me, to turn me from a waning giant into a resource, sustainable, a good future for me and our planet.

The things humans learned when they first worked with me, when they first injected me to see how my blood flows, are vital to my continued importance. I must not be forgotten, a relic of a bygone era, a legacy asset that nobody knows how to use any more. A future is possible for me, and we.

The Captain/Kopervik/Britannia Sandstone is a Lower Cretaceous mass-flow sandstone reservoir in the Outer Moray Firth Basin, off the Scottish coast. It contains many gas and gas condensate fields, and is still an important gasproducing body. Thanks to its high porosity and permeability, combined with a hydrodynamic flow, it also makes for an excellent reservoir for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), or storage of blue or green hydrogen. Planned CCS/H2 projects look to take advantage of the knowledge and infrastructure from the days of oil and gas exploration, skills which remain vital in the future.

About the author

Andy Emery is a geologist, using marine geophysics to recreate past landscapes for offshore renewables infrastructure, and has worked with subsurface fluids and geomechanics in his past. He writes about landscapes, geology and climbing in his spare time.

About the artist

Emma Theresa Jude is a geologist in the energy industry, working on both traditional and CCS projects in support of the energy transition. She is also an exhibiting landscape artist and interdisciplinary art teacher, drawing and painting in oils on geological themes.

Through these ancient pores: an autobiography of a sandstone reservoir

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