CO₂ Storage Possibilities in Karstik Regions: A Case Study from Southwestern Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey, the three power plants (Yatağan, Yeniköy, and Kemerköy) in the southwestern part of Anatolia use Upper Miocene-Pliocene coal and cause environmental pollution in the winter. For this reason, some considerations have been given to the injection of CO₂ from the power plants into the crust. A research project has been put into the practice for decreasing of global warming. Karstification and geological features, which are included in very thick carbonate rocks (a thickness over 2,000 m and limestone, dolomite, and marble from Paleozoic to Pliocene), and faults-lineaments have been considered as very important agents that will affect the injection of CO₂. The micro- and macro-karstification and lineament of the region have been studied, and the rocks of the area have been grouped into two classes based on the appropriateness of karstification as suitable and unsuitable rocks. Karstic and geological features (rocks and dislocation lines) have been compared together in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS); thus, by taking note of the geological-geomorphological characteristics of the area, a case study has been proposed for the CO₂ injection from the Gokova power plant emissions with GIS applications, and suitable areas for the injection have been determined for further research.

Keywords:

• CO₂ storage
• GIS and remote sensing
• karstik features
• power plant
• Turkey

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank to the authorities of the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration of Turkey (MTA) for their support.

Notes

^a Worldwide total anthropogenic carbon emissions are ∼7 GtC/year (1 GtC = 1 billion metric tons of carbon equivalent).

^b Orders of magnitude estimates.