An evaluation of porosity and potential use for carbon dioxide storage in the Upper Cretaceous Lawson Formation and Paleocene Cedar Keys Formation of south-central and southern Florida

Abstract

The Cretaceous rocks of Florida have been recognized as potentially suitable reservoirs for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. Specifically, the upper member of the Upper Cretaceous Lawson Formation, together with the lower part of the Paleocene Cedar Keys Formation, is presented here as a potential composite CO2 storage reservoir that is mainly composed of porous dolostone sealed by thick anhydrites of the overlying middle Cedar Keys Formation. Many of the porous intervals within the Cedar Keys-Lawson storage reservoir display lateral continuity and have an average porosity range of 20%–30%. The estimated CO2 storage capacity for the reservoir is approximately 97 billion t of CO2, which means the Lawson and Cedar Keys Formations composite reservoir could potentially support CO2 sequestration for hundreds of large-scale power plants in the southeastern United States for their entire 40-yr lifespan. Because most of the previous research on the Lawson Formation is concentrated in north-central and northeastern Florida and southern Georgia, this study further characterizes the formation and its CO2 sequestration potential in south-central and southern Florida.