The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has created the first potential natural hydrogen resources map in the contiguous United States. It was developed using a new method that analyzes geologic conditions favorable for hydrogen. The map is the first of its kind that shows potential locations to explore for geologic hydrogen.
What is Geologic Hydrogen?
Energy companies are investigating the potential of hydrogen as a clean energy source, particularly for use in fuel cells for electric vehicles (EVs). While it shows great promise, significant progress is still needed—especially in establishing a reliable supply. One option is geologic hydrogen, a naturally occurring gas found deep within the Earth’s crust. It forms through chemical reactions between water and iron-rich rocks.
The USGS map shows potential hot spots for geologic hydrogen in the contiguous U.S. Areas, including the Midwest, the Four Corners states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, California’s coast, and the Eastern seaboard.
“For decades, the conventional wisdom was that naturally occurring hydrogen did not accumulate in sufficient quantities to be used for energy purposes,” said Sarah Ryker, USGS associate director for energy and minerals. “This map is tantalizing because it shows that several parts of the U.S. could have a subsurface hydrogen resource after all.”
Hydrogen Accumulations
USGS geologists Geoff Ellis and Sarah Gelman suggest that there is significant potential for accumulations worldwide. However, there is a large uncertainty. “We calculate the energy content of this estimated recoverable amount of hydrogen to be roughly twice the amount of energy in all the proven natural gas reserves on Earth, Ellis and Gelman wrote in a recent study.
The model does not predict the element’s distribution in the subsurface. Furthermore, the authors point out that a significant portion of it is too deep, far offshore, or in quantities too small for extraction. “We showed there is a significant potential for geologic hydrogen as an emerging energy resource,” said Gelman. “The next logical step was to find where it might be in the United States – and for that, we had to develop a methodology, which we applied first to the lower 48 states.”
The new USGS prospectivity map assesses which regions have the necessary geological conditions for hydrogen accumulation. For example, it analyzes which regions have hydrogen sources, reservoir rocks, and seals to trap the gas. The map assigns relative prospectivity values from 0 to 1. Areas with higher values (deep blue on the map) are more likely to contain geologic hydrogen accumulations than areas with lower values.
Researchers say the map is important in “understanding a resource with potential to be a significant future energy resource for the U.S.”
