While hydrogen as a significant tool to fuel zero-carbon transportation and off-road duties has been the butt of many jokes over the years, beginning with the always-present “Hindenburg Reference” and devolving into a litany of cliches of why hydrogen fuel is not “practical,” there’s a new map in town.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently published a first-of-its-kind study and map of prospective naturally-occurring subterranean hydrogen deposits across the U.S. While researchers have long suspected the Earth holds natural caches of hydrogen, those involved in the study seemed surprised at the magnitude of what they found.
In the study published in late 2024, USGS scientists calculate the Earth’s total buried hydrogen reserves could amount to 6.2 trillion tons of gas. Their projections estimate only 2% of that amount could supply all the energy needed to power the world for 200 years, an estimate that came with no indication of the location of economic hydrogen reserves or the feasibility of their extraction.
“For decades, conventional wisdom held naturally-occurring hydrogen did not accumulate in sufficient quantities to be used for energy purposes,” explains Sarah Ryker, USGS associate director for energy and mineral resources. “This map is tantalizing because it shows several parts of the U.S. could have a subsurface hydrogen resource after all.”
Areas with high hydrogen potentials include parts of Michigan, eastern Kentucky, southern North Dakota, as well as parts of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa and Oklahoma, according to published reports. Overall, at least 30 states could be sitting on hydrogen deposits.
Whether a region is a prospective location for geologic hydrogen depends upon: hydrogen sources, reservoir rocks and natural seals to trap the gas, writes Sasha Pare in a daily newsletter for Live Science.
Naturally-occurring hydrogen is likely produced through chemical reactions in rocks, the simplest being a reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen (akin to electrolysis which requires significant amounts of external energy expenditure to separate the two elements).
While it’s unlikely the federal government will be selling any domestic “hydrogen exploration leases” in the short-term, the mapping of geological formations conducive to such deposits is a step in the right direction for a global society bent on net-zero carbon prime movers. Such information could be quite valuable in the future as OEMs like Cummins and JCB continue to roll out spark-ignited internal combustion engines designed solely for hydrogen fuel, and Toyota races hydrogen-fueled V8s as test beds for a likely technology transfer to its future cars and trucks.
We even see the USGS research as a boon for transportation and off-road OEMs who are investing in fuel-cell research for “hydrogen powered” electric vehicles.
We only have one question:
“Who is researching the processes of that natural subterranean reaction that splits hydrogen and oxygen in rock formations?” A grip on that technology could be worth millions in the not-too-distant future!
