Experts say there is high potential for geologic hydrogen in parts of Iowa

Researchers have created a first-of-its-kind map that works to pinpoint where naturally occurring hydrogen — a source for clean energy — potentially could be found underground in Iowa.

The interactive map by the U.S. Geological Survey flagged several zones across the country that have a higher potential for hydrogen deep under the Earth’s surface. Most are in the Midwest area.

“It’s really the first of its kind,” said Sarah Gelman, a geologist with the agency who helped create the map. “There's not another (map) that we know of in the United States, not one that's publicly available anyway, and we don't know of anyone that's made one for any other country in the world, either.”

When hydrogen is burned, its only byproduct is water — making it a “very appealing source of energy,” Gelman said.

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Making hydrogen out of water requires electricity — such as from natural gas or wind or solar energy, which can make it too expensive or negate its climate benefits. But it also is naturally occurring — and that’s where the interactive map comes in.

Iowa is one of the handful of states that have some areas with high potential for geologic hydrogen. That’s because of a geologic rift running through the state — the Midcontinent Rift system, formed over a billion years ago as the continent tried to pull apart.

Potential hydrogen in Iowa

The U.S. Geological Survey has released a first-of-its-kind map, flagging zones with potential hydrogen deep under the Earth's surface. Several parts of Iowa are predicted to have hydrogen underground, as well. In this map, the darker the shading is, the more potential hydrogen is believed to be there.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

“The rift has been associated with some of the very few limited hydrogen discoveries that have been found,” Gelman said. The discoveries have stemmed from the “critical” mineral deposits that are often found in the rift, Gelman said.

Roughly, the rift runs through Iowa’s Adair, Dallas, Guthrie, Mills and Polk counties. It spans across parts of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas and some of Ontario, Canada.

Jane Hearon is a geologist with the survey who worked with Gelman to create the map. She said that the United States has one of the best publicly available geophysics data sets in the world, which helped them map where the hydrogen might be found.

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“I don't want to say it made it easy, but we were able to put all the pieces together in a way that was robust and made sense,” Hearon said.

Rocks rich in iron that can react with water through a process called serpentinization can create hydrogen gas and serpentine minerals. For this process to occur, the rocks have to be underground where there are faults or layers of porous rocks that can trap and store the hydrogen gas.

What does this mean for Iowa?

Because the Midcontinent Rift has many faults running through it, Iowa, along with Michigan, is predicted to have higher amounts of potential hydrogen underground.

“Right off the bat, it looks like we have a better-than-average chance of locating hydrogen,” said geologist Ryan Clark, who works with the Iowa Geologic Survey at the University of Iowa.

Clark said that hydrogen also can be used for producing the chemical compound ammonia. He said this could have agricultural implications, especially since ammonia is often used in fertilizers that spur plant growth.

Clark said the Iowa Geological Survey has been contacted by “a fair amount” of companies — both U.S. and abroad — that are interested in finding geologic hydrogen sources in Iowa.

“I'm sure they're looking in other places, but Iowa is definitely on the radar for potential for hydrogen production,” Clark said.

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From his perspective, Clark said the interactive map is meant to spread awareness that there are many pockets of the country that have potential hydrogen available. “I think it’s also meant to draw a little bit of excitement,” he said. “We're sort of turning a page or looking for the next new energy source, and I think that's a really important aspect.”

Although the map is new, hydrogen exploration in Iowa is not.

Twin Rivers Exploration has been exploring geological hydrogen in Iowa for about two years. Although a spokesperson for the company said its work is active, future plans are “unknown at this time.”

Ideal Energy, a renewable energy services provider in Fairfield, has been researching how to produce clean and affordable hydrogen.

In November, under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Energy said it would give up to $1 billion to a group that plans to build facilities in Iowa and three other states to produce hydrogen fuel. The Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen said its goal was to produce 1,000 metric tons of hydrogen per day, with the potential to expand beyond Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

But the future of the program under the Trump administration is unclear.

How the map works

The interactive map specifically targets where naturally occurring hydrogen might exist in the Earth’s subsurface.

“What we have been trying to do at USGS is try to generate a useful introductory map for our country that would help to differentiate areas that we think are more favorable toward finding subsurface geologic hydrogen, and areas that maybe are not as favorable,” Gelman said.

For a region to have higher potential for hydrogen, the geologist said three primary elements must be present:

“The map is essentially a stacking of maps for the sources of hydrogen that we think might exist in subsurface, maps for those reservoirs and maps for those seals,” Gelman said. “Where all those areas overlap favorably, you get a higher prospectivity for geologic hydrogen.”

The maps ranks how likely there is to be hydrogen in each region on a scale from zero to one — with zero being the lowest chance. So far, no zone has a ranking specifically of zero or one, but are ranked in increments from zero to one.

Betsy Swanner, a professor in the Department of the Earth, Atmosphere and Climate at Iowa State University, said she believes the state is “definitely identified as a good place” to look for hydrogen because of its underlying geology.

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Swanner said this moment in time is particularly interesting for geologists and the future of hydrogen use.

“People never really expected there would be these reservoirs where hydrogen is trapped underground, like how we see for oil and gas, because hydrogen is so light,” Swanner said. “But now people going and saying, ‘Actually, we're finding hydrogen if we look and we measure it, we find it.”

Swanner said she anticipates there to be more hydrogen “prospecting” in Iowa, with more studies, research and drilling.

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com