Monday, 23 June, 2025/ Edition 64

Geologic hydrogen is the “talk of the town” in geo-energy research. Today, we will look at three new case studies from China, Uruguay, and New Zealand. Let’s jump in!

Rasoul Sorkhabi

Editor, Core Elements

Abiotic Hydrogen in Qingshen Gas Field, China

Image created by Rasoul Sorkhabi

A 2025 study in Science Advances reports on an interesting case of abiotic hydrogen accumulated in a natural gas field in China’s Songliao Basin.

About the area:

• The Songliao Basin, located in northeast China, is a rift basin containing volcano-sedimentary formations deposited from Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous times.

• The Qingshen Gas Field inside the Songliao Basin is the world’s largest deep volcanic rock gas field.

Organic and abiotic hydrogen:

• Organic hydrogen is derived from microbial activity or thermal processing of sedimentary organic matter.

• Inorganic hydrogen is produced by water-rock interaction, water radiolysis, and mantle degassing.

What they did: The study analyzed natural gas samples from 23 wells for molecular composition and carbon-hydrogen-helium isotope values.

Hydrogen origins: Hydrogen isotope fractionation, δ²H-H₂ (delta dihydrogen to hydrogen molecule), indicates the origin of a hydrogen sample.

Based on a compilation of 147 hydrogen isotope values from around the world, the researchers have categorized hydrogen origins based on hydrogen isotope values:

• Hydrogen from water-rock interaction: -836 to -605 per mille

• Hydrogen from water radiolysis: roughly -689 per mille

• Mantle-derived hydrogen: -665 to -332 per mille

• Thermogenic organic hydrogen: -810 to -629 per mille

• Biogenic hydrogen: -828 to -699 per mille

What they found: Gas concentrations

• Methane concentrations in the reservoir from various wells range from 74.61–97.09 percent.

• Carbon dioxide concentrations range from 0.0018–22.68 percent.

• Nitrogen concentrations range from 0.53–8.61 percent.

• Helium concentrations range from 99–600 parts per million.

• Hydrogen concentrations range from 0–5 percent with an average of 0.53 percent.

Overall, natural hydrogen occurs in a natural gas reservoir dominated by methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen but with weak correlation with any of them. These results suggest no identical genetic link to any of those gases.

What they found: Helium

• Researchers analyzed the Helium isotope ratio, R/Ra. R stands for helium3/helium4 in the sample, and Ra represents helium3/helium4 in the atmosphere (about 1.4 x 10^-6).

• The R/Ra values for the gas samples ranged from 0.74–21.5 with an average of 1.47, indicating mantle-derived helium.

Overall, researchers calculated that the Qingshen Gas Field contained 18.6 percent mantle-derived helium.

What they found: Hydrogen reserves

• The Qingshen gas deposit contains 95.23 billion cubic meters of abiotic methane, of which 15.24 billion cubic meters were generated through hydrogen conversion via Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (carbon monoxide and hydrogen syngas).

• Maximum original hydrogen reserves are calculated to be about 61.9 billion cubic meters.

• The study area has generated a maximum total of 572 billion cubic meters of radiolytic hydrogen, 248 billion cubic meters of water-rock interaction hydrogen, and 127 billion cubic meters of mantle-derived hydrogen.

Go deeper: Read the full paper here.

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New Study #1: Natural Hydrogen Potential in Uruguay

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A study in MDPI’s Geoscience highlights the hydrogen resource potential in Uruguay.

Geologic divisions in Uruguay: Uruguay’s geology is divided into Precambrian cratonic (basement) blocks and sedimentary basins.

• Basement blocks from west to east:

  • Piedra Alta terrain

  • Nico Pérez terrain

  • Dom Feliciano belt

• Main onshore basins:

  • Paleozoic-Mesozoic Norte Basin

  • Mesozoic Santa Lucia Basin

  • Laguna Merín Basin

What they did: The researchers offer a comprehensive review of potential hydrogen-generating rocks in Uruguay.

• Most of these rocks occur in cratonic blocks.

• These rocks may generate hydrogen through water-mafic rock interaction and radiolysis of radioactive rocks.

• Researchers categorized rocks into:

  • Mafic rocks including serpentinite (4 location), gabbro (5), and dyke swarms (2)

  • Banded iron formations (7)

  • Batholiths (9)

  • Volcanics (2)

What they found: The researchers present geologic and well log data from the western part of the Norte Basin, suggesting that there is a possible hydrogen reservoir, similar to the Bourakébougou Field in Mali.

• This hydrogen system consists of Tacuarembó Formation sandstone (Kimmeridgian age) capped by Arapey Formation basalts (131–133 Ma) and related dolerite sills.

• The researchers think that this hydrogen system is absent in the eastern Norte basin.

Read the full study here.

New Study #2: Natural Hydrogen Potential in New Zealand

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In a study presented at the 86th EAGE Conference earlier this month, researchers from the University of Montpellier modeled hydrogen generation via radiolysis from fractured basement rocks (with 4 percent fracture porosity) underlying New Zealand’s Taranaki Basin.

Driving the research: Researchers launched the study after seismic detection of gas anomalies in the Witiora and Taranga wells.

What they found:

• Given the concentrations of radioactive elements (uranium, thorium, rubidium, and potassium-40) the researchers calculated a radiolytic hydrogen production rate of 1.28 milligrams/per gram/100,000 years.

• The modeled hydrogen was considered to have migrated into overlying sedimentary rocks via advection and diffusion.

• The migration modeling showed that hydrogen began accumulating at about 6 Ma in the Paleocene-Eocene Tane Formation in the eastern part of Taranaki Basin. It began accumulating somewhat later in the western part due to differences in paleo-lithostatic pressure.    

Go deeper: Read the full paper here.

• Read more about geologic hydrogen in Editions 17 and 44 of the Core Elements.

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✉️ To get in touch with Rasoul, send an email to editorial@aapg.org.