Researchers Believe They’ve Found a Way to Tap Natural Hydrogen Deep Underground

Against the backdrop of the global climate crisis, this previously overlooked underground resource could lay the foundation for a new energy era.

Natural hydrogen from deep within the Earth
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miguel-jorge

Miguel Jorge

Writer
  • Adapted by:

  • Karen Alfaro

miguel-jorge

Miguel Jorge

Writer

Journalist. I've spent more than half of my life writing about technology, science, and culture. Before landing here, I worked at Telefónica, Prisa, Globus Comunicación, Hipertextual, and Gizmodo. I'm part of Webedia's cross-section team.

267 publications by Miguel Jorge
karen-alfaro

Karen Alfaro

Writer

Communications professional with a decade of experience as a copywriter, proofreader, and editor. As a travel and science journalist, I've collaborated with several print and digital outlets around the world. I'm passionate about culture, music, food, history, and innovative technologies.

551 publications by Karen Alfaro

In a world seeking to move away from fossil fuels, one gas has begun to emerge as a potential solution for a cleaner future. Its potential as an inexhaustible source of green energy has sparked both enthusiasm and frustration, as producing it without polluting remains expensive and technologically challenging. However, scientists may have discovered how to extract hydrogen from deep within the Earth.

Natural hydrogen underground. Hydrogen has long been promoted as an essential resource for modern life and a key part of the transition to an emission-free future. In addition to being a clean fuel, it’s indispensable for producing fertilizer that sustains half the world’s population.

The problem? Ninety-nine percent of the hydrogen used today comes from hydrocarbons, accounting for about 2.4% of global carbon dioxide emissions. With demand projected to rise from 90 million metric tons in 2022 to about 540 million metric tons by 2050, this presents a monumental challenge. So far, cleaner solutions—such as electrolysis using renewable energy or carbon capture—have not been economically competitive. According to a new Oxford study published in Nature, Earth may have solved the problem for us millions of years ago.

An unexplored reservoir. Researchers from Oxford and professors from Durham and Toronto universities revealed that over the last geological millennium, Earth’s continental crust has generated enough hydrogen to supply humanity’s energy needs for at least 170,000 years. This immense, natural, emission-free reservoir remains essentially trapped underground and untouched.

Progress. Although previous measurements were sporadic and scattered, the new work offers a coherent framework for locating these reservoirs for the first time. They call it an “exploration recipe,” which details the necessary rock types, temperatures, fluids, and geological conditions for hydrogen to form, migrate and become trapped in exploitable deposits. This approach isn’t theoretical, it aims to guide the global commercial search for natural hydrogen, with the potential to radically transform existing energy models.

Ingredients, processes, and threats. As Professor Chris Ballentine, leader of the study at the University of Oxford, explained in a statement, finding hydrogen in Earth’s crust is like baking a soufflé: If any component—the amount, temperature, time, and rock type—is off, the result becomes useless.

The study identifies the factors that make a geological hydrogen system viable, from the chemical reactions that generate it to the conditions that destroy it—such as the presence of subterranean microorganisms that feed on it. Co-author Barbara Sherwood Lollar notes that this biological threat makes it crucial to avoid areas where subterranean bacteria can consume hydrogen before it accumulates in usable concentrations.

A rich, diverse, and energy-ready supply. The study also dismantles myths about hydrogen’s origin, dismissing sources from Earth’s mantle as unfeasible and focusing attention on common formations in the continental crust.

These formations can be either recent (a few million years old) or ancient and are globally distributed, greatly expanding the geographic potential for exploration. The crucial factor, they say, isn’t finding a specific rock type, but understanding the interplay between the chemical, thermal and historical conditions that favor gas generation and storage.

From theory to action. Recognizing the strategic importance of their research, the authors founded Snowfox Discovery Ltd., a company dedicated to identifying natural hydrogen reserves that can make a positive social impact. Their goal is clear: to find clean, sustainable sources of hydrogen that can replace today’s highly polluting production methods and fuel the global energy transition—without relying on costly industrial processes.

If researchers can successfully replicate this geological method in different regions of the planet, it may trigger an energy revolution. This wouldn’t require futuristic new technologies or dreams of fusion—just learning to listen to the secrets Earth has been whispering for hundreds of millions of years.

Image | Ahmed Zalabany (Unsplash)

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