Scientists Find Australia's Iron-Rich Rocks May Be a Natural Hydrogen Source

The facts

• 1Researchers studying Western Australia's ancient iron-rich rock formations found these rocks naturally generate hydrogen gas underground.
• 2The hydrogen forms when iron minerals in the rock react chemically with water, a process geologists call natural or geologic hydrogen.
• 3The research team says the natural reaction could potentially be boosted or accelerated to produce far larger volumes of hydrogen than occur on their own over geologic time.
• 4Hydrogen made this way could skip the heavy electricity use of conventional green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water through electrolysis.
• 5Natural hydrogen deposits depend on specific rock chemistry and geology, so the approach won't work everywhere, and safely scaling the reaction outside controlled tests remains unproven.