Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Fluids such as water and gases are present in many underground settings of importance to modern Canadian society and are a foundation of society's resources. Examples include groundwater for drinking and irrigation, hydrocarbons and hydrogen for energy, and helium for maintaining medical, research, and industry infrastructure in Canada. Fluids are also present in parts of Canada where underground disposal of nuclear waste and carbon dioxide is being considered. As a result, understanding their role and behaviour underground and what they can reveal about the geological setting is important for safe and accurate resource and waste management. Dr. Warr's research will focus on investigating the nature, distribution and transport for subsurface fluids in a broad range of relevant environments, advancing analytical approaches by integrating them with the latest field technology to analyse the chemistry of these fluids. This will allow him to investigate fluid processes such as migration and mixing, rates of chemical reaction, and the influence of life which affect the chemical composition of these fluids. By understanding these processes, we can have a better understanding of: 1.Migration of fluids in southwest Ontario from abandoned wells. Historic exploration of hydrocarbons in Ontario has left a legacy of as many as 27,000 abandoned wells, of which an estimated 4,400 may represent either physical hazards and/or health and safety risks due to natural gas accumulation and groundwater contamination. Among the harmful chemicals that can seep out and contaminate air, soil, or groundwater are natural gas (methane), hydrogen sulfide, and benzene. Understanding how and where these hazardous chemicals may migrate and concentrate and reach people is of paramount importance for documenting and minimising their harmful impacts. 2.Understanding how helium migrates and accumulates in the subsurface. Helium plays an essential role in our modern society for maintaining and advancing medical, research, and industry infrastructure in Canada and beyond. Globally, demand is much higher than supply of this critical resource, but much research is still needed to develop tools for exploration. The research in this grant will investigate how geology affects the movement of helium in the subsurface. This will further our understanding of how it can form economically viable deposits in parts of Canada and North America, which can be developed to maintain a secure supply of this essential resource for Canada. 3.Groundwater as a safe and clean resource. In Canada, ~30% of drinking water is sourced from groundwater. Ensuring groundwater recharge, evolution and migration is monitored and managed, and treated safely and responsibly is of paramount priority. The work here will investigate how groundwater resources are generated and consumed, and how changes to this in the future may result in the origin and introduction of potential contaminants for Canadian communities.