Injecting carbon dioxide into basalt rock creates a chemical reaction that literally cracks the stone open, making more room for storage.

Basalt rocks undergo reaction-induced fracturing when they react with injected CO2 to form minerals. Standard engineering assumes that as minerals fill up the pores in a rock, the storage capacity would slowly drop to zero. Instead, the pressure from the growing crystals creates a new network of cracks that increases the rock total porosity. This self-expanding storage means basalt formations could hold significantly more carbon than previous estimates suggested. This process turns a major hurdle for carbon sequestration into a natural engine that helps clean the atmosphere.