Quantifying Natural Hydrogen‐Helium Sources and Dynamic Accumulation in Global Sedimentary Basins
Yongbo Wei, Quanyou Liu, Thomas J. Algeo, Dongya Zhu, Qingqiang Meng, Huiyuan Xu, Wang Zhang, Xiaoqi Wu, Pengpeng Li, Xiaowei Huang, Yin Fu, Yicheng Mou, Di Zhu, Ziqi Feng, Huaiwei Ni, Fang Hao, Zhijun JinAbstract
Despite the scientific and economic importance of hydrogen and helium, their crustal budgets remain poorly quantified. This study systematically assesses the accumulation of natural hydrogen and helium in global sedimentary basins by integrating predictive models for both gases with H 2 /He ratios. The predictive model infers natural hydrogen resources in global sedimentary basins of 10 0 –10 6 Mt (megatons), with a most probable estimate of 1.7 × 10 3 Mt, and subsurface helium resources of 17.9 Mt. Water–rock reactions and the decay of radioactive elements within crystalline basement rocks generate natural hydrogen and helium, respectively, supplying background gas fluxes to overlying sedimentary basins. Mantle degassing and source rocks within sedimentary sequences provide supplementary gas contributions, resulting in an underestimation of these resources. This study reveals that global sedimentary basins host significant accumulations of natural hydrogen and helium resources—a finding that warrants increased attention.