Acorn Transport and Storage Rock Doctors Bring CO₂ Storage to Life

This summer, the Acorn CO₂ Transport and Storage Project offered a lively reminder that education and outreach can take many forms. With imagination—and plenty of tasty experiments—even complex topics such as geological time, CO₂ storage safety, rock porosity and permeability can be brought to life for all ages.

On Thursday 9 July, a small team of geoscientists and volunteers from the Acorn project headed to Wild About Aden, a popular summer festival at Aden Country Park. Families from across Aberdeenshire were invited to pick up a field notebook and kit bag and join the team for Rock Doctors—an action-packed guided 2.5 km trek through geological time, led by an expert geologist, or “Rock Doctor”, working on Acorn.

Decarb Scotland Managing Director Dr Philippa Parmiter said she remembered helping to evolve the Rock Doctors concept many years ago, with the aim of helping families understand and visualise CO₂ storage at depths of around 2.5 km. By physically walking the distance, participants could better grasp the scale involved, while academic and project experts explained why specific geological conditions are essential for safe CO₂ storage.

Rock Doctors goes far beyond traditional project information boards. It is a fully immersive experience where families join project experts to taste, smell and touch their way through the fascinating history of the rocks that are critical for CO₂ storage. The guided walk covers 145 million years of geological history, exploring nine different rock layers. Along the way, recruits taste-test ancient geological slime, examine the properties of 115-million-year-old sandstone and 105-million-year-old shale, come face to face with sea creatures, encounter volcanoes and an ice age, and even touch real space rocks. At the end of the journey, the Rock Doctors recruits put their new geological skills to the test by identifying the sealing and buffer rock layers above the Acorn CO₂ Storage Site that help keep CO₂ securely stored.

 While the event takes significant effort to deliver, it is a hugely valuable engagement tool. It builds deeper understanding of topics that are often areas of public concern around CO₂ storage, while giving project team members the opportunity to connect directly with local communities. It also helps develop a sense of community pride in the amazing natural resources beneath people’s feet.