University of Toronto measures natural hydrogen buildup in Canadian Shield rock

University of Toronto researchers say they have directly measured natural hydrogen building up in billion-year-old Canadian Shield rock near Timmins, Ontario, in a finding that could add to interest in a potential domestic clean-energy resource.

The work, led by geochemist Barbara Sherwood Lollar and carried out with the University of Ottawa, was published May 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The university's release says the team measured hydrogen accumulating in boreholes drilled into the ancient rock.

According to the release, the site has been releasing hydrogen over long periods, suggesting the formation can act as a measured natural hydrogen reservoir rather than a one-time anomaly. The researchers say that makes the location scientifically important for understanding where natural hydrogen may accumulate underground.

Natural hydrogen, sometimes called white hydrogen, has drawn growing attention because it could form without the emissions associated with producing hydrogen from fossil fuels. But the field remains early, and the research does not establish commercial viability at the Timmins site.

The release and the paper point to a broader question now facing the field: whether similar rock formations in other parts of the world could contain recoverable hydrogen at scale. For now, the study adds direct evidence that hydrogen can persist and build up in subsurface settings in the Canadian Shield.

The finding was first publicized through an embargoed University of Toronto statement and was later republished by outlets including Phys.org.