Soil Gas and Flux Measurements from a CO2 Leak Site in Qinghai, China, 2014

Qinghai, China, soil gas and soil flux survey data collected over an eight-day period in 2014 to characterize a surface CO2 leak from a failed well. The dataset includes measurements from regular and irregular sampling grids, soil gas well installations, and isotopic analysis, resulting in an estimated total CO2 emission rate of 649-1015 kgCO2/d. The data was published in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control and is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Validate soil gas ratio methods for leak source identification based on the process-based approach described.
• Model CO2 plume migration over time based on surface soil mineralisation patterns.
• Calibrate interpolation methods for estimating total field emission rates from irregular sampling grids.
• Assess spatial correlation between CO2 flux and other surface fluxes like H2O as mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Includes a concrete estimated total CO2 emission rate of 649-1015 kgCO2/d.
• Describes two distinct sampling patterns (regular and irregular grids) for spatial mapping.
• Contains isotopic data (Carbon-13) used to infer the CO2 source as thermal decomposition of marine carbonates.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (via data_gov_au), associated with a peer-reviewed journal article.

Collection Method

Soil gas and soil flux surveys conducted over eight days using portable multi-gas analyzers and laboratory analysis.

Time Range

2014 (eight-day survey period).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 08:55:16.598490; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Qinghai research site, west of Haidong, China.