00:00Do you know that our planet has scars?
00:03One of them is located in North America.
00:06This scar can tell us many cool things about the history of Earth.
00:10But the most interesting thing is that it could change the appearance of our continents and break our world.
00:17But for some reason, this scar hasn't done it yet.
00:20And that's not even the most interesting part.
00:22The coolest thing about this scar is that it might hold a giant source of clean, cheap energy.
00:30So, let's go to Kansas to find out what it is.
00:33So, 1.1 billion years ago, a giant rift formed in the crust of our planet on the territory of the modern U.S. Midwest.
00:43It's called Broken Heart.
00:45This giant crevice is filled with solidified magma.
00:49And from afar, it looks like a real scar.
00:52But how did it show up?
00:53Broken Heart was an ancient rift valley, a huge geological fault forming elongated hollows in the Earth's crust.
01:02It occurred because tectonic plates had moved apart.
01:06It's like the details of a jigsaw puzzle that suddenly started to separate.
01:11At that moment, thousands and even millions of tons of magma spilled out from the depths of our planet.
01:17That event looked like a real apocalypse, lasting about 100,000 years.
01:23But then it stopped.
01:25And scientists don't know why.
01:27If the rifting process had lasted longer, then, most likely, the continent of North America would look different today.
01:34Or it wouldn't even exist at all.
01:37Right now, this fault looks like a giant horseshoe that stretches from Kansas north to Lake Superior and south to Michigan.
01:44But some studies indicate that the fault may be larger and extend even further south.
01:51And the width of the fault might equal the width of the Red Sea.
01:56After the rifting stopped, the entire valley got covered with hills and trees.
02:01The fault itself is covered with a thick layer of sedimentary rocks, so it's quite difficult to track.
02:07The most noticeable parts of the rift are in the Lake Superior area.
02:11Now, everything looks calm and beautiful, but in the past, there were fountains and rivers of lava, earthquakes, a boiling pot on a planetary scale.
02:22All that remains of it are deposits of basalt, a dark, dense rock that forms from cooled lava.
02:30There was so much basalt that its weight pushed the valley deeper and deeper into the Earth's crust.
02:35Even when the eruptions and rifting stopped, the valley continued to sink because of the huge mass of the sediment.
02:43Then, massive sections of the Earth's crust on both sides of the valley began to contract, and the pieces of the puzzle slowly started to come together.
02:54This led to a large-scale ejection of volcanic material upward.
02:57And, along with basalt, deposits of copper rock appeared in the valley.
03:03People mined this copper for about 8,000 years until the end of the 20th century.
03:08The copper mines were eventually shut down.
03:10But now, it seems, the industry is making a comeback.
03:15However, Broken Heart is not interesting to people just because of its copper reserves.
03:20It holds something more valuable and useful for our civilization.
03:24Scientists believe that this valley hides massive reserves of hydrogen.
03:30And this substance can help us switch to a cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient energy source.
03:36If hydrogen fuel becomes widely available, everyone will switch to it,
03:41leaving behind the costly, noisy, and polluting process of oil production.
03:46I'll bet hydrogen is a remarkably familiar word to you.
03:50It doesn't sound like the discovery of the century, and people have been using it for a long time.
03:56On one hand, you're right, but not quite.
04:00Ninety percent of the hydrogen produced by humans is used as a raw material for the chemical industry.
04:06Hydrogen is used to produce ammonia for fertilizers, methanol for fuel and solvents, and to purify crude oil.
04:13Manufacturers of glass, cement, steel, and other metals are considering using hydrogen at their factories for more efficient production.
04:22Hydrogen can become an alternative to fossil fuels, that is, oil and gasoline produced from them.
04:29Cars, ships, trains, airplanes, and power plants – all of these may switch to hydrogen soon.
04:36In this case, production can become cheaper and better for nature.
04:41But this will work only if we find open sources of hydrogen.
04:46You see, about 95% of the hydrogen we use is produced from fossil fuels.
04:52We gasify coal, oxidize hydrocarbons, and extract hydrogen from methane.
04:58All of these production methods require energy.
05:00But the worst part is that they lead to large emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
05:07But what if we find sources of pure hydrogen that don't require processing?
05:12Then we'll save energy for its production and make the planet cleaner.
05:17But where can we find such sources?
05:20Scientists say that there are many of them all over the planet.
05:23And one of the largest is located in the Rift Valley in the U.S. Midwest.
05:28But what's the problem with going and mining it?
05:32Well, it's not that simple.
05:34To extract pure hydrogen, you need three conditions.
05:38The first is the source of hydrogen itself, which is quite logical.
05:42The second is reservoir rocks, that is, natural containers where this hydrogen is stored.
05:49And the third is natural seals, which prevent the gas from escaping.
05:53In other words, these seals work like a cap on a bottle.
05:56They don't allow the substance to escape.
05:59So in general, it's necessary to find where hydrogen is released, where it accumulates, and where it's stored.
06:06When these conditions are met, natural resource extraction companies can start working.
06:12But how does hydrogen appear altogether?
06:15Well, let's go over the basics of chemistry.
06:17Hydrogen and oxygen compounds form water.
06:21This means you need to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
06:24This process often occurs in nature.
06:28There are many places all over the planet where this happens.
06:31Scientists are confident that at least 30 U.S. states have hydrogen reservoirs.
06:36And if people detect them, we will accelerate the energy transition to safer and more efficient fuels.
06:43Thousands of cars drive around using gasoline.
06:46Many of you know the smell of exhaust fumes, that thick, polluted air that's hard to breathe.
06:51What about electric cars?
06:53They must be improving the situation, right?
06:56Well, here's another problem.
06:58Producing batteries for these vehicles harms nature.
07:01The materials used to make batteries are lithium, cobalt, and nickel.
07:06Their extraction involves a large release of toxic materials, not only into the air, but also into the water.
07:13Transporting these batteries also creates a large carbon footprint.
07:16Producing a single electric car emits about 4 tons of carbon dioxide.
07:22To make up for that, the owner needs to drive it for at least 8 years.
07:26That's how long it takes to offset the emissions a regular car would produce.
07:31What about reliability and convenience?
07:34What will you do if the battery runs out during the trip and there are no charging stations nearby?
07:39This problem will be solved in the future with the growing popularity of electric cars.
07:44Scientists believe that over the past billion years, the Earth's crust has split enough water into hydrogen and oxygen.
07:52Our planet keeps this gas in the ground, waiting for us to start using it.
07:57According to calculations, even considering all the technologies and production capacities of our civilization,
08:04the reserves of hydrogen in the bowels of the planet are enough to supply us with energy for 170,000 years.
08:12That's why the giant rift in Kansas attracts scientists from all over the world.
08:18Huge quantities of basalt and other rocks can react with water to release hydrogen.
08:24And now scientists are looking for places where this material accumulates and is stored.
08:29That's it for today.
08:30So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:35Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!
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