Could mountains be key to unlocking hydrogen’s potential?

Researchers assessed likelihood gas was produced during creation of Alps, Pyrenees and Baetic mountains Hydrogen gas is anticipated to play a central role in phasing out fossil fuels, particularly in industries that are proving more challenging to decarbonise, such as chemical production, shipping and steelmaking. But producing hydrogen synthetically is energy intensive and costly. In order for the hydrogen economy to take off, we need to find reliable natural sources of this gas. Could it be hidden in the mountains? Researchers used plate tectonic simulations to investigate the Pyrenees, Alps and Baetic mountain ranges to assess if their mountain-building processes were likely to have resulted in hydrogen being produced and stored. Their findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth , showed that the Alps and Pyrenees could be strong natural hydrogen exploratio

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, Could mountains be key to unlocking hydrogen’s potential?, Researchers assessed likelihood gas was produced during creation of Alps, Pyrenees and Baetic mountains Hydrogen gas is anticipated to play a central role in phasing out fossil fuels, particularly in industries that are proving more challenging to decarbonise, such as chemical production, shipping and steelmaking. But producing hydrogen synthetically is energy intensive and costly. In order for the hydrogen economy to take off, we need to find reliable natural sources of this gas. Could it be hidden in the mountains? Researchers used plate tectonic simulations to investigate the Pyrenees, Alps and Baetic mountain ranges to assess if their mountain-building processes were likely to have resulted in hydrogen being produced and stored. Their findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth , showed that the Alps and Pyrenees could be strong natural hydrogen exploratio

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The development sits in VINI’s Technology file for readers following technology, science, product policy, markets, infrastructure, and the public consequences of innovation. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-06-24T05:00:37+00:00.

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Primary source: Could mountains be key to unlocking hydrogen’s potential? via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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