Geologists discover giant field of underground helium in Tanzania
Geologists have discovered a gigantic new field of underground helium gas, located in Tanzania’s Rift Valley.
Researchers figure there’s about 54 billion cubic feet of helium in just one section of the valley. To put that in context, the Federal Helium Reserve in Texas, which supplies more than 40% of domestic helium needs and contains about 30% of the world’s total helium supply, right now holds about 24.2 billion cubic feet, per Live Science.
The discovery is also important in that it wasn’t an accident. The geologists located the helium based on their theories of where they should find it.
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Geologists have discovered a gigantic new field of underground helium gas, located in Tanzania’s Rift Valley.
Researchers figure there’s about 54 billion cubic feet of helium in just one section of the valley. To put that in context, the Federal Helium Reserve in Texas, which supplies more than 40% of domestic helium needs and contains about 30% of the world’s total helium supply, right now holds about 24.2 billion cubic feet, per Live Science.
The discovery is also important in that it wasn’t an accident. The geologists located the helium based on their theories of where they should find it.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Nice that you also report the lighter side of the news!
(Sorry, I couldn’t help it)
Is cubic feet enough of a measurement for helium? Shouldn’t pressure matter as well?
No wonder Lucy was in the sky with diamonds.
This is great. Tanzania will get rich, the world will be saved, and the politically correct will get to bemoan Big Helium.
Something for everybody.
Matt,
Gaseous natural resources have their quantities expressed in cu. ft. – or cu. meters – at an assumed standard temperature and pressure so that the figures have comparability. The actual pressure at which the helium exists underground is irrelevant.
Thanks, Dick, that totally answers my question!