The physics of gas chimney and pockmark formation, with implications for assessment of seafloor hazards and gas sequestration

Marine and Petroleum Geology

Volumn 27, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 82-91

  Cathles, L M ^a   Su, Zheng ^b   Chen, Duofu ^c  

^a Institute for the Study of the Continents   (United States)

^b GUANGZHOU INSTITUTE OF ENERGY CONVERSION   (China)

^c GUANGZHOU INSTITUTE OF GEOCHEMISTRY   (China)

Author keywords

Capillary seal; CO2 sequestration; Gas chimneys; Gas seepage; Hydrate seal; Pockmarks; Quick sediments; Rate of gas chimney formation; Risk; Seafloor hazards

Indexed keywords

CAPILLARY SEAL; CO2 SEQUESTRATION; GAS SEEPAGE; POCKMARKS; QUICK SEDIMENTS; RATE OF GAS CHIMNEY FORMATION; SEAFLOOR HAZARDS;

CAPILLARITY; CHIMNEYS; DEFORMATION; FLOW OF WATER; GAS HAZARDS; GAS HYDRATES; GASES; HYDRATION; HYDRAULICS; METALLIC GLASS; OCEAN CURRENTS; SEDIMENTOLOGY; SEDIMENTS; SEEPAGE;

SEALS;

CAPILLARY PRESSURE; DEFORMATION MECHANISM; FINE GRAINED SEDIMENT; FORMATION MECHANISM; GAS FLOW; MARINE SEDIMENT; PARAMETERIZATION; POCKMARK; RISK ASSESSMENT; SEAFLOOR; SEEPAGE; VENTING;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; BLAKE RIDGE;

EID: 70449099302     PISSN: 02648172     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2009.09.010     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. 2 storage site (North Sea). In: Baines S.J., and Worden R.H. (Eds). Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide. Geological Society, London, Special Publications vol. 233 (2004) 181-191
2. Bear J. Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media (1972), Dover Publications Inc., New York 764pp
3. Behar E., Simonet R., and Rauzy E. A new cubic equation of state. Fluid Phase Equilibria 21 (1985) 237-255
4. Cathles, L.M., 2001. Capillary seals as a cause of pressure compartmentation in sedimentary basins. In: Petroleum Systems of Deep-Water Basins: Global and Gulf of Mexico Experience: Proceedings of the Gulf Coast Section Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Foundation, 21st Annual Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, pp. 561-572.
5. Cathles L.M. Gas: a messenger from subsurface resources. GasTIPS 9 2 (2003) 25-27
6. Cathles L.M. Changes in sub-water table fluid flow at the end of the Proterozoic and its implications for gas pulsars and MVT lead-zinc deposits. Geofluids 7 2 (2007) 209-226
7. Cathles L.M., and Adams J.J. Fluid flow and petroleum and mineral resources in the upper (<20 km) continental crust. Economic Geology 100th Anniversary Volume (2005) 77-110
8. 2 sequestration in northern Europe. In: Baines S.J., and Worden R.H. (Eds). Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide. Geological Society, London, Special Publications vol. 233 (2004) 17-28
9. Class H., Helmig R., and Bastian P. Numerical simulation of non-isothermal multiphase multicomponent processes in porous media. 1. An efficient solution technique. Advances in Water Resources 25 (2002) 533-550
10. Dimitrov L., and Woodside J. Deep sea pockmarks environments in the eastern Mediterranean. Marine Geology 195 (2003) 263-276
11. Earlougher R.C. Advances in Well Test Analysis. Monograph 5 (1977), Society of Petroleum Engineers, New York 264pp
12. Eichhubl P., Greene H.G., Naehr T., and Maher N. Structural control of fluid flow: offshore fluid seepage in the Santa Barbara Basin, California. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 69/70 (2000) 545-549
13. Erendi, A., Cathles, L.M., 2001. Gas capillary inhibition to oil production. In: Petroleum Systems of Deep-Water Basins: Global and Gulf of Mexico Experience: Proceedings of the Gulf Coast Section Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Foundation, 21st Annual Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, p. Petroleum Systems of Deep-Water Basins: Global and Gulf of Mexico Experience, Houston, Texas, pp. 607-618.
14. Flemings P.B., Liu X., and Winters W.J. Critical pressure and multiphase flow in Blake Ridge gas hydrates. Geology 31 (2003) 1057-1060
15. Gay A., Lopez M., Berndt C., and Seranne M. Geological controls on focused fluid flow associated with seafloor seeps in the Lower Congo Basin. Marine Geology 244 1-4 (2007) 68-92
16. Gay A., Lopez M., Cochonat P., Seranne M., Levache D., and Sermondadaz G. Isolated seafloor pockmarks linked to BSRs, fluid chimneys, polygonal faults and stacked Oligocene-Miocene turbiditic palaeochannels in the Lower Congo Basin. Marine Geology 226 1-2 (2006) 25-40
17. Gay A., Lopez M., Ondreas H., Charlou J.-L., Sermondadaz G., and Cochonat P. Seafloor facies related to upward methane flux within a giant pockmark of the Lower Congo Basin. Marine Geology 226 1-2 (2006) 81-95
18. Hovland M. Modern analogues to middle Ordovician sedimentary mounds and washout depressions. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 59 (1989) 585-589
19. Hovland M. Pockmark-associated coral reefs at the Kristin field off Mid-Norway. In: Freiwald A., and Roberts J.M. (Eds). Cold-water Corals and Ecosystems (2005), Springer-Verlag, Berlin 623-632
20. Hovland M. Deep-water Coral Reefs, Unique Biodiversity Hotspots (2008), Springer, Chichester 278pp
21. Hovland M., and Judd A.G. Seabed Pockmarks and Seepages. Impact on Geology, Biology and the Marine Environment (1988), Graham & Trotman Ltd., London 293 pp.
22. Hovland M., Gardner J.V., and Judd A.G. The significance of pockmarks to understanding fluid flow processes and geohazards. Geofluids 2 (2002) 127-136
23. Hovland M., Svensen H., Forsberg C.F., Johansen H., Fichler C., Fossa J.H., Jonsson R., and Rueslatten H. Complex pockmarks with carbonate-ridges off mid-Norway: products of sediment degassing. Marine Geology 218 (2005) 191-206
24. Hovland M., and Svensen H. Submarine pingoes: indicators of shallow gas hydrates in a pockmark at Nyegga, Norwegian Sea. Marine Geology 228 (2006) 15-23
25. Judd A., and Hovland M. Seabed Fluid Flow (2007), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 475pp
26. King L.H., and MacLean B. Pockmarks on the Scotian shelf. Geological Society of America Bulletin 81 (1970) 3141-3148
27. Kleinberg R.L., Flaum C., Griffin D.D., et al. Deep sea NMR; methane hydrate growth habit in porous media and its relationship to hydraulic permeability, deposit accumulation, and submarine slope stability. Journal of Geophysical Research 108 B10 (2003)
28. Liu X., and Flemings P.B. Dynamic multiphase flow model of hydrate formation in marine sediments. Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007) B03101 10.1029/2005JB004227
29. Lomax H., Pulliam T.H., and Zingg D.W. Fundamentals of Computational Fluid Dynamics (2001), Springer-Verlag, New York
30. Matsumoto, R., Paull, C., Wallace, P., and the Leg 164 Scientific party, 1996. Gas hydrate sampling on the Blake Ridge and Carolina Rise: ODP. Leg 164 Preliminary Report.
31. Nimblett J., and Ruppel C. Permeability evolution during the formation of gas hydrates in marine sediments. Journal of Geophysical Research 108 B9 (2003) 1-17 10.1029/2001JB001650
32. Paull C.K., Spiess F.N., Ussler III W., and Borowski W.A. Methane-rich plumes on the Carolina continental rise: associations with gas hydrates. Geology 23 (1995) 89-92
33. Paull C.K., Ussler III W., Holbrook W.S., et al. Origin of pockmarks and chimney structures on the flanks of the Storegga Slide, offshore Norway. Geo-Marine Letters 28 1 (2008) 43-51
34. Revil, A., Cathles, L.M., 2001. The porosity-depth pattern defined by 40 wells in Eugene Island South Addition, Block 330 Area, and its relation to pore pressure, fluid leakage, and seal migration. In: Petroleum Systems of Deep-Water Basins: Global and Gulf of Mexico Experience: Proceedings of the Gulf Coast Section Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Foundation, 21st Annual Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, pp. 687-712.
35. Schmuck E.A., and Paull C.K. Evidence for gas accumulation associated with diapirism and gas hydrates at the head of the Cape Fear Slide. Geo-Marine Letters 13 (1993) 145-152
36. Shaw J., Courtney R.C., and Currie J.R. Marine geology of St. George's Bay, Newfoundland, as interpreted from multibeam bathymetry and back-scatter data. Geo-Marine Letters 17 (1997) 188-194
37. Shosa, J.D., Cathles, L.M., 2001. Experimental investigation of capillary blockage of two-phase flow in layered porous media. In: Petroleum Systems of Deep-Water Basins: Global and Gulf of Mexico Experience: Proceedings of the Gulf Coast Section Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Foundation, 21st Annual Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, pp. 725-739.
38. Snow D.T. Rock fracture spacings, openings, and porosities. Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, American Society of Civil Engineers 94 SM1 (1968) 73-91
39. Su Z., and Chen D. Calculation of methane hydrate solubility in marine environment and its constraints on gas hydrate occurrence. Chinese Journal of Geophysics 50 5 (2007) 1518-1526
40. Taylor M.H., Dillon W.P., and Pecher I.A. Trapping and migration of methane associated with the gas hydrate stability zone at the Blake Ridge Diapir: new insights from seismic data. Marine Geology 164 (2000) 79-89
41. Vigil G., Xu Z., Steinberg S., and Israelachvili J. Interactions of silica surfaces. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 165 (1994) 367
42. 2 storage site (Sleipner area, North Sea). In: Baines S.J., and Worden R.H. (Eds). Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide. Geological Society, London, Special Publications vol. 233 (2004) 165-180