The mechanics of intermittent methane venting at South Hydrate Ridge inferred from 4D seismic surveying

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Volumn 310, Issue 1-2, 2011, Pages 105-112

  Bangs, Nathan L B ^a   Hornbach, Matthew J ^a   Berndt, Christian ^b,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

^b GEOMAR HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR OCEAN RESEARCH KIEL   (Germany)

^c NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTRE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

4D seismics; Chemosynthetic communities; Gas hydrate; Seafloor methane vents

Indexed keywords

3-D SEISMIC SURVEY; 4D SEISMIC; 4D SEISMICS; AUTHIGENIC CARBONATES; BACK PRESSURES; CHEMOSYNTHETIC BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES; CHEMOSYNTHETIC COMMUNITIES; FLOW DIRECTION; FREE GAS; HIGH RESOLUTION; HYDRATE RIDGE; HYDRO-FRACTURING; METHANE FLOW; METHANE FLUXES; METHANE HYDRATES; METHANE VENTING; METHANE VENTS; OREGON COAST; SEA FLOOR; THERMAL DECOMPOSITIONS; TIME-PERIODS; VERTICAL FLOWS;

ANOXIC SEDIMENTS; CLIMATE CONTROL; GASES; GLOBAL WARMING; HYDRATION; METHANATION; METHANE; PYROLYSIS; SEISMOLOGY; SURVEYS; VENTS;

GAS HYDRATES;

CLIMATE CHANGE; GAS HYDRATE; HYDROCARBON MIGRATION; METHANE; SEAFLOOR; SEEPAGE; SEISMIC SURVEY; SUSTAINABILITY; THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELING;

EID: 80054088408     PISSN: 0012821X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.06.022     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. Boetius A., Suess E. Hydrate Ridge: a natural laboratory for the study of microbial life fueled by methane from near-surface gas hydrates. Chem. Geol. 2004, 205:291-310.
2. Boles J.R., Clark J.F., Leifer I., Washburn L. Temporal variation in natural methane seep rate due to tides, Coal Oil Point area, California. J. Geophys. Res. 2001, 106:27077-27086.
3. Carney R.S. Consideration of the oasis analogy for chemosynthetic communities at Gulf of Mexico hydrocarbon vents. Geo-Mar. Lett. 1994, 14:149-159.
4. Dillon W., Grow J., Paull C. Unconventional gas hydrate seals may trap gas off southeast U.S. Oil Gas J. 1980, 78:124-130.
5. Flemings P.B., Liu X., Winters W.J. Critical pressure and multiphase flow in Blake Ridge gas hydrates. Geology 2003, v. 31:1057-1060.
6. Gorman A.R., Gorman W.S., Holbrook M.J., Hornbach K.L., Hackwith D., Lizarralde, Pecher I. Migration of methane gas through the hydrate stability zone in a low-flux hydrate province. Geology 2002, 30:327-330.
7. Heeschen K.U., Tréhu A.M., Collier R.W., Suess E., Rehder G. Distribution and height of methane bubble plumes on the Cascadia margin characterized by acoustic imaging. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2003, 30(12):1643. 10.1029/2003GL016974.
8. Holland M., Schultheiss P., Roberts J., Druce M. "Observed Gas Hydrate Morphologies in Marine Sediments", in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Gas Hydrates (ICGH '08) 2008, Vancouver, Canada.
9. Hornbach M.J., Saffer D.M., Holbrook W.S. Critically pressured free-gas reservoirs below gas hydrate provinces. Nature 2004, v. 427:142-144.
10. Johnson J.E., Goldfinger C., Suess E. Geophysical constraints on the surface distribution of authigenic carbonates across the Hydrate Ridge region. Mar. Geol. 2003, 202:79-120.
11. Leifer I., MacDonald I. Dynamics of the gas flux from shallow gas hydrate deposits: interaction between oily hydrate bubbles and the oceanic environment. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2003, 210:411.
12. Leifer I., Boles J.R., Luyendyk B.P., Clark J.F. Transient discharges from marine hydrocarbon seeps, spatial and temporal variablility. Environ. Geol. 2004, 46:1038-1052.
13. Luff R., Wallman K. Fluid flow, methane fluxes, carbonate precipitation and biogeochemical turnover in gas hydrate bearing sediments at Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia margin: numerical modeling and mass balances. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 2003, 57:3403-3421.
14. Milkov A.V., Dickens G.R., Claypool G.E., Lee Y.-J., Borowski W.S., Torres M.E., Xu W., Tomaru H., Tréhu A.M., Schultheiss P. Co-existence of gas hydrate, free gas, and brine within the gas hydrate stability zone at the southern summit of Hydrate Ridge (Oregon margin): evidence from prolonged degassing of a pressurized core. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2004, 222:829-843.
15. Paull C.K., Ussler W., Borowski W.S., Spiess F.N. Methane-rich plumes on the Carolina continental rise: associations with gas hydrates. Geology 1995, 23:89-92. 10.1130/0091-7613(1995) 023, (1995).
16. Powell E.N., Callender W.R., Stanton R.J. Can shallow- and deep-water chemoautotrophic and heterotrophic communities be discriminated in the fossil record?. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 1998, 144(1-2):85-114.
17. Riedel M. 4D seismic time-lapse monitoring of an active cold vent, northern Cascadia margin. Mar. Geophys. Res. 2007, 28(4). 10.1007/s11001-007-9037-2.
18. Riedel M.I., Novosel G.D., Spence R.D., Hyndman R.N., Shapman R., Solem C., Lewis T. Geophysical and geochemical signatures associated with gas hydrate-related venting in the northern Cascadia margin. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 2006, 118:23-38.
19. Roberts H.H. Fluid and gas expulsion on the northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope: mudprone to mineral-prone responses. American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph 2001, 124:145-161.
20. Shakhova N., Semiletov I., Salyuk A., Yusupov V., Kismach D., Gustaffson O. Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. Science 2010.
21. Suess E., Torres M.E., Bohrmann G., Collier R.W., Rickert D., Goldfinger C., Linke P., Heuser A., Sahling H., Heeschen K., Jung C., Nakamura K., Greinert J., Pfannkuche O., Trehu A., Klinkhammer G., Whiticar M.J., Eisenhauer A., Teichert B., Elvert M. Sea floor methane hydrates at Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia margin. Natural Gas Hydrates: Occurrence, Distribution, and Detection. Am. Geophysical Union, Geophys. Monogr. Ser. 2001, 124:87-98. C.K. Paull, W.P. Dillon (Eds.).
22. Suess E., Torres M.E., Bohrmann G., Collier R.W., Greinert J., Linke P., Rehder G., Trehu A., Wallmann K., Winkler G., Zuleger E. Gas hydrate destabilization: enhanced dewatering, benthic material turnover and large methane plumes at the Cascadia convergent margin. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 1999, 170:1-15.
23. Torres M.E., Barry J.P., Hubbard D.A., Suess E. Reconstructing the history of fluid flow at cold seep sites from Ba/Ca ratios in vesicomyid clam shells. Limnol. Oceanogr. 2001, 47(7):1701-1708.
24. Torres M.E., McManus J., Hammond D.E., de Angelis M.A., Heeschen K.U., Colbert S.L., Tryon M.D., Brown K.M., Suess E. Fluid and chemical fluxes in and out of sediments hosting methane hydrate deposits on Hydrate Ridge, OR, I: hydrological provinces. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2002, 201:525-540.
25. Torres M.E., Teichert B.M.A., Tréhu A.M., Borowski W., Tomaru H. Relationship of pore water freshening to accretionary processes in the Cascadia margin: fluid sources and gas hydrate abundance. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2004, 31. 10.1029/2004GL021219.
26. Tréhu A.M., Long P.E., Torres M.E., Bohrmann G., Rack F.R., Collett T.S., Goldberg D.S., Milkov A.V., Riedel M., Schultheiss P., Bangs N.L., Barr S.R., Borowski W.S., Claypool G.E., Delwiche M.E., Dickens G.R., Gracia E., Guerin G., Holland M., Johnson J.E., Lee Y.-J., Liu C.-S., Su X., Teichert B., Tomaru H., Vanneste M., Watanabe M., Weinberger J.L. Three-dimensional distribution of gas hydrate beneath southern Hydrate Ridge: constraints from ODP Leg 204. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2004, 222:845-862. 10.1016/j.epsl.2004.03.035.
27. Tréhu A.M., Flemings P.B., Bangs N.L., Chevallier J., Gràcia E., Johnson J.E., Liu C.-S., Liu X., Riedel M., Torres M.E. Feeding methane vents and gas hydrate deposits at south Hydrate Ridge. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2004, 31:L23310. 10.1029/2004GL021286.
28. Tryon M.D., Brown K.M., Torres M.E., Trehu A.M., McManus J., Collier R.W. Measurements of transience and downward fluid flow near episodic methane gas vents, Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia. Geology 1999, 27:1075-1078.
29. Van Dover C.L. The Ecology of Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents 2000, Princeton University Press, 424 p.