Effects of submarine groundwater discharge on the present-day extent of relict submarine permafrost and gas hydrate stability on the Beaufort Sea continental shelf

Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface

Volumn 120, Issue 3, 2015, Pages 417-432

  Frederick, J M ^a   Buffett, B A ^b  

^a DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Arctic; Beaufort Sea Shelf; methane gas hydrate; numerical modeling; submarine groundwater discharge; submarine permafrost

Indexed keywords

CONTINENTAL SHELF; DISCHARGE; GAS HYDRATE; METHANE; NUMERICAL MODEL; PERMAFROST; SALINITY; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE;

ARCTIC OCEAN; BEAUFORT SEA; BEAUFORT SHELF; NORTH AMERICA;

EID: 85027934793     PISSN: 21699003     EISSN: 21699011     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/2014JF003349     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Andler, P. M., and, H. Brenner, (1988), Multiphase flow in porous media, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., 20, 35-59.
2. Barenbaum, A. A., (2007), On possible relationship between gas hydrates and submarine groundwater, Water Res., 34 (5), 587-592.
3. Belanger, A. M., (2007), Fluid flow in the central North Slope foreland basin, Alaska, Thesis dissertation, 50 pp., Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge.
4. Blasco, S., et al. (2013), 2010 State of knowledge: Beaufort Sea seabed geohazards associated with offshore hydrocarbon development, Geological Survey of Canada Open File, 6989, 340, doi: 10.4095/292616.
5. Bratton, J. F., (2010), The three scales of submarine groundwater flow and discharge across passive continental margins, J. Geol., 118 (5), 565-575.
6. Brothers, L. L., P. E. Hart, and, C. D. Ruppel, (2012), Minimum distribution of subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the U.S. Beaufort Sea continental shelf, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L15501, doi: 10.1029/2012GL052222.
7. Cohen, D., et al. (2010), Origin and extent of fresh paleowaters on the Atlantic continental shelf, USA, Groundwater, 48 (1), 143-158.
8. Collett, T. S., and, K. Bird, (1993), Unfrozen, high-salinity intervals within icebearing permafrost, North Slope of Alaska, 6th Int. Conf. Permafrost, Beijing.
9. Collett, T. S., (1994), Permafrost-associated gas hydrate accumulations, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 715, 247-269.
10. Collett, T. S., M. W. Lee, W. F. Agena, J. J. Miller, K. A. Lewis, M. V. Zyrianova, R. Boswell, and, T. L. Inks, (2011), Permafrost-associated natural gas hydrate occurrences on the Alaska North Slope, Mar. Pet. Geol., 28, 279-294.
11. Dallimore, S. R., and, T. S. Collett, (1995), Intrapermafrost gas hydrates from a deep core hole in the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada, Geology, 23 (6), 527-530.
12. Delisle, G., (1998), Temporal variability of sub-sea permafrost and gas hydrate occurrences as function of climate change in the Laptev Sea, Siberia, Polarforchung, 68, 221-225.
13. Deming, D., J. H. Sass, A. H. Lachenbruch, and, R. F. De Rito, (1992), Heat flow and subsurface temperature as evidence for basin-scale ground water flow, North Slope of Alaska, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 104 (5), 528-542.
14. de Roo, J. L., C. J. Peters, R. N. Lichtenthaler, and, G. A. M. Diepen, (1983), Occurence of methane hydrate in saturated and unsaturated solutions of sodium chloride and water in dependence of temperature and pressure, AlChE J., 29 (4), 651-657.
15. Dzyuba, A. V., and, I. S. Zektser, (2013), Variations in submarine groundwater runoff as a possible cause of decomposition of marine methane hydrates in the Arctic, Water Res., 40 (1), 74-83.
16. Fofonoff, P., and, R. C. Millard, Jr., (1983), Algorithms for the computation of fundamental properties of seawater, UNESCO Technical Paper in Marine Science, 44, 1-55.
17. Frederick, J. M., and, B. A. Buffett, (2014), Taliks in relict submarine permafrost and methane hydrate deposits: Pathways for gas escape under present and future conditions, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 119, 106-122, doi: 10.1002/jgrf.20192.
18. Frederick, J. M., and, B. A. Buffett, (2013), Use of cosmogenic 129-I to constrain numerical models of fluid flow in marine sediments: Application to the Blake Ridge Hydrate Province, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 14, 1343-1357, doi: 10.1002/ggge.20059.
19. Gwiazda, R., C. K. Paull, S. Dallimore, H. Melling, and, Y. K. Jin, (2014), Distinctive sources of fluids in different environments of the Beaufort Sea seafloor, Abstract OS12A-06 presented at 2014 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 15-19 Dec.
20. Hanor, J. S., J. A. Nunn, and, Y. Lee, (2004), Salinity structure of the central North Slope foreland basin, Alaska, USA: Implications for pathways of past and present topographically driven regional fluid flow, Geofluids, 4, 152-168.
21. Hatlelid, W. G., and, J. R. MacDonald, (1982), Permafrost determination by seismic velocity analyses, J. Can. Soc. Explor. Geophys., 18 (1), 14-22.
22. Hu, K., D. R. Issler, Z. Chen, and, T. A. Brent, (2013), Permafrost investigation by well logs, and seismic velocity and repeated shallow temperature surveys, Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Geological Survey of Canada Open File 6956.
23. Johansen, T. A., P. Digranes, M. V. Schaack, and, I. Lonne, (2003), On seismic mapping and modeling of near-surface sediments in polar areas, Geophysics, 68 (2), 1-8.
24. Judge, A. S., A. E. Taylor, M. Burgess, and, V. S. Allen, (1981), Canadian geothermal data collection-northern wells 1978-80, Earth Physics Branch, EMR Canada, Geothermal Series 12.
25. Judge, A. S., and, J. A. Majorowicz, (1992), Geothermal conditions for gas hydrate stability in the Beaufort-Mackenzie area: The global change aspect, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 98, 251-263.
26. Kassens, H., H. Bauch, S. Drachev, A. Gierlichs, F. Niessen, E. Taldenkova, A. Rudoi, J. Thiede, and, M. Wessels, (2000), The TRANSDRIFT VIII Expedition to the Laptev Sea: The Shelf Drilling Campaign of "Laptev Sea System 2000", Sixth Workshop on Russian-German Cooperation: Laptev Sea System 2000. October 12-14, 2000, St. Petersburg, Russia.
27. Kendall, R. A., J. X. Mitrovica, and, G. A. Milne, (2005), On post-glacial sea level-II. Numerical formulation and comparative results on spherically symmetric models, Geophys. J. Int., 161, 679-706.
28. King, M. S., B. I. Pandit, J. A. Hunter, and, M. Gajtani, (1982), Some seismic, electrical, and thermal properties of sub-seabottom permafrost from the Beaufort Sea, Proc. 4th Can. Permafrost Conf., 268-273.
29. King, M. S., B. I. Pandit, R. W. Zimmerman, and, R. F. Corwin, (1988), Seismic and electrical properties of unconsolidated permafrost, Geophys. Prospect., 36, 349-364.
30. Kooi, H., and, J. Groen, (2000), Modes of seawater intrusion during transgressions, Water Resour. Res., 36 (12), 3581-3589.
31. Lide, D. R., (ed.) (2013-2014), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 94th ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla.
32. 18O records, Paleoceanography, 20, PA1003, doi: 10.1029/2004PA001071.
33. Matsumoto, R., H. Tomaru, Y. F. Chen, H. Lu, and, I. D. Clark, (2005), Geochemistry of the interstitial waters of the JAPEX/JNOC/GSC et al Mallik 5L-38 gas hydrate production research well, GSC Bull., 585, 98-99.
34. Mavko, G., and, A. Nur, (1997), The effect of a percolation threshold in the Kozeny-Carman relation, Geophysics, 62, 1480-1482.
35. Moore, W. S., (2010), The effect of submarine groundwater discharge on the ocean, Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci., 2, 59-88, doi: 10.1146/annurev-marine-120308-081019.
36. Nicolsky, D. J., and, N. E. Shakhova, (2010), Modeling sub-sea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf: The Dmitry Laptev Strait, Environ. Res. Lett., 5, 0115006, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/015006.
37. Nicolsky, D. J., V. E. Romanovsky, N. N. Romanovskii, A. L. Kholodov, N. E. Shakhova, and, I. P. Semiletov, (2012), Modeling sub-sea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf: The Laptev Sea region, J. Geophys. Res., 117, F03028, doi: 10.1029/2012JF002358.
38. Osterkamp, T. E., G. C. Baker, W. D. Harrison, and, T. Matava, (1989), Characteristics of the active layer and shallow subsea permafrost, J. Geophys. Res., 94 (C11), 16,227-16,236.
39. Osterkamp, T. A., (2001), Sub-sea permafrost, in Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, pp. 559-569, Academic Press.
40. Paull, C. K., W. Ussler III, S. R. Dallimore, S. M. Blasco, T. D. Lorenson, H. Melling, B. E. Medioli, F. M. Nixon, and, F. A. McLaughlin, (2007), Origin of pingo-like features on the Beaufort Sea shelf and their possible relationship to decomposing methane gas hydrates, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L01603, doi: 10.1029/2006GL027977.
41. Paull, C. K., et al. (2011), Tracking the decomposition of submarine permafrost and gas hydrate under the shelf and slope of the Beaufort Sea, Proc. 7th Int. Conf. on Gas Hydrates, Edinburgh, Scotland, 17-21 July.
42. Peltier, W. R., (2004), Global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice-age Earth: The ICE-5G (VM2) Model and GRACE, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 32, 111-149.
43. Petit, J. R., et al. (1999), Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok Ice Core, Antarctica, Nature, 399, 429-436.
44. Petit, J. R., et al. (2001), Vostok Ice Core Data for 420,000 Years, IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2001-076, NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, Colo.
45. Phrampus, B. J., M. J. Hornbach, C. D. Ruppel, and, P. E. Hart, (2014), Widespread gas hydrate instability on the upper U.S. Beaufort margin, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 119, 8594-8609, doi: 10.1002/2014JB011290.
46. Pohlman, J., T. D. Lorenson, P. E. Hart, C. D. Ruppel, C. Joseph, M. E. Torres, and, B. D. Edmwards, (2011), Abstract GC41B-0813 presented at 2011 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif, 5-9 Dec.
47. Pohlman, J., C. Ruppel, C. Maue, L. Brothers, J. Kessler, and, C. Worley, (2012), Real-time mapping of seawater and atmospheric methane concentrations offshore of Alaska's North Slope, USGS Sound Waves, 140, 4-5.
48. Portnov, A., A. J. Smith, J. Mienert, G. Cherkashov, P. Rekant, P. Semenov, P. Serov, and, B. Vanshtein, (2013), Offshore permafrost decay and massive seabed methane escape in water depths > 20 m at the South Kara Sea shelf, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 3962-3967, doi: 10.1002/grl.50735.
49. Portnov, A., J. Mienert, and, P. Serov, (2014), Modeling the evolution of climate-sensitive Arctic subsea permafrost in regions of extensive gas expulsion at the West Yamal shelf, J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci., 119, 2082-2094, doi: 10.1002/2014JG002685.
50. Post, V. E. A., and, H. Kooi, (2003), Rates of salinization by free convection in high-permeability sediments: Insights from numerical modeling and application to the Dutch coastal area, Hydrogeol. J., 11, 549-559.
51. Post, V. E. A., J. Groen, H. Kooi, M. Person, S. Ge, and, W. M. Edmunds, (2013), Offshore fresh groundwater reserves as a global phenomemnon, Nature, 504, 71-78, doi: 10.1038/nature12858.
52. Rachold, V., D. Y. Bolshiyanov, M. N. Grigoriev, H.-W. Hubberten, R. Junker, V. V. Kunitsky, F. Merker, P. Overduin, and, W. Schneider, (2007), Nearshore Arctic subsea permafrost in transition, Eos Trans. AGU, 88 (13), 149-156, doi: 10.1029/2007EO130001.
53. Romanovskii, N. N., H. W. Hubberten, A. V. Gavrilov, A. A. Eliseeva, and, G. S. Tipenko, (2005), Offshore permafrost and gas hydrate stability zone on the shelf of East Siberian Seas, Geo-Mar. Lett., 25, 167-182.
54. Ruppel, C. D., (2011), Methane hydrates and contemporary climate change, Nat. Educ. Know., 3 (10), 29.
55. Ruppel, C. D., J. Pohlman, M. P. Woo, M. Casso, P. Hart, and, L. Brothers, (2013), Methane fluxes from the Western Arctic Ocean: No evidence for an Arctic methane catastrophe, Final PERGAMON Symposium, GEOMAR Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany, 5-7 Nov.
56. Sellmann, P., and, E. Chamberlain, (1980), Permafrost beneath the Beaufort Sea: Near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, J. Energy Res. Technol., 102, 35-48.
57. Schlitzer, R., (2014), Ocean data view. http://odv.awi.de,Accessed04/25/2014.
58. Shakhova, N., et al. (2013), Ebullition and storm-induced methane release from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, Nat. Geosci., 7, 64-70.
59. Smith, S. L., and, A. S. Judge, (1993), Gas hydrate database for Canadian Arctic and selected east coast wells: Geological Survey of Canada Open File Report 2746.
60. Taniguchi, M., W. C. Burnett, J. E. Cable, and, J. V. Turner, (2002), Investigation of submarine groundwater discharge, Hydrol. Processes, 16, 2115-2129.
61. Taylor, A. E., S. R. Dallimore, and, S. I. Outcalt, (1996a), Late Quaternary history of the Mackenzie-Beaufort region, Arctic Canada, from modelling of permafrost temperatures: I. The onshore-offshore transition, Can. J. Earth Sci., 33, 52-61.
62. Taylor, A. E., S. R. Dallimore, and, A. S. Judge, (1996b), Late Quaternary history of the Mackenzie-Beaufort region, Arctic Canada, from modelling of permafrost temperatures. 2. The Mackenzie Delta-Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, Can. J. Earth Sci., 33, 62-71.
63. Taylor, A. E., S. R. Dallimore, P. R. Hill, D. R. Issler, S. Blasco, and, F. Wright, (2013), Numerical model of the geothermal regime on the Beaufort Shelf, arctic Canada since the Last Interglacial, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 118, 2365-2379, doi: 10.1002/2013JF002859.
64. Torres, M. E., T. S. Collett, K. K. Rose, J. C. Sample, W. F. Agena, and, E. J. Rosenbaum, (2011), Pore fluid geochemistry from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope, Mar. Pet. Geol., 28, 332-342.
65. Weaver, J. S., and, J. M. Stuart, (1983), In situ hydrates under the Beaufort Sea shelf, Proc. 4th Can. Permafrost Conf., Fairbanks, Alaska, 18-22 July.
66. Williams, J. R., (1970), Ground water in the permafrost regions of Alaska, USGS Professional Paper: 696.
67. World Ocean Database (WOD), (2009), Ocean Climate Laboratory/National Oceanographic Data Center/NESDIS/NOAA/U.S. Department of Commerce, World Ocean Database and World Ocean Atlas, Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, Boulder, Colo.