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1.
Seafloor blister-like mounds, methane migration and gas hydrate formation were investigated through detailed seafloor surveys in Santa Monica Basin, offshore of Los Angeles, California. Two distinct deep-water (≥ 800 m water depth) topographic mounds were surveyed using an autonomous underwater vehicle (carrying a multibeam sonar and a chirp sub-bottom profiler) and one of these was explored with the remotely operated vehicle Tiburon. The mounds are > 10 m high and > 100 m wide dome-shaped bathymetric features. These mounds protrude from crests of broad anticlines (~ 20 m high and 1 to 3 km long) formed within latest Quaternary-aged seafloor sediment associated with compression between lateral offsets in regional faults. No allochthonous sediments were observed on the mounds, except slumped material off the steep slopes of the mounds. Continuous streams of methane gas bubbles emanate from the crest of the northeastern mound, and extensive methane-derived authigenic carbonate pavements and chemosynthetic communities mantle the mound surface. The large local vertical displacements needed to produce these mounds suggests a corresponding net mass accumulation has occurred within the immediate subsurface. Formation and accumulation of pure gas hydrate lenses in the subsurface is proposed as a mechanism to blister the seafloor and form these mounds.  相似文献   

2.
The Mediterranean Ridge is an arcuate ridge of deformed sediment caught up in the convergent plate margin between the African plate and the Aegean. An intensive campaign of SeaMARC I and SeaBeam surveys followed by piston coring has been conducted along the contact between undeformed turbidites of the Sirte Abyssal Plain and folded and faulted sediments of the Mediterranean Ridge. Along the outer edge of the Ridge, surficial sediments have been deformed into sinusoidal ridges and troughs (wavelengths 0.5–2 km, amplitude 20–150 m), which we interpret as folds. In plan view, the ridge and the trough fabric parallels the NW-SE trending regional contours, suggesting that the folds formed in response to compression orthogonal to the Mediterranean Ridge. The outermost ridge is shedding a debris apron out onto the abyssal plain, implying that uplift and deformation are ongoing. We show that the geometry of the outermost folds can be produced by elastic bending of a packet of 5–10 relatively strong layers, each 10–20 m thick, interbedded between weaker layers; we equate the strong layers with gypsum beds in the Messinian upper evaporites. Folding the seafloor from a flat layer into the observed ridge and trough topography would shorten the layer by less than 2%. Two percent shortening (equals two percent thickening) is insufficient to create the observed relief of the Mediterranean Ridge even if the entire sediment column down to basement were involved; we infer that additional shortening/thickening is accommodated by thrust faulting above a decollement at the top of the Messinian salt layer. At distances > 15 km from the deformation front and more than 500 m from the abyssal plain, sharp-edged, fine-grained side-scan lineations with very little vertical relief cut across the kilometer-scale ridge and trough topography. These fine-grained lineations fall in two groups trending N/S to NNE/SSW and ~ENE. We interpret these lineaments as traces of conjugate strike-slip faults formed in the same compressional regime which formed the NW/SE trending folds. The onset of strike-slip faulting may coincide with the cessation of imbricate thrust fan development above the initial salt-controlled decollement surface. The following characteristics of the Mediterranean Ridge are attributed to the presence of evaporites in the incoming sedimentary section: (1) initial deformation by folding rather than thrust faulting; (2) narrow taper; (3) rapid rate of outward growth; (4) karstification.  相似文献   

3.
SeaMARC II (11- to 12-kHz) side-scan sonar revealed hundreds of small strong-backscatter spots, tens to 500?m in diameter, along the lips of the Bear Island fan slide valley. New bathymetry, deep-tow side-scan, deep-tow profiles, heatflow, and gravity cores were collected for ground-truth. These mounds are probably mud diapirs (or mud-built mounds) typically 10–75?m high, formed by glacial sediment mobilized by Late Pleistocene slide events. The mounds are arranged along NNE trending lines, suggesting control by intrasedimentary faults ca. 0.5–1 km apart. Diapirs examined on the Vøring Plateau exhibit WNW structural control. No heatflow anomaly was found in four stations on or next to diapirs in either area.  相似文献   

4.
A 1987 survey of the offshore Peru forearc using the SeaMARC II seafloor mapping system reveals that subduction of the Nazca Ridge has resulted in uplift of the lowermost forearc by as much as 1500 m. This uplift is seen in the varied depths of two forearc terraces opposite the subducting ridge. Uplift of the forearc has caused fracturing, minor surficial slumping, and increased erosion through small canyons and gullies. Oblique trending linear features on the forearc may be faults with a strike-slip component of motion caused by the oblique subduction of the Nazca Ridge. The trench in the zone of ridge subduction is nearly linear, with no re-entrant in the forearc due to subduction of the Nazca Ridge. Compressional deformation of the forearc due to subduction of the ridge is relatively minor, suggesting that the gently sloping Nazca Ridge is able to slide beneath the forearc without significantly deforming it. The structure of the forearc is similar to that revealed by other SeaMARC II surveys to the north, consisting of: 1) a narrow zone (10 to 15 km across) of accreted material making up the lower forearc; 2) a chaotic middle forearc; 3) outcropping consolidated material and draping sediment on the upper forearc; and 4) the smooth, sedimented forearc shelf.The subducting Nazca plate and the Nazca Ridge are fractured by subduction-induced faults with offsets of up to 500 m. Normal faulting is dominant and begins about 50 km from the trench axis, increasing in frequency and offset toward the trench. These faults are predominantly trench-parallel. Reverse faults become more common in the deepest portion of the trench and often form at slight angles to the trench axis.Intrusive and extrusive volcanic areas on the Nazca plate appear to have formed well after the seafloor was created at the ridge crest. Many of the areas show evidence of current scour and are cut by faulting, however, indicating that they formed before the seafloor entered the zone of subduction-induced faulting.  相似文献   

5.
In previous publications, the relationship between the Sirte Abyssal Plain as foreland and the Mediterranean Ridge as accretionary complex was considered to be simple: the foreland is undeformed, the accretionary complex consumes the foreland, the Messinian evaporites control the internal structure of the growing complex. The compilation of our own and published data results in a more complex tectonic pattern and a new geodynamic interpretation. The Sirte Abyssal Plain is imprinted by extensional tectonics which originated independently from and prior to the approaching process of accretion. The structural setting of the pre-Messinian and Messinian Sirte Abyssal Plain is responsible for the highly variable thickness of Messinian evaporites. The foreland setting in the Sirte Abyssal Plain also controls the internal structure of the Mediterranean Ridge, at least between the deformation front and Bannock Basin, following sediment deformation within the accretionary wedge with a dominating inherited SW-NE orientation. The taper angle of the post-Messinian Mediterranean Ridge is unusually small compared with other accretionary wedges. In the studied area, within a distance of about 45 km from the deformation front, there is no appreciable dip in the décollement. Therefore, the slope of the outer 45 km of the Mediterranean Ridge is considered to be caused only by gravitational spreading of Messinian evaporites deposited on the slope of pre-Messinian accretionary wedge. As a consequence, the Mediterranean Ridge underlying such slope is interpreted to belong to the foreland. The allochthonous evaporites overlie autochthonous evaporites of the Sirte Abyssal Plain. The NE-dipping décollement (and thus of the true tectonically driven deformation front) is expected to initiate at about the present position of Bannock Basin. The Sirte Abyssal Plain, the adjacent Cyrene Seamount and neighbouring seafloor relief on the African continental margin are considered to be the product of tectonic segmentation of the continental crust.  相似文献   

6.
The seafloor morphology and the subsurface of the continental slope of the Olbia intraslope basin located along the eastern, passive Sardinian margin (Tyrrhenian Sea) has been mapped through the interpretation of high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data, coupled with air-gun and sparker seismic profiles. Two areas, corresponding to different physiographic domains, have been recognized along the Olbia continental slope. The upper slope domain, extending from 500 to 850 m water depth, exhibits a series of conical depressions, interpreted as pockmarks that are particularly frequent in seafloor sectors coincident with buried slope channels. In one case, they are aligned along a linear gully most likely reflecting the course of one of the abandoned channels. The location of the pockmarks thus highlights the importance of the distribution of lithologies within different sedimentary bodies in the subsurface in controlling fluid migration plumbing systems. A linear train of pockmarks is, however, present also away from the buried channels being related to a basement step, linked to a blind fault. Two bathymetric highs, interpreted as possible carbonate mounds, are found in connection with some of the pockmark fields. Although the genetic linkage of the carbonate mounds with seafloor fluid venting cannot be definitively substantiated by the lack of in situ measurements, the possibility of a close relationship is here proposed. The lower slope domain, from 850 m down to the base of the slope at 1,200 m water depth is characterized by a sudden gradient increase (from 2° to 6°) that is driven by the presence of the basin master fault that separates the continental slope from the basin plain. Here, a series of km-wide headwall scars due to mass wasting processes are evident. The landslides are characterized by rotated, relatively undeformed seismic strata, which sometimes evolve upslope into shallow-seated (less than 10 m), smaller scale failures and into headless chutes. Slope gradient may act as a major controlling factor on the seafloor instability along the Olbia continental slope; however, the association of landslides with pockmarks has been recognized in several continental slopes worldwide, thus the role of over-pressured fluids in triggering sediment failure in the Olbia slope can not be discarded. In the absence of direct ground truthing, the geological processes linked to subsurface structures and their seafloor expressions have been inferred through the comparison with similar settings where the interpretation of seafloor features from multibeam data has been substantiated with seafloor sampling and geochemical data.  相似文献   

7.
除平滑海底外，长江口主航道水下底床上还发育有沙波，沙纹、沙斑及形态规则的小型冲蚀凹坑、冲沟和疏浚沟痕等微地貌形态，基本上沿岸呈带状分布。根据声波反射原理，将航道内３０ｍ厚的地层划分为两层，并据此对长江口的现代沉积环境作了初步分析。  相似文献   

8.
《Marine Geology》2004,203(1-2):119-140
The results of a combined geophysical and geochemical research programme on Deception Island, an active volcano at 62°43′S, 60°57′W in Bransfield Strait (Antarctica), are presented. Ultrahigh-resolution acoustic data obtained with a TOPAS (TOpographic PArameter Sonar) system and multibeam bathymetry (Simrad EM1000) allow a detailed analysis of submarine vents in Port Foster, the submerged caldera of Deception Island. The data show three different types of seafloor structures: low-relief mounds, high-relief mounds (‘wasp nest’-like) and spire-like structures. We interpret these structures as products of sediment volcanism and seeps caused by heating and boiling of pore fluids in gas-charged sediments, and related to recent short-lived volcanic events, possibly those that occurred in 1967, 1969 and 1970. In addition, subsurface vertical disturbed zones, formed by increased amplitude and phase-inverse reflectors beneath the mounds, suggest the presence of fluidised and brecciated sediments within hydrofracture systems. A key finding of this study is that there appears to be a close relationship between the submarine mounds detected by our ultrahigh-resolution seismic study, geochemical haloes, fault-pathways and present-day thermal anomalies in surface waters. We suggest that seafloor hydrofracture systems and subsurface pipes can be re-used as fluid migration pathways, resulting in hydrothermal seeps and vents on the seafloor, possibly up to decades after coeval volcanic eruptions.  相似文献   

9.
Release of hydrocarbons from sediments is important in increasing habitat heterogeneity on deep ocean margins. Heterogeneity arises from variation in abiotic and biotic conditions, including changes in substratum, geochemistry, fluid flow, biological communities and ecological interactions. The seepage of heavy hydrocarbons to the seafloor is less well studied than most other cold seep systems and may lead to the formation of asphalt mounds. These have been described from several regions, particularly the Gulf of Mexico. Here, we describe the structure, potential formation and biology of a large asphalt mound province in Block 31SE Angola. A total of 2254 distinct mound features was identified by side-scan sonar, covering a total area of 3.7 km2 of seafloor. The asphalt mounds took a number of forms from small (<0.5 m diameter; 13% observations) mounds to large extensive (<50 m diameter) structures. Some of the observed mounds were associated with authigenic carbonate and active seepage (living chemosynthetic fauna present in addition to the asphalt). The asphalt mounds are seabed accumulations of heavy hydrocarbons formed from subsurface migration and fractionation of reservoir hydrocarbons primarily through a network of faults. In Angola these processes are controlled by subsurface movement of salt structures. The asphalt mounds were typically densely covered with epifauna (74.5% of mounds imaged had visible epifauna) although individual mounds varied considerably in epifaunal coverage. Of the 49 non-chemosynthetic megafaunal taxa observed, 19 taxa were only found on hard substrata (including asphalt mounds), 2 fish species inhabited the asphalt mounds preferentially and 27 taxa were apparently normal soft-sediment fauna. Antipatharians (3.6±2.3% s.e.) and poriferans (2.6±1.9% s.e.) accounted for the highest mean percentage of the observed cover, with actinarians (0.9±0.4% s.e.) and alcyonaceans (0.4±0.2% s.e.) covering smaller proportions of the area. Asphalt mounds represent a common and important habitat on several margin systems globally and should be recognised in future environmental assessment and management of these areas.  相似文献   

10.
Joseph  E. John  Toh  H.  Fujimoto  H.  Iyengar  R.V.  Singh  B.P.  Utada  H.  Segawa  J. 《Marine Geophysical Researches》2000,21(1-2):1-21
Seafloor magnetometer array experiments were conducted in the Bay of Bengal to delineate the subsurface conductivity structure in the close vicinity of the 85°E Ridge and Ninety East Ridge (NER), and also to study the upper mantle conductivity structure of the Bay of Bengal. The seafloor experiments were conducted in three phases. Array 1991 consisted of five seafloor stations across the 85°E Ridge along 14°N latitude with a land reference station at Selam (SLM). Array 1992 also consisted of five seafloor stations across 85°E Ridge along 12°N latitude. Here we used the data from Annamalainagar Magnetic Obervatory (ANN) as land reference data. Array 1995 consisted of four seafloor stations across the NER along 9°N latitude with land reference station at Tirunelveli (TIR). OBM-S4 magnetometers were used for seafloor measurements. The geomagnetic Depth Sounding (GDS) method was used to investigate the subsurface lateral conductivity contrasts. The vertical gradient sounding (VGS) method was used to deliniate the depth-resistivity structure of the oceanic crust and upper mantle. 1-D inversion of the VGS responses were conducted and obtained a 3-layer depth-resistivity model. The top layer has a resistivity of 150–500 m and a thickness of about 15–50 km. The second layer is highly resistive (2000–9000 m) followed by a very low resistive (0.1–50 m) layer at a depth of about 250–450 km. The 3-component magnetic field variations and the observed induction arrows indicated that the electromagnetic induction process in the Bay of Bengal is complex. We made an attempt to solve this problem numerically and followed two approaches, namely (1) thin-sheet modelling and (2) 3-D forward modelling. These model calculations jointly show that the observed induction arrows could be explained in terms of shallow subsurface features such as deep-sea fans of Bay of Bengal, the resistive 85°E Ridge and the sea water column above the seafloor stations. VGS and 3-D forward model responses agree fairly well and provided depth-resistivity profile as a resistive oceanic crust and upper mantle underlained by a very low resistive zone at a depth of about 250–400 km. This depth-range to the low resistive zone coincide with the seismic low velocity zone of the northeastern Indian Ocean derived from the seismic tomography. Thus we propose an electrical conductivity structure for the oceanic crust and upper mantle of the Bay of Bengal.  相似文献   

11.
The Menes caldera is a fault-controlled depression (~8 km in diameter) at ~3,000 m water depth in the western province of the Nile deep-sea fan off NW Egypt, comprising seven mud volcanoes (MVs) of which two are active. Based on multichannel and chirp seismic data, temperature profiles, and high-resolution bathymetric data collected during the 2000 Fanil, 2004 Mimes and 2007 Medeco2 expeditions, the present study investigates factors controlling MV morphology, the geometry of feeder channels, and the origin of emitted fluids. The active Cheops and Chephren MVs are 1,500 m wide with subcircular craters at their summits, about 250 m in diameter, generally a few tens of metres deep, and filled with methane-rich muddy brines with temperatures reaching 42 °C and 57 °C respectively. Deployments of CTDs and corers with attached temperature sensors tracked these warm temperatures down to almost 0.5 km depth below the brine lake surface at the Cheops MV, in a feeder channel probably only a few tens of metres wide. Thermogenic processes involve the dissolution of Messinian evaporites by warm fluids likely sourced even deeper, i.e. 1.7 and 2.6 km below the seabed at the Cheops and Chephren MVs respectively, and which ascend along listric faults. Seepage activity appears broadly persistent since the initiation of mud volcanism in the Early Pliocene, possibly accompanied by lateral migration of feeder channels.  相似文献   

12.
The SW Iberian margin developed as a passive margin during Mesozoic times and was later inverted during the mainly Cenozoic Alpine orogeny. The initial syn-rift deposits include a Lower Jurassic evaporite unit of variable thickness. In the onshore, this unit is observed to thicken basinward (i.e., southward), in fault-controlled depocenters, and salt-related structures are only present in areas of thick initial evaporites. In the offshore, multiple salt-structures cored by the Lower Jurassic evaporites are interpreted on seismic reflection data and from exploratory drilling. Offshore salt structures include the allochthonous Esperança Salt Nappe, which extends over an area roughly 40 × 60 km. The abundance of salt-related structures and their geometry is observed to be controlled by the distribution of evaporite facies, which is in turn controlled by the structure of rift-related faulting. This paper presents a comprehensive study of salt tectonics over the entire onshore and offshore SW Iberian passive margin (southern Portugal and Gulf of Cadiz), covering all aspects from initial evaporite composition and thickness to the evolution of salt-related structures through Mesozoic extension and Cenozoic basin inversion.  相似文献   

13.
The Mediterranean margin of Libya can be divided into three physiographic provinces, the Pelagian Shelf, the Sirt Embayment, and Offshore Cyrenaica. The petroleum potential of the Pelagian Shelf has been investigated but the Sirt Embayment and Offshore Cyrenaica are almost unexplored. During 2004–2005, new 2D pre-stack time-migrated seismic data were acquired and used to examine the large-scale structural, depositional, and salt tectonic features of the Libyan shelf and slope. The data cover approximately 38,000 line kilometers in water depths ranging from under 50 to over 3000 m.Cenozoic strata along much of the Libyan margin have a demonstrable progradational character punctuated by surfaces of erosion and margin failure. Within the Sirt Embayment the most visible retrogradational surface becomes seismically coincident with the top of Messinian unconformity. This retrogradational surface extends for over 700 km along strike and cuts both sides of the Sirt Embayment. Over 5000 cubic kilometers of material are missing from above this surface. There are two ideas for how retrogradation occurred. One idea relates the retrogradation to margin erosion during the Messinian salinity crisis. The other idea suggests that a large part of the Libyan margin experienced a cataclysmic failure during the late Miocene.Some existing models for offshore Libya have interpreted a widespread layer of halite lying within the Messinian which thickens basinward. This interpretation was probably based on the fact seismic reflection continuity was lost over much of the Sirt Embayment on older data beneath the top Messinian unconformity. The loss of good reflection character adversely affected exploration efforts by obscuring deep structures. Recent seismic data and a current understanding of salt behavior do not support the interpretation of thick halite within the Messinian section. Regional observations do not indicate any mobile halite present in the Sirt Embayment. There is a relatively thin, high amplitude and high velocity layer of non-halite evaporites (mainly anhydrite) which caps the Messinian section. Where this high amplitude and high velocity layer is absent or eroded, seismic continuity within the Messinian interval is restored. Limited available well data support this interpretation.True mobile halite is interpreted to exist in offshore Libya only in the far west of the Pelagian Shelf near the Tunisian border. Beneath the Pelagian Shelf are a series of tight contractional folds that are interpreted to be salt cored. Basins adjacent to the folds display geometries characteristic of salt withdrawal. The fold crests formed bathymetric highs which served as nucleation sites for nummulitic shoal development. These shoals are the principal reservoirs of the Pelagian Shelf.  相似文献   

14.
Characteristics of two natural gas seepages in the North Sea   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
Two occurrences of active gas seepages are described from the North Sea. The southernmost one, situated above a salt diapir in Norwegian block , has been studied and sampled by use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). This seepage consists of about 120 single seeps located within a diameter of 100 m. It is estimated to produce 24 m3 of methane gas per day (at ambient pressure, 75 m water depth). Isotope values of the methane gas and higher hydrocarbon gases in the surrounding seafloor sediments, show that their origin is from a deep seated, thermogenic source. No typical gas-induced erosion features are found on the seafloor at this location, probably due to the lack of very fine grained material.The second occurrence is located in U.K. block (Geoteam, 1984), where the seepage is associated with a very large pockmark depression, measuring 17 m in depth and 700×450 m in width. This depression represents an eroded fine grained sediment volume of 7.105 cubic metres. No detailed inspection or sampling of the gas has been performed here. However seismic reflection anomalies are seen on airgun seismic records at various levels down to a depth of at least 1100 m below seafloor. The seeping gas, possibly mixed with liquids, at this location is therefore also expected to be of a thermogenic origin.  相似文献   

15.
The structural evolution of the Messinian evaporites in the Levantine Basin   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  
The Levantine Basin in the South-eastern Mediterranean Sea is a world class site for studying the initial stages of salt tectonics driven by differential sediment load, because the Messinian evaporites are comparatively young, the sediment load varies along the basin margin, they are hardly tectonically overprinted, and the geometry of the basin and the overburden is well-defined. In this study we analyse depositional phases of the evaporites and their structural evolution by means of high-resolution multi-channel seismic data. The basinal evaporites have a maximum thickness of about 2 km, precipitated during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, 5.3–5.9 Ma ago. The evaporite body is characterized by 5 transparent layers sequenced by four internal reflections. We suggest that each of the internal reflection bands indicate a change of evaporite facies, possibly interbedded clastic sediments, which were deposited during temporal sea level rises. All of these internal reflections are differently folded and distorted, proving that the deformation was syn-depositional. Thrust angles up to 14° are observed. Backstripping of the Pliocene–Quaternary reveals that salt tectonic is mainly driven by the sediment load of the Nile Cone. The direction of lateral salt displacement is mainly SSW–NNE and parallel to the bathymetric trend. Apparent rollback anticlines off Israel result rather from differential subsidence than from lateral salt displacement. In the south-eastern basin margin the deposition of the Isreali Slump Complex (ISC) is coeval with the onset of salt tectonic faulting, suggesting a causal link between slumping processes and salt tectonics.

The superposition of ‘thin-skinned’ tectonics and ‘thick-skinned’ tectonics becomes apparent in several locations: The fold belt off the Israeli Mediterranean slope mainly results from active strike-slip tectonics, which becomes evident in faults which reach from the seafloor well below the base of the evaporites. Owing to the wrenching of the crustal segments which are bounded by deep-rooted fault lines like the Damietta–Latakia, Pelusium and Shelf Edge Hinge line the setting is transpressional south of 32°N, where the fault lines bend further towards the west. This adds a component of ‘thick-skinned’ transpression to the generally ‘thin-skinned’ compressional regime in the basin. Above 1.5 km of evaporites, a mud volcano is observed with the mud source seemingly within the evaporite layer. At the eastern Cyprus Arc, the convergence zone of the African and the Anatolian plates, deep-rooted compression heavily deformed the base of the evaporites, whereas at the Eratosthenes Seamount mainly superficial compression affecting the Post-Messinian sediments and the top of the evaporites is observed.  相似文献   


16.
Seawater and brine samples collected along vertical profiles above the Bannock and Tyro Basins (eastern Mediterranean), and gypsum samples collected by dredging and coring the anoxic section of the Bannock Basin, have been studied for their δ18O values. The following conclusions may be drawn from these data: (1) The water of the deep brines is isotopically slightly different from modern Mediterranean bottom water and might be a ‘fossil water’ possibly formed during a recent, climatically cooler stage or when the evaporation was slightly higher than nowadays. (2) The similarity between the δ18O values of the brine samples from the Bannock and Tyro Basins supports the possibility that the ages of the two basins are very close to each other. (3) Gypsum crystals on the bottom of the Bannock Basin are probably being formed by the dissolution and reprecipitation of sub-bottom (or outcropping) Messinian evaporites. This hypothesis is supported by the oxygen isotopic values exhibited by the gypsum crystallization water and by the oxygen and sulphur isotopic composition of gypsum. (4) The shells of pelagic organisms included in gypsum are probably very recent, but not contemporary, and may be referred to cooler environmental conditions.  相似文献   

17.
The northern Gulf of Mexico is dominated by salt tectonics, resulting fracturing and numerous seafloor seeps and vents. Woolsey Mound, site of the Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium's seafloor observatory, has been investigated extensively via surveys, direct sampling and seafloor instrument systems. This study presents an innovative approach to seismic data interpretation, integrating three different resolution datasets and maximizing seismic coverage of the complex natural hydrocarbon plumbing system at Woolsey Mound.3D industry seismic data reveal the presence of a salt body at in the shallow subsurface that has generated an extended network of faults, some extending from the salt body to the seafloor (master faults). Higher resolution seismic data show acoustic wipe-out zones along the master faults with expulsion features – seafloor pockmarks and craters – located immediately above them and associated, in the subsurface, with high-amplitude, negative anomalies at constant depth of 0.2 s TWTT b.s.f., interpreted as free gas. Since pockmarks and craters provide pathways for hydrocarbons to escape from depth into the water column, related sub-surface seismic anomalies may indicate free gas at the base of the gas hydrates stability zone (GHSZ). Fluid flow and gas hydrates formation are segmented laterally along faults. Gas hydrates formation and dissociation vary temporally in the vicinity of active faults, and can temporarily seal them as conduits for thermogenic fluids. Periodic migrations of gases and other fluids may perturb the GHSZ in terms of temperature and pressure, producing the observed lack of classical BSRs.  相似文献   

18.
Mud volcanoes, mud cones, and mud ridges have been identified on the inner portion of the crestal area, and possibly on the inner escarpment, of the Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex. Four areas containing one or more mud diapirs have been investigated through bathymetric profiling, single channel seismic reflection profiling, heat flow measurements, and coring. A sequence of events is identified in the evolution of the mud diapirs: initially the expulsion on the seafloor of gasrich mud produces a seafloor depression outlined in the seismic record by downward dip of the host sediment reflectors towards the mud conduit; subsequent eruptions of fluid mud may create a flat topped mud volcano with step-like profile; finally, the intrusion of viscous mud produces a mud cone.The origin of the diapirs is deep within the Mediterranean Ridge. Although a minimum depth of about 400 m below the seafloor has been computed from the hydrostatic balance between the diapiric sediments and the host sediments, a maximum depth, suggested by geometric considerations, ranges between 5.3 and 7 km. The presence of thermogenic gas in the diapiric sediments suggests a better constrained origin depth of at least 2.2 km.The heat flow measured within the Olimpi mud diapir field and along a transect orthogonal to the diapiric field is low, ranging between 16 ± 5 and 41 ± 6 mW m–2. Due to the presence of gas, the thermal conductivity of the diapiric sediments is lower than that of the host hemipelagic oozes (0.6–0.9 and 1.0–1.15 W m–1 K–1 respectively).We consider the distribution of mud diapirs to be controlled by the presence of tectonic features such as reverse faults or thrusts (inner escarpment) that develop where the thickness of the Late Miocene evaporites appears to be minimum. An upward migration through time of the position of the décollement within the stratigraphic column from the Upper Oligocene (diapiric sediments) to the Upper Miocene (present position) is identified.  相似文献   

19.
Deep penetrating multichannel seismic reflection and gravity data have been used to study the lithospheric structure of the Canary Swell. The seismic reflection data show the transition from undisturbed Jurassic oceanic crust, away from the Canary Islands, to an area of ocean crust strongly modified by the Canary volcanism (ACV). Outside the ACV the seismic records image a well layered sedimentary cover, underlined by a bright reflection from the top of the igneous basement and also relatively continuous reflections from the base of the crust. In the ACV the definition of the boundary between sedimentary cover and igneous basement and the crust-mantle boundary remains very loose. Two-dimensional gravity modelling in the area outside the influence of the Canary volcanism, where the reflection data constrain the structure of the ocean crust, suggests a thinning of the lithosphere. The base of the lithosphere rises from 100 km, about 400 km west of the ACV, to 80 km at the outer limit of the ACV. In addition, depth conversion of the seismic reflection data and unloading of the sediments indicate the presence of a regional depth anomaly of an extension similar to the lithospheric thinning inferred from gravity modelling. The depth anomaly associated with the swell, after correction for sediment weight, is about 500 m. We interpret the lithospheric thinning as an indication of reheating of old Mesozoic lithosphere beneath the Canary Basin and along with the depth anomaly as indicating a thermal rejuvenation of the lithosphere. We suggest that the most likely origin for the Canary Islands is a hot spot.  相似文献   

20.
Increased oil and gas exploration activity has led to a detailed investigation of the continental shelf and adjacent slope regions of Mahanadi, Krishna–Godavari (KG) and Cauvery basins, which are promising petroliferous basins along the eastern continental margin of India. In this paper, we analyze the high resolution sparker, subbottom profiler and multibeam data in KG offshore basin to understand the shallow structures and shallow deposits for gas hydrate exploration. We identified and mapped prominent positive topographic features in the bathymetry data. These mounds show fluid/gas migration features such as acoustic voids, acoustic chimneys, and acoustic turbid layers. It is interesting to note that drilling/coring onboard JOIDES in the vicinity of the mounds show the presence of thick accumulation of subsurface gas hydrate. Further, geological and geochemical study of long sediment cores collected onboard Marion Dufresne in the vicinity of the mounds and sedimentary ridges shows the imprints of paleo-expulsion of methane and sulfidic fluid from the seafloor.  相似文献   

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