Investigation of microbial influences on seafloor gas-hydrate formations     

Guochang Zhang  Rudy E. Rogers  William T. French  Wenjian Lao 《Marine Chemistry》2007,103(3-4):359-369

Microbial communities flourish at gas hydrate occurrences in ocean sediments. Studies are reported in this paper on the laboratory production, separation, characterization and hydrate catalysis of biosurfactants from cultures of the Bacillus subtilis bacterium associated with Gulf of Mexico gas-hydrate accumulations. The B. subtilis bacterium from ATCC 21332 species was cultured anaerobically with glucose as carbon-source to produce surfactin, one of the more potent surface active agents known. The surface-active agent was removed from the broth in foam created by bubbling inert gas through the mixture, and biosurfactant was then recovered from the collapsed-foam distilled water solution by acid precipitation and dichloromethane extraction. According to HPLC spectra, five surfactin isomers were identified in the sample of laboratory-generated biosurfactant. Recovered surfactin was then used to perform gas-hydrate formation studies in porous media saturated with the surfactin-water solution. Gas-hydrate induction time and formation rate determinations showed that the anaerobically-produced biosurfactants catalyzed hydrate formation markedly. The tests suggest prolific surfactin production by the B. subtilis bacterium and of other species under prevailing anaerobic conditions around seafloor gas hydrates that promotes hydrate formation and the propensity of the bioproduct to be dispersed in the porous media by natural gas vents.  相似文献   

Cliff-top storm deposits on Banneg Island, Brittany, France: Effects of giant waves in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean     

Serge Suanez  Bernard Fichaut  Rudy Magne   《Sedimentary Geology》2009,220(1-2):12-28

This study is based on the morphosedimentary analysis of the cliff-top storm deposits accumulated on the coast of Banneg Island located in the archipelago of Molène (Brittany, France). These CTSDs comprise large, tabular clasts quarried from the upper part of the cliff and the backing scoured platform by giant oceanic storm waves impacting directly the western coast of the island. An analysis of the distribution and the geomorphology of these accumulations were carried out using the DGPS topographic surveys. Most of the clasts are organised into imbricate boulder clusters or ridges deposited between 7.5 and 14.5 masl. 52 accumulations were inventoried from the north to the south of the island, representing a global volume of 1000 m³. The median size of the clasts calculated is equivalent to 0.8 × 0.6 × 0.4 m and a weight of 0.6 t. The largest one measuring 5.3 × 3.9 × 0.5 m (≈ 32 t) is located in the centre of the island (ridge #28). It has been deposited 14 m inland from the edge of the cliff at the elevation of 9 m. Sediment analysis shows that clast sizes become smaller with increasing distance from the shoreline, but there is no relationship between the sorting and the distance inland. A study of the hydrodynamic conditions inducing clast transport was undertaken by an analysis of the wave data from the 1989 to the 1990 winter storms. Models of wave runup indicate that their highest water levels may have reached up to 19 masl, 5 to 10 m higher than the top of the cliff. Submersion by giant storm waves has been more important and frequent in the centre and the south of the island. Wave data over the 1979 to the 2007 period shows that no events as powerful as those of the 1989 to the 1990 winter were recorded during the last 30 years. Yet, it appears that the 1979–1990 decade was characterized by important morphogeneous events while the following period (1990–2007) has experienced a sharp decrease in storm events. These variations could be attributed to the inversion from a negative towards a positive phase in the North Atlantic Oscillation index.  相似文献   

Experimental identification of CO₂–water–rock interactions caused by sequestration of CO₂ in Westphalian and Buntsandstein sandstones of the Campine Basin (NE-Belgium)     

P. Bertier  R. Swennen  B. Laenen  D. Lagrou  R. Dreesen 《Journal of Geochemical Exploration》2006,89(1-3):10

Geological sequestration of CO₂ is one of the options studied to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although the feasibility of this concept is proven, apart from literature data on modelling still little is known about the CO₂–water–rock interactions induced by CO₂-injection.To evaluate the effect of CO₂–water–rock interactions on three sandstone aquifers in NE-Belgium an experimental setup was built. Eighteen experiments were performed in which sandstones were exposed to supercritical CO₂. CO₂–water–rock interactions were deduced from the evolution of aqueous concentrations of 25 species and a thorough characterisation of the sandstones before and after treatment. The results show that dissolution of ankerite/dolomite and Al-silicates could enhance porosity/permeability. The observed precipitation of end-member carbonates could increase storage capacity if it exceeds carbonate dissolution. Precipitation of the latter and of K-rich clays as observed, however, can hamper the injection.  相似文献   

Dolomite formation in breccias at the Musandam Platform border, Northern Oman Mountains, United Arab Emirates   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

L. Breesch  R. Swennen  B. Vincent   《Journal of Geochemical Exploration》2006,89(1-3):19

The presence of dolomite breccia patches along Wadi Batha Mahani suggests large-scale fluid flow causing dolomite formation. The controls on dolomitization have been studied, using petrography and geochemistry. Dolomitization was mainly controlled by brecciation and the nearby Hagab thrust. Breccias formed as subaerial scree deposits, with clay infill from dissolved platform limestones, during Early Cretaceous emergence. Cathodoluminescence of the dolostones indicates dolomitization took place in two phases. First, fine-crystalline planar-s dolomite replaced the breccias. Later, these dolomites were recrystallized by larger non-planar dolomites. The stable isotope trend towards depleted values (δ¹⁸O: − 2.7‰ to − 10.2‰ VPDB and δ¹³C: − 0.6‰ to − 8.9‰ VPDB), caused by mixing dolomite types during sampling, indicates type 2 dolomites were formed by hot fluids. Microthermometry of quartz cements and karst veins, post-dating dolomites, also yielded high temperatures. Hot formation waters which ascended along the Hagab thrust are invoked to explain type 2 dolomitization, silicification and hydrothermal karstification.  相似文献   

Fluid flow in the Sicilian accretionary wedge: Primary geochemical signatures or recrystallization mask   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

B. Dewever  R. Swennen  M. Cooreman 《Journal of Geochemical Exploration》2006,89(1-3):83

Veins in the Sicilian accretionary wedge were studied petrographically and geochemically with the aim to investigate the relation between fluid flow in a décollement horizon and in overlying Mesozoic basinal sediments. Fluids expelled along the décollement horizon precipitated calcite cements that show a broad spread in stable isotope signatures and that generally have rather high Fe and Mn content. The fluids most likely originated from mixing of hot deep metamorphic fluids and dewatering of the clay unit along which the principal overthrusting occurred.Synkinematic veins in the overlying basinal units are cemented with calcite. The trace element content and δ¹³C signatures of these veins are host-rock dependent, pointing to a host-rock buffering effect. Petrographic observations indicate that calcite cements have been recrystallized. Thus the cements could have inherited their geochemical signatures from the host-rock during recrystallization. This is also supported by their δ¹⁸O signature, which is controlled by temperature fractionation.  相似文献