HR: 14:25h
AN: OS42B-04 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: Beyond BSR's: Direct Hydrate Detection and the Dynamic Free Gas System
AU: * Holbrook, W S
EM: steveh@uwyo.edu
AF: University of Wyoming, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Laramie, WY 82071 United States
AB: Two decades of increasing effort in studying methane hydrates, much of it devoted to mapping and analysis of the bottom simulated reflection (BSR), has produced a new appreciation for the possible significance of methane hydrates to slope stability, resource evaluation, and the global carbon cycle. A number of outstanding challenges remain, including remote quantification of hydrate and gas amounts, identification of the locales and mechanisms of gas release into the oceans and atmosphere, and improved understanding of the effects of hydrate and gas on the mechanical strength of marine sediments. In this contribution I will present recent results demonstrating (1) direct detection of methane hydrate, (2) the dynamic nature of the free gas zone, and (3) the possibility that the thickness of the free gas zone is mechanically regulated by the strength of the overlying sediments. Data will be presented from the Blake Ridge, Gulf of California, and Storegga Slide hydrate provinces.
DE: 0312 Air/sea constituent fluxes (3339, 4504)
DE: 0935 Seismic methods (3025)
DE: 1724 Ocean sciences
DE: 1734 Seismology
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting