HR: 17:15h
AN: OS42C-06    [PDF]
TI: Hydrocarbon Seepage and Gas Hydrate Deposits in the Southern Gulf of Mexico - Results From R/V Sonne Cruise 174.
AU: * Naehr, T H
EM: tnaehr@falcon.tamucc.edu
AF: Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, College of Science and Technology 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412 United States
AU: MacDonald, I R
EM: imacdonald@falcon.tamucc.edu
AF: Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, College of Science and Technology 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412 United States
AU: Bohrmann, G
EM: gbohrmann@uni-bremen.de
AF: Research Center Ocean Margins, University of Bremen P.O. Box 330 440, Bremen, 28334 Germany
AU: Briones, E E
EM: escobri@mar.icmyl.unam.mx
AF: Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F., 04510 Mexico
AB: During October and November 2003, the German ship R/V Sonne visited the Campeche Escarpment in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The primary objectives of the cruise were the following: 1) extend our knowledge of gas hydrates buried just below the seafloor in the deep ocean; 2) determine whether natural hydrocarbon seeps in the southern Gulf of Mexico support chemosynthetic fauna, and 3) pinpoint sites for future exploration with deep-diving submersibles. Recent findings indicate that marine deposits of gas hydrate represent an important contribution to the global carbon cycle. Methane released from the gas hydrate reservoir may interact with other components of the Earth system influencing climate and is a potential source of energy. Although most gas hydrate is buried under hundreds of meters of marine sediment, the Gulf of Mexico is one place where it exists at or near the seafloor, where it can be sampled and studied. Gas hydrate is one component of the natural hydrocarbon system of the Gulf of Mexico; other components - known primarily from the northern Gulf - include oil seeps that produce natural oil "spills" visible from space and lush communities of chemosynthetic tubeworms and mussels. Natural oil seeps also occur in the southern Gulf of Mexico on the Campeche Escarpment and were expected to harbor chemosynthetic fauna and possibly gas hydrates. Recently, satellite remote sensing has been successfully used to pinpoint active seeps based on the unusual synthetic aperture radar signature generated by oil slicks on the sea surface in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Using a combination of satellite image analyses, acoustic profiling techniques, detailed bathymetric mapping, and interpretation of seafloor reflectivity data, we were able to identify and study such areas of active seafloor seepage of hydrocarbons in the previously unexplored southern Gulf of Mexico.
UR: http://www.gashydrate.de/projekte/omega/otega2/
DE: 0933 Remote sensing
DE: 1050 Marine geochemistry (4835, 4850)
DE: 3045 Seafloor morphology and bottom photography
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting