Gas and gas hydrate distribution around seafloor seeps in Mississippi Canyon, Northern Gulf of Mexico, using multi-resolution seismic imagery
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2619As published
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.015DOI
10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.015Keyword
Methane hydrate; Seafloor seepAbstract
To determine the impact of seeps and focused flow on the occurrence of shallow gas hydrates, several seafloor mounds in the Atwater Valley lease area of the Gulf of Mexico were surveyed with a wide range of seismic frequencies. Seismic data were acquired with a deep-towed, Helmholz resonator source (220–820 Hz); a high-resolution, Generator-Injector air-gun (30–300 Hz); and an industrial air-gun array (10–130 Hz). Each showed a significantly different response in this weakly reflective, highly faulted area. Seismic modeling and observations of reversed-polarity reflections and small scale diffractions are consistent with a model of methane transport dominated regionally by diffusion but punctuated by intense upward advection responsible for the bathymetric mounds, as well as likely advection along pervasive filamentous fractures away from the mounds.
Description
This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine and Petroleum Geology 25 (2008): 952-959, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.015.
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