bottom simulating reflections and geothermal gradients across the western svalbard margin seismic reflection data reveal prominent bottom simulating reflections bsrs within the relatively young 0 78 ma sediments along the west svalbard continental margin the potential hydrate occurrence zone covers an area of c 1600 km2 the hydrate accumulation zone is bound by structural tectonic features knipovich ridge molloy transform fault vestnesa ridge and the presence of glacigenic debris lobes inhibiting hydrate formation upslope the thickness of the gas zone underneath the bsr varies laterally and reaches a maximum of c 150 ms using the bsr as an in situ temperature proxy geothermal gradients increase gradually from 70 to 115 c km 1 towards the molloy transform fault anomalies only occur in the immediate vicinity of normal faults where the bsr shoals indicating near vertical heat fluid flow within the fault zones amplitude analyses suggest that sub horizontal fluid migration also takes place along the stratigraphy as the faults are related to the northwards propagation of the knipovich ridge long term disturbance of hydrate stability appears related to incipient rifting processes

a numerical study of the mediterranean sea circulation abstract a primitive equation ocean model that makes use of a curvilinear orthogonal grid and a sigma coordinate system was used to simulate the mediterranean sea the model was forced with monthly climatological values of wind stress heat and salinity flux with the help of the curvilinear horizontal grid the larger scales of the entire mediterranean sea are modeled and the topography around the narrow and shallow straits of gibraltar is also reasonably well represented the resulting model inflow and outflow seems to mimic the real mediterranean often in considerable detail levantine intermediate water is formed in the levantine basin and exits through the strait of sicily and the strait of gibraltar deep water formation processes are clearly represented by the model the model results indicate that in the western mediterranean the wind stress is very important in establishing the summer northward shift of the atlantic inflow lateral boundary runoff surface salinity and heat fluxes are necessar

ocean temperature variability for the past 60 years on the norwegian svalbard margin influences gas hydrate stability on human time scales 1 the potential impact of future climate change on methane release from oceanic gas hydrates is the subject of much debate we analyzed world ocean database quality controlled data on the norwegian svalbard continental margin from the past 60 years to evaluate the potential effect of ocean temperature variations on continental margin gas hydrate reservoirs bottom water temperatures in the norwegian svalbard margin were subject to significant cooling until 1980 by 2 c offshore nw svalbard and in the barents sea followed by a general bottom water temperature increase until 2010 0 3 c in deep water areas offshore nw svalbard and mid norwegian margin and 2 c in the shallow areas of the barents sea and prins karls forland bottom water warming in the shallow outer shelf areas triggered the gas hydrate stability zone ghsz retreat toward upper continental slope areas potentially increasing methane release due to gas hydrate dissociation ghsz responses to temperature changes on human time scales occur exclusively in shallow water and only if near surface gas hydrates exist the responses are associated with a short time lag of less than 1 year temperatures in the bottom water column seem to be partly regulated by the north atlantic oscillation nao with positive nao associated with warm phases however cooling events in the surface water offshore nw svalbard might be associated with el nino events of 1976 1977 1986 1987 and 1997 1998 in the pacific such ocean cooling if long enough may delay ocean temperature driven gas hydrate dissociation and potential releases of methane to the ocean

opening of the fram strait gateway a review of plate tectonic constraints abstract we have revised the regional crustal structure oceanic age distribution and conjugate margin segmentation in and around the lena trough the oceanic part of the fram strait between the norwegian greenland sea and the eurasia basin arctic ocean the lena trough started to open after eurasia greenland relative plate motions changed from right lateral shear to oblique divergence at chron 13 times 33 3 ma earliest oligocene a new bouguer gravity map supported by existing seismic data and aeromagnetic profiles has been applied to interpret the continent ocean transition and the influence of eocene shear structures on the timing of breakup and initial seafloor spreading assuming that the onset of deep water exchange depended on the formation of a narrow oceanic corridor the gateway formed during early miocene times 20 15 ma however if the initial lena trough was blocked by terrigenous sediments or was insufficiently subsided to allow for deep water circulation the gateway probably formed with the first well developed magnetic seafloor spreading anomaly around chron 5 times 9 8 ma late miocene paleoceanographic changes at odp site 909 northern hovgard ridge are consistent with both hypotheses of gateway formation we cannot rule out that a minor gateway formed across stretched continental crust prior to the onset of seafloor spreading in the lena trough the gravity seismic and magnetic observations question the prevailing hypotheses on the yermak plateau and the morris jesup rise as eocene oceanic plateaus and the hovgard ridge as a microcontinent

late cenozoic glacial history and evolution of the storegga slide area and adjacent slide flank regions norwegian continental margin abstract acoustic data and sediment cores collected from the storegga slide and its adjacent slide flanks i e the voring plateau to the north and the north sea fan to the south have been used to study the late cenozoic glacial history and geological development of this region age constrains obtained from the investigated cores show that the fennoscandian ice sheet reached the shelf edge during marine isotope stages mis 12 10 8 6 and 2 ice sheet fluctuations within each glaciation might have occurred as is evidenced for the last glacial maximum mis 2 the first extensive ice advance is identified in the early pleistocene at c 1 1 ma however between 2 6 and 0 5 ma the ice sheets were largely restricted to the fjords and inner shelf during each glacial maximum glacigenic debris flows gdfs transported basal till deposited at the shelf edge into the deep sea along the entire studied margin the most voluminous gdf sequences are found on the southern storegga slide flank north sea fan where the individual flows are found as far as 500 km from the shelf edge on the voring plateau glacimarine hemipelagic sedimentation has dominated the last c 250 000 yr during mis 2 such sediments were rapidly deposited covering the upper slope limited gdf units in this region between c 15 700 and 15 000 14c yr bp i e during the last deglaciation of the norwegian margin a presumed meltwater plume released from the disintegrating norwegian channel ice stream transported and rapidly deposited up to 20 m of fine grained sediments in the region north of the north sea fan the rapid deposition of large volumes of gdfs glacimarine and meltwater related sediments might have influenced the stability of the slope sediments in the studied region promoting conditions favorable for failure furthermore these high sedimentation rates also partly account for the high subsidence rates observed on the norwegian continental margin in the late cenozoic

seismic evidence for shallow gas escape features associated with a retreating gas hydrate zone offshore west svalbard active gas venting occurs on the uppermost continental slope off west svalbard close to and upslope from the present day intersection of the base of methane hydrate stability bmhs with the seabed in about 400 m water depth in the inter fan region between the kongsfjorden and isfjorden cross shelf troughs from an integrated analysis of high resolution two dimensional pre stack migrated seismic reflection profiles and multibeam bathymetric data we map out a bottom simulating reflector bsr in the inter fan region and analyze the subsurface gas migration and accumulation gas seeps mostly occur in the zone from which the bmhs at the seabed has retreated over the recent past 1975 2008 as a consequence of a bottom water temperature rise of 1 c the overall margin parallel alignment of the gas seeps is not related to fault controlled gas migration as seismic evidence of faults is absent there is no evidence for a bsr close to the gas flare region in the upper slope but numerous gas pockets exist directly below the predicted bmhs while the contour following trend of the gas seeps could be a consequence of retreat of the landward limit of the bmhs and gas hydrate dissociation the scattered distribution of seeps within the probable hydrate dissociation corridor and the occurrence of a cluster of seeps outside the predicted bmhs limit and near the shelf break indicate the role of lithological heterogeneity in focusing gas migration

effect of early pliocene uplift on late pliocene cooling in the arctic atlantic gateway despite the undisputed role of the arctic ocean in the modern and pliocene climate system the arctic has only recently attracted public awareness that ongoing fundamental change in the arctic cryosphere could be a response to global warming clarification of the arctic s role in global climate during the pliocene is however largely hampered by equivocal stratigraphic constraints from a well dated pliocene sequence from the yermak plateau off nw spitsbergen we present sedimentological and geochemical data indicating that 4 million years ago terrigenous sediment supply and sources changed abruptly in response to a regional tectonic uplift event we argue that this event together with contemporary uplift and tilting along the northwestern european continental margin preconditioned the landmasses for glacial ice build up during intensification of the northern hemisphere glaciation inhg our data further suggest that the final deepening widening of the arctic atlantic gateway the fram strait between 6 5 and 5 ma gradually caused increased deep water mass exchange which in turn likely contributed to the intensification of the north atlantic thermohaline circulation coupled to the north atlantic warm pool as a regional moisture source declining atmospheric co2 levels and other feedback mechanisms during the pliocene the regional tectonic activities in the high northern latitudes caused decreased summer ablation and thus allowed the initial build up of glacial ice both in scandinavia and the sub aerially exposed svalbard barents sea culminating in the first large scale coastline shelf edge glaciations at 2 75 ma

high resolution p cable 3d seismic imaging of gas chimney structures in gas hydrated sediments of an arctic sediment drift the newly developed p cable 3d seismic system allows for high resolution seismic imaging to characterize upper geosphere geological features focusing on geofluid expressions gas chimneys shallow gas and gas hydrate reservoirs seismic imaging of a geofluid system of an arctic sediment drift at the vestnesa ridge offshore western svalbard provides significantly improved details of internal chimney structures from the seafloor to not vert similar500 m bsf below seafloor the chimneys connect to pockmarks at the seafloor and indicate focused fluid flow through gas hydrated sediments the pockmarks are not buried and align at the ridge crest pointing to recent topography controlled fluid discharge chimneys are fuelled by sources beneath the base of gas hydrate stability zone ghsz that is evident at not vert similar160 170 m bsf as indicated by a bottom simulating reflector bsr conduit centres that are not vertically straight but shift laterally by up to 200 m as well as discontinuous internal chimney reflections indicate heterogeneous hydraulic fracturing of the sediments episodically active pressure driven focused fluid flow could explain the hydro fracturing processes that control the plumbing system and lead to extensive pockmark formation at crest of the vestnesa ridge high amplitude anomalies in the upper 50 m of the chimney structures suggest formations of near surface gas hydrates and or authigenic carbonate precipitation acoustic anomalies expressed as high amplitudes and amplitude blanking are irregularly distributed throughout the deeper parts of the chimneys and provide evidence for the variability of hydrate and or carbonate formation in space and time

inferred gas hydrates and clay diapirs near the storegga slide on the southern edge of the voring plateau offshore norway this paper presents a new data set including single channel airgun seismic lines okean long range side scan sonar data and gravity cores acquired on the edge of the voring plateau and in the region of the storrega slide the data acquisition was part of the 8th training through research ttr 8 expedition with r v professor logachev the acoustic profiles clearly show two laterally separated zones characterised by the presence of bottom simulating reflectors bsrs at about 350 ms twt subbottom depth the lower bsr zone is located on the slope of the voring plateau in the immediate vicinity of the northern headwall of the storegga slide and in some places below the slide deposits this zone runs parallel to the general trend of the continental slope the spatial distribution of the upper bsr zone located upslope in an area where diapir like structures are found does not demonstrate any topographic control interpretation of high backscatter patches on the okean sonographs associates the observed structures with fluid escape features on the seabed most of them are pockmarks but in a few places diapirs are cropping out and form dome like elevations after analysing the behaviour of the bsr sometimes crosscutting and its acoustic characteristics reversed polarity and after applying seismic inversion processing to estimate the acoustic velocity change across the bsr this reflector is interpreted to represent the base of the local gas hydrate stability field ghsf this information was used to derive the regional geothermal gradient spatial variations of the inferred geothermal field appeared to be negligible the observation of two separated bsr zones suggests different environmental controls for the growth of the hydrates enhanced reflectors observed in the intermediate zone can be explained by the presence of strata bound free gas accumulations and migration combined with overlying permeability barriers therefore a model for gas hydrate formation in relation to directional fluid migration processes fluid escape features and the presence of diapiric structures is proposed in this paper our model is supported by sedimentological analyses of seafloor samples which demonstrate the presence of stiff clays with evidence of gas migration and by paleontological studies of the cores retrieved from the pockmarks the presence of a bsr in the sedimentary section within the slide scar area implies the repositioning of hydrates to newly established equilibrium conditions after the slide event this observation allows us to simply estimate an upper limit of the fluid migration velocity in the order of several cm year finally the effect of hydrate dissociation on slope instability is considered assuming that the in situ decomposition of hydrates due to instantaneous depressurisation is slow enough to permit the excess volume of released gas and water to be re distributed through the whole sedimentary section above the paleo bsr with consuming heat and increasing pore pressure dissociation tends to shift the pt conditions back to equilibrium values it appears that the dissociation of hydrates due to sliding would cause only 0 2 increase of the pore pressure which would hardly contribute to further slope instability

basement structure of the north western yermak plateau 1 the separation of northeast greenland and svalbard was achieved by large strike slip movements in cenozoic times evidence for these movements can be found onshore both on north greenland and svalbard however the role of the yermak plateau in this process is quite speculative new multichannel seismic 10 km spacing and aeromagnetic data 7 5 km spacing across the north western part of the plateau show that the acoustic basement has a similar strike direction to that of the geological units onshore svalbard a prominent fault zone separates these most likely continental structures in the west from a more n s extended transitional crustal block in the eastern part of the plateau this part of the plateau is characterized by strong magnetic anomalies at least indicating highly intruded and stretched continental or even oceanic crust however the seismic data show that the plateau like bathymetry is quite young during most of its cenozoic history the yermak plateau had a rough topography similar to the topography onshore svalbard thus the paleo bathymetry might have played an important role for the water exchange between the arctic ocean and the north atlantic prior to the opening of the fram strait which is today the main pathway for the deep water masses

mud volcanoes revealed and sampled on the western moroccan continental margin we surveyed and sampled two active and 3 inactive mud volcanoes on the atlantic continental margin of morocco the active mud volcanoes named yuma and ginsburg are each about 4 km in diameter rise between 150 250 meters above the seafloor and are the first active methane related mud volcanoes to be identified in this region the inactive volcanoes range in diameter from 1 3 km with relief between 50 and 80 meters gravity cores from the crest of the active mud volcanoes yielded methane hydrates and mud breccia deposits chemosynthetic communities of pogonophora worms and the bivalve solemya were found on the surface of the active mud volcanoes sediment cores from the inactive volcanoes contained hemipelagic sediments rich in foraminifera and ahermatypic coral debris overlying mud breccia

relationships between the vredefort structure and the witwatersrand basin within the tectonic framework of the kaapvaal craton as interpreted from regional gravity and aeromagnetic data abstract processed gravity and aeromagnetic data covering the witwatersrand basin and adjacent areas have been used to delineate the boundary of the basin and to investigate other features such as the vredefort structure the bethlehem gravity high and the colesberg magnetic anomaly trend a model is proposed in which the regional aeromagnetic and gravity signatures of these features can be related to the disposition of a semi continuous mid crustal magnetite rich layer which is exposed or has a shallow suboutcrop in three regions in the centre of the vredefort structure along the kaapvaal craton boundary and centrally through the craton northwards from colesberg the bethlehem high is thought to be due to elevation of lower levels of the crust along a nw trending geanticlinal arch the apex of this broad arch is termed the vredefort axis and plunges northwestwards beneath the witwatersrand basin the vredefort structure lies at the intersection of this axis and a major nne trending axis of crustal downwarp which also constitutes the long axis of the witwatersrand basin two contrasting scenarios for the development of these major axes are discussed with either scenario genesis of the vredefort structure should be integrated with the genesis and evolution of the vredefort axis and with the tectonic evolution of the kaapvaal craton

contributions to atmospheric methane by natural seepages on the u k continental shelf mar geol 137 1997 165 189 abstract natural gas seepages occur on the united kingdom s continental shelf and although published reports suggest that they are very rare the petroleum industry has identified but not publicly reported many more there is also very little data on the flux of gas from seabed seepages and even less on the contribution of seepages to atmospheric concentrations of gases such as methane potential gas source rocks include quaternary and tertiary peats as well as petroliferous source rocks such as the carboniferous coal measures and the upper jurassic kimmeridge clays there are also other organic rich sediments which are potential source rocks together these cover a considerable part of the u k continental shelf analogue seismic reflection pinger profiles acquired during the british geological survey s regional mapping programme have been reviewed to identify water column targets including fish and plumes of gas bubbles the ability to distinguish targets is critical to an assessment of the distribution of gas seepages both theoretical predictions of target identity and the habits of shoaling fish have been investigated in order to identify a method of distinction data from seabed seepages and measurements of seepage rates have been used to establish likely ranges of gas flux rates and the sizes of gas bubbles the likelihood that a rising bubble will survive and escape into the atmosphere is determined primarily by bubble size and water depth methane the principal constituent of seepage gas is relatively unreactive and sparingly soluble the studies have enabled a new estimate of the distribution of gas seepages on the u k continental shelf and of the contribution to atmospheric methane levels the results suggest that natural gas seepages are significantly more important as a source of methane than had hitherto been established it is estimated that between 120 000 and 3 5 mtonnes of methane per year come from a continental shelf area of about 600 000 km 2 this represents between 2 and 40 of the total united kingdom methane emission it is suggested that similar contributions arise from other continental shelf areas worldwide and that geological sources of atmospheric methane are more significant than is generally acknowledged

controls on gas hydrate system evolution in a region of active fluid flow in the sw barents sea abstract the location and stability of gas hydrates in the sw barents sea is poorly constrained due to complex geological geochemical and geophysical conditions including poor controls on regional heat flow and gas chemistry understanding the stability of gas hydrates in this region is important as recent studies suggest destabilizing hydrates may lead to methane discharge into the ocean and possibly in to the atmosphere here we use high resolution 3d p cable seismic data combined with 3d heat flow and fluid flow models to place new constraints on gas hydrate stability in this region the 3d p cable seismic data acquired in 2009 west of loppa high show cross cutting reverse polarity high amplitude reflectors interpreted as the base of gas hydrate stability to constrain heat flow fluid flow and gas hydrate stability within the 3d seismic volume we use a 3d steady state finite difference diffusive thermal model that incorporates regional bottom water temperature from ctd casts expected geothermal gradients and gas composition derived from well data in general modelled bottom simulating reflectors are deeper than observed bsrs our analysis weighs multiple factors that might explain the discrepancy between observed and modelled bottom simulating reflector depths from this analysis we propose that the most significant discrepancies in bsr depth are likely related to changes in regional fluid heat flow and fluid geochemistry the anomalously shallow bottom simulating reflectors can be explained via vertical fluid flow that might include ensuing potential effects on gas composition pore water salinity and temperature our estimate suggest that a maximum vertical fluid flux of approximately 12 mm y is necessary to explain the most significant anomalies our study provides new insight into regional heat flow geochemistry and end member vertical fluid flux rates in the barents sea moreover it documents that the fluid flow system is active and most likely very dynamic

evidence of structure h hydrate gulf of mexico continental slope abstract a research submarine was used to sample an amber colored gas hydrate exposed on the sea floor at 540 m water depth in the gulf of mexico continental slope offshore louisiana the hydrate composition is novel for a natural occurrence because i c 5 comprises 41 1 of the total c 1 c 5 hydrocarbon distribution the relative abundance of i c 5 is consistent with an hexagonal h lattice structure that is capable of enclosing larger hydrocarbon molecules than either structure i or ii hydrates structure h hydrate which has not been identified previously in nature coexists with structure ii hydrate on the gulf slope

gas charged sediments and large pockmark like features on the gulf of cadiz slope sw spain abstract gassy sediments and large seafloor pockmarks are identified from seismic profiles in the gulf of cadiz slope gas charged sediments are represented by zones of acoustic turbidity and other acoustic anomalies on seismic profiles most of the gas is believed to be biogenic in origin resulting from the decay of organic matter contained within rapidly developed regressive shelf margin deltas a group of large asymmetric seafloor pockmarks also occurs downslope of the gassy area both on the seafloor surface and deeply buried in the sediment column sediment sorting by the mediterranean undercurrent seems to act as a controlling factor for the development of each type of gas originated feature the area where the strong mediterranean undercurrent outflow impinges the seafloor is covered by sandy sediments of high porosity which allow the interstitial gas to escape through the sediment pores whereas the areas affected by weaker currents are covered by clays and the gas tends to accumulate in the sediment beneath impermeable horizons

the geochemical characteristics of the hydrate bound gases from the nyegga pockmark field norwegian sea the nyegga pockmark field located south east of the voring plateau norwegian sea was investigated on the uob cruises gs07 148 2007 and gs08 155 2008 remotely operated vehicle rov monitoring and successful recovery of gas hydrate give insights to the origin of the hydrocarbon gases in the complex pockmark feature named g11 isotope values of methane 13c ranging from 72 4 to 66 2 and d from 202 0 to 198 0 in the hydrate bound gas suggest that the methane is microbially produced and originates from co2 reduction it is proposed that the ethane from the gas hydrate has mixed thermogenic and microbial contributions which is supported by the fact that the gas hydrate also contains propane and isobutane the composition of the hydrate bound gas thus leads to small inclusions of structure ii sii in the hydrate while the major part is structure i si the isotope data and gas composition together with the geological setting suggest that the hydrate bound gas originated predominantly from a free gas system located beneath the gas hydrate stability zone and accumulated under glaciated debris formations the free gas system is mainly microbial methane from in situ production however a contribution of thermogenic gas from deeper polygonal faults to the free gas system seems evident from the composition of the gas the rov monitoring strengthens previous suggestions that the fauna in the complex pockmark g11 are supported by ongoing micro seepage

cenozoic evolution of the eastern black sea a test of depth dependent stretching models abstract subsidence analysis of the eastern black sea basin suggests that the stratigraphy of this deep extensional basin can be explained by a predominantly pure shear stretching history a strain rate inversion method that assumes pure shear extension obtains good fits between observed and predicted stratigraphy a relatively pure shear strain distribution is also obtained when a strain rate inversion algorithm is applied that allows extension to vary with depth without assuming its existence or form the timing of opening of the eastern black sea which occupied a back arc position during the closure of the tethys ocean has also been a subject of intense debate competing theories called for basin opening during the jurassic cretaceous or paleocene eocene our work suggests that extension likely continued into the early cenozoic in agreement with stratigraphic relationships onshore and with estimates for the timing of arc magmatism further basin deepening also appears to have occurred in the last 20 myr this anomalous subsidence event is focused in the northern part of the basin and reaches its peak at 15 10 ma we suggest that this comparatively localized shortening is associated with the northward movement of the arabian plate we also explore the effects of paleowater depth and elastic thickness on the results these parameters are controversial particularly for deep water basins and margins but their estimation is a necessary step in any analysis of the tectonic subsidence record stored in stratigraphy

the active main marmara fault abstract this paper presents selections from and a synthesis of a high resolution bathymetric sparker and deep towed seismic reflection data set recently acquired by the french ifremer r v le suroit in an e w deep trough that forms the northern half of the sea of marmara in nw turkey it includes the first high resolution complete bathymetric map of this area a single throughgoing dextral strike slip fault system which is the western continuation of the northern branch of the north anatolian fault cuts this trough lengthwise and joins the 1999 8 17 kocaeli earthquake fault with the 1912 8 09 arkoy murefte earthquake fault both of which display strike slip offset in its eastern one fourth the structure follows closely the northern margin of the deep trough whereas in the west it hugs its southern margin the eastern one fourth of the structure has a minor component of its displacement distributed across the deep trough owing to a possible original bend in the course of the dextral structure the present course of the north anatolian fault in the sea of marmara originated some 2 105 a ago by cutting across the older basin fabric generated by a dominant nne ssw extension before it began taking up major motion in the pliocene

physical properties and state of the crust and upper mantle of the eastern mediterranean sea deduced from geophysical data abstract by evaluating the geophysical information available for the eastern mediterranean sea ems a crustal thickness map and some conclusions as to the nature of the crustal type were drawn it was found that the ionian abyssal plain is floored by an oceanic type of crust which is 14 km thick and covered by sediments of the order of 8 km thick the herodotus abyssal plain in the levantine sea is floored by a crust 22 km thick and covered by sediments ranging between 10 and 15 km thick the eastern mediterranean rise extending more or less continuously from the apulian plateau to rhodes and the south of the antalya basin is of a thickness ranging between 28 and 34 km the thickness of its sedimentary cover is of the order of 10 km the borders of the eastern mediterranean sea are built up of thick continental crust for example the hellenides of western greece range between 40 and 44 km thick and western turkey has a similar crustal thickness the crust of sicily also exceeds 40 km whereas the southern and eastern borders of the ems are approximately 30 32 km thick tectonically the northern border of the ems is built up of active continental margins defined by the calabrian hellenic and cyprus antalya arcs whereas the southern border represents a passive continental margin controlled mainly by subsidence and stretching to the east the dead sea megashear limits the area the deep basins of the eastern mediterranean sea are tectonically controlled by subsidence and partial stretching the mediterranean ridge or rise is still an area of dispute regarded by some authors as a subsiding continental fragment and separated from the hellenic arc by the hellenic trench whereas others consider it to be a zone of crustal shortening thickened mainly by thrusting both the western and southwestern borders of the mediterranean rise and the hellenides are controlled by compressional processes similar to those deforming the calabrian arc the stravo and pliny trenches to the east southeast border of the hellenic arc are partly affected by strike slip movements various plate tectonic models of the area have been proposed by several authors though the complexity of the deformation hardly permits reliable reconstructions the lack of reliable paleomagnetic information and the absence of linear magnetic anomalies do not favour the application of plate tectonic concepts vertical processes due to the uprising of lithothermal systems below the hellenic and calabrian arcs may also be regarded as the driving force controlling the present day deformation

multicomponent ocean bottom cable data in gas hydrate investigation offshore of norway 1 a multicomponent seismic ocean bottom cable obc line from the northern flank of the storegga slide offshore of norway is the first obc line ever acquired over a gas hydrate related bottom simulating reflector bsr the seismic data are of very good quality and display strong p s converted wave reflections for the whole sediment column all p s reflections follow the sediment layers and are therefore interpreted to be caused by increased shear modulus and density due to sediment compaction no p s reflections are associated with the bsr along this line indicating that the gas hydrate bearing sediments at the base of the hydrate stability zone are not stiff enough to increase the shear modulus of the sediments to produce p s converted wave reflections seismic interpretation and seismic stratigraphic modeling suggest that the bsr in this area is a contrast in compressional wave velocity only mainly caused by small amounts of free gas confined to dipping sediment layers beneath the bsr gas hydrate saturation above the bsr tentatively estimated to be about 1 1 5 of the sediment pore space is most likely too low to distinguish between different models for microscale gas hydrate distribution

an abrupt drowning of the black sea shelf abstract during latest quaternary glaciation the black sea became a giant freshwater lake the surface of this lake drew down to levels more than 100 m below its outlet when the mediterranean rose to the bosporus sill at 7 150 yr bp 1 saltwater poured through this spillway to refill the lake and submerge catastrophically more than 100 000 km2 of its exposed continental shelf the permanent drowning of a vast terrestrial landscape may possibly have accelerated the dispersal of early neolithic foragers and farmers into the interior of europe at that time

complex pockmarks with carbonate ridges off mid norway products of sediment degassing abstract a new type of pockmark has been discovered off mid norway they contain up to 10 m high ridges of methane derived authigenic carbonate mdac rock the pockmarks were investigated using rovs remotely operated vehicles in 2003 and 2004 the complex pockmarks are located well within the gas hydrate pressure temperature stability field and are associated with a regional bsr bottom simulating reflector our high resolution seismic data demonstrate that the near surface sedimentary bedding dips into vertical pipe structures underlying the pockmarks and that the pipes are deeply rooted the pockmarks are circular in plan view and contain up to 190 m long and 40 m wide ridges formed by up to 4 m wide carbonate rocks piled on top of each other in irregular piles other key features of the complex pockmarks include 1 a distinct fauna with local bacterial mats small tubeworms stalked crinoids and pycnogonids sea spiders and 2 the presence of light hydrocarbon gases c 1 c 5 in clay rich sediments the methane 13 c values range from 54 to 69 pdb suggesting the presence of both bacterial and thermogenic gases during our two day observation periods only micro seepage occurred without ebullition or other visual fluid flow petrography and geochemistry of carbonate blocks from the pockmarks suggest precipitation of methane derived aragonite within the sediments 13 c 52 to 58 pdb we suggest that the complex pockmarks formed by sudden catastrophic fluid flow and that the large carbonate ridges represent dislodged mdacs originally formed subsurface prior to the event subsequent micro seepage is still active and may indicate that the pipes represent fluid flow conduits which transport both bacterial and thermogenic hydrocarbons to the water column our data do not suggest pressure buildup and do not predict future eruptions from the complex pockmarks thus our data rather suggest that the catastrophic formation of the complex pockmarks may be a one time event

cenozoic erosion and sedimentation in the western barents sea abstract seismic reflection data and well logs are used to interpret cenozoic sedimentary environments in the south western barents sea using volumetric calculations and compaction trend analysis the cenozoic erosion and sedimentation rates have been quantified marine environments ranging from neritic to bathyal water depths dominated the southern barents sea during the late palaeocene at the palaeocene eocene boundary a southwards progradation commenced along the uplifted and eroded loppa and stappen highs during the early eocene to mid miocene sedimentation continued in the intracratonic basins as well as along the newly established continent ocean boundary in the embryonic northern norwegian greenland sea substantial erosion occurred on the westernmost margin particularly on the stappen high during this time interval in the mid miocene during a period of relative lowstand of sea level a system of lowstand fans was deposited west of the stappen high later a pronounced progradation of the shelf edge commenced during the mid miocene to late pliocene the shelf edge prograded between 20 and 40 km during the mid pliocene to early pleistocene the barents sea and adjacent land areas were uplifted a fluvial glaciofluvial drainage system developed on the continental shelf resulting in pronounced erosion there and very high sedimentation rates on the continental margin during the last 0 8 ma several large glaciations on the barents sea shelf proper have resulted in overdeepened troughs and high sedimentation rates at the continental shelfbreak and on the continental slope the overall cenozoic erosion varies spatially as well as temporally in the svalbard area close to 3 km of rocks have been eroded since the oligocene the same amount or more was eroded from the stappen high during the palaeocene and early neogene in the south western areas during the eocene mid miocene erosion occurred along the margin in addition the loppa high and adjacent areas served as sediment source areas during the late pliocene and pleistoncene the average erosion in the south western barents sea amounted to about 600 m erosion was greater in the south east than to the west and north and was more extensive where the former glacial ice streams had flowed

uniform basin growth over the last 500 ka north anatolian fault marmara sea turkey abstract much of the northern strand of the north anatolia fault system in the marmara sea the main marmara fault is a seismic gap posing a high risk for istanbul deep bathymetric and sedimentary basins are structurally associated with the main marmara fault basin growth including tilting of their margins is thus linked to fault slip through releasing and restraining segments of this and other branches of the north anatolian fault system whether this system has been steady state through at least the last half of the quaternary or whether the main marmara fault more recently propagated through and deactivated pull apart basins is one of the main controversies a published age model and stratigraphic framework for these basins has been lacking and tectonic history models for the marmara sea have relied on extrapolating present deformation rates back through time over 3000 km of new high resolution multichannel seismic reflection combined with existing lower resolution seismic reflection and multibeam bathymetric data make possible a detailed regional stratigraphic interpretation in particular a stack of shelf edge deltas are imaged and interpreted as glacial period deposition during low sea lake levels reflections from the tops of these deltas and from unconformities were correlated across much of marmara sea basins and highs providing critical stratigraphic control we correlate the low stand deltas with known eustatic sea level minima by developing proxies for time from vertical separation of strata across normal faults tilts and sedimentary volumes a preferred age model is proposed at least back to oxygen isotopic stage 14 at 536 ka during this time interval tilting of basin margins vertical separation across the main marmara fault adjacent to western istanbul and tilt related slow collapse on the south flank of the cinarcik basin all indicate steady state basin growth and fault slip

hydrate occurrence in europe a review of available evidence abstract large national programs in the united states and several asian countries have defined and characterised their marine methane hydrate occurrences in some detail but european hydrate occurrence has received less attention the european union funded project marine gas hydrate an indigenous resource of natural gas for europe migrate aimed to determine the european potential inventory of exploitable gas hydrate to assess current technologies for their production and to evaluate the associated risks we present a synthesis of results from a migrate working group that focused on the definition and assessment of hydrate in europe our review includes the western and eastern margins of greenland the barents sea and onshore and offshore svalbard the atlantic margin of europe extending south to the northwestern margin of morocco the mediterranean sea the sea of marmara and the western and southern margins of the black sea we have not attempted to cover the high arctic the russian ukrainian and georgian sectors of the black sea or overseas territories of european nations following a formalised process we defined a range of indicators of hydrate presence based on geophysical geochemical and geological data our study was framed by the constraint of the hydrate stability field in european seas direct hydrate indicators included sampling of hydrate the presence of bottom simulating reflectors in seismic reflection profiles gas seepage into the ocean and chlorinity anomalies in sediment cores indirect indicators included geophysical survey evidence for seismic velocity and or resistivity anomalies seismic reflectivity anomalies or subsurface gas escape structures various seabed features associated with gas escape and the presence of an underlying conventional petroleum system we used these indicators to develop a database of hydrate occurrence across europe we identified a series of regions where there is substantial evidence for hydrate occurrence some areas offshore greenland offshore west svalbard the barents sea the mid norwegian margin the gulf of cadiz parts of the eastern mediterranean the sea of marmara and the black sea and regions where the evidence is more tenuous other areas offshore greenland and of the eastern mediterranean onshore svalbard offshore ireland and offshore northwest iberia we provide an overview of the evidence for hydrate occurrence in each of these regions we conclude that around europe areas with strong evidence for the presence of hydrate commonly coincide with conventional thermogenic hydrocarbon provinces

depositional environment and source rock potential of miocene strata from the central fram strait introduction of a new computing tool for simulating organic facies variations abstract organic rich sediments were recognized in early miocene strata from the norwegian greenland sea during odp leg 151 three organic geochemical subunits were distinguished in hole 909c using detailed organic geochemical and microscopic analyses toc up to 3 wt hi up to 200 mg hc g toc and 13corg values 24 26 indicate the predominance of terrestrial type iii organic matter in subunit 3 18 16 2 ma biomarker and vitrinite reflectance values r0 0 5 point to rather fresh immature terrestrial organic matter supplied by river discharge from adjacent vegetated coastal areas although the sediments of subunit 3 have a fair to good source rock potential they are insufficiently mature to generate significant amounts of oil or gas to test if the moderate generation potential and source rock quality of subunit 3 are applicable to the entire area the computer software of mod was applied several modelling runs testing the most probable depositional scenarios result even under conservative assumptions in the formation of good to excellent source rocks towards the basin margins

mud volcanoes and gas hydrates in the anaximander mountains eastern mediterranean sea abstract detailed multibeam sedimentological and geophysical surveys provide ample new data to confirm that the anaximander mountains eastern mediterranean are an important area for active mud volcanism and gas hydrate formation more than 3000 km of multibeam track length was acquired during two recent missions and 80 gravity and box cores were recovered morphology and backscatter data of the study area have better resolution than previous surveys and very detailed morphology maps have been made of the known targeted mud volcanoes amsterdam kazan and kula especially the amsterdam crater and the related mud breccia flows gas hydrates collected repeatedly from a large area of amsterdam mud volcano at a sub bottom depth of around 0 3 1 5 m resemble compacted snow and have a rather flaky form new gas hydrate sites were found at amsterdam mud volcano including the mud flow sloping off to the south gas hydrates sampled for the first time at kazan mud volcano are dispersed throughout the core samples deeper than 0 3 m and display a rice like appearance relative chronology and ams dating of interbedded pelagic sediments late holocene hemipelagic sapropel layer s1 and ash layers within the mud flows indicate that successive eruptions of kula mud volcano have a periodicity of about 5 10 kyrs new mud volcanoes identified on the basis of multibeam backscatter intensity were sampled documented as active and named athina and thessaloniki gas hydrates were sampled also in thessaloniki mud volcano the shallowest 1264 m among all the active mediterranean sites at the boundary of the gas hydrate stability zone biostratigraphical analyses of mud breccia clasts indicated that the source of the subsurface sedimentary sequences consists of late cretaceous limestones paleocene siliciclastic rocks eocene biogenic limestones and miocene mudstones rough estimations of the total capacity of the anaximander mud volcanoes in methane gas are 2 56 6 40 km3

active mud volcanism in the west alboran basin geochemical evidence of hydrocarbon seepage abstract the west alboran basin was previously classified as a mud volcanic province consisting of two mud volcano mv fields that are inactive at the present day the northern spanish and the southern moroccan fields the discovery of the first active mud volcano carmen cruise ttr 17 in 2008 along with several pockmarks at the central part of the basin motivates more careful geological and geochemical analysis of previous data and comparison to new observations gas bubbling from the crater of carmen mv was observed and recorded using an underwater tv system and a large tv grab sample the gas mainly consisted of methane with less than 1 wetness however all sets of homologues up to pentane were detected in the mud breccia of carmen mv both molecular and stable carbon isotopic compositions and their distribution along the core length suggest a deep thermogenic source of hydrocarbons hcs composition of the pore water from carmen mv also points to a deep source of mud volcanic water the isotopic results indicate that the source of mud volcanic water is the dehydration of clay minerals in the thermal zone of the smectite to illite transformation our observations allow us to infer the presence of structure ii gas hydrates in mud breccia on the top of carmen mv high hc gas saturation in sediments in some pockmarks accompanied with live chemosynthetic fauna directly indicates the strong seepage activity of these structures for the first time authigenic carbonate crusts and chimneys with associated living chemosynthetic bivalves and tubeworms were sampled from a seep site in the west alboran sea authigenic carbonates consist of aragonite and calcite and are characterized by a light carbon isotopic signature up to 37 2 pdb which points to their methane derived origin

westward propagation of the north anatolian fault into the northern aegean timing and kinematics we present new evidence for the propagation processes of the north anatolian fault folding in the dardanelles straits region allows us to document the timing of the deformation preceding and the finite displacement after the passage of the propagating tip of the fault the accuracy of the observations is due to interplay between deformation and the sea level changes in the mediterranean the well known messinian regression followed by the pliocene transgression the long term kinematics around the sea of marmara pull apart total displacement of about 85 km over the past 5 m y is similar to the present day kinematics deduced from space geodesy at a larger scale westward propagation of the north anatolian fault over nearly 2000 km in the past 10 m y appears to be associated with strain recovery suggesting that the continental lithosphere retains long term elasticity

the rockall bank mass flow collapse of a moated contourite drift onlapping the eastern flank of rockall bank west of ireland abstract the rockall bank mass flow rbmf is a large multi phase submarine slope failure and mass flow complex it is located in an area where the feni drift impinges upon the eastern flank of the rockall bank in the ne atlantic a 6100 km 2 region of slope failure scarps extending over a wide water depth range and with individual scarps reaching up to 22 km long and 150 m high lies upslope of a series of mass flow lobes that cover at least 18 000 km 2 of the base of slope and floor of the rockall trough the downslope lobe complex has a negative topographic relief along much of its northern boundary being inset below the level of the undisplaced contourite drift at the base of slope the southern margin is topographically more subtle but is marked by the sharp termination of sediment waves outside the lobe within the lobe complex the southern margin of the largest lobe shows a positive relief along its southern margin the initial failure is suggested to have occurred along coherent layer parallel detachment surfaces at depths of up to 100 m and this promoted initial downslope block sliding which in turn transformed into debris flows which moved out into the basin the remains of a deep erosional moat linked to the onlapping contourite complex bisects the region of failed slope and post failure thermohaline currents have continued to modify the mass flow in this area differential sedimentation and erosion associated with the moat may have promoted slope instability following the major failure phase continuous readjustments of the slope occurred and resulted in small volume turbidites found in shallow gravity cores collected on the lobes the short term trigger for the failure remains uncertain but earthquake events associated with a deep seated tectonic lineament to the north of the mass flow may have been important a late pleistocene age for the slope failure is likely the rbmf is unusual in that it records large scale collapse of a contourite body that impinged on a sediment undersupplied slope system unlike many other large slope failure complexes along the ne atlantic margin the rbmf occurs in a region where there was little overloading by glacial sediment

a 1500 year record of temperature and glacial response inferred from varved iceberg lake southcentral alaska we present a varve thickness chronology from glacier dammed iceberg lake in the southern alaska icefields radiogenic evidence confirms that laminations are annual and record continuous sediment deposition from a d 442 to a d 1998 varve thickness is positively correlated with northern hemisphere temperature trends and more strongly with a local 600 yr long tree ring width chronology varve thickness increases in warm summers because of higher melt runoff and sediment transport as expected but also because shrinkage of the glacier dam allows shoreline regression that concentrates sediment in the smaller lake varve thickness provides a sensitive record of relative changes in warm season temperatures relative to the entire record temperatures implied by this chronology were lowest around a d 600 warm between a d 1000 and a d 1300 cooler between a d 1500 and a d 1850 and have increased dramatically since then combined with stratigraphic evidence that contemporary jokulhlaups which began in 1999 are unprecedented since at least a d 442 this record suggests that 20th century warming is more intense and accompanied by more extensive glacier retreat than the medieval warm period or any other time in the last 1500 yr

critical state soil constitutive model for methane hydrate soil 1 this paper presents a new constitutive model that simulates the mechanical behavior of methane hydrate bearing soil based on the concept of critical state soil mechanics referred to as the methane hydrate critical state mhcs model methane hydrate bearing soil is under certain geological conditions known to exhibit greater stiffness strength and dilatancy which are often observed in dense soils and also in bonded soils such as cemented soil and unsaturated soil those soils tend to show greater resistance to compressive deformation but the tendency disappears when the soil is excessively compressed or the bonds are destroyed due to shearing the proposed model represents these features by introducing five extra model parameters to the conventional critical state model it is found that for an accurate prediction of ground settlement volumetric yielding plays an important role when hydrate soil undergoes a significant change in effective stresses and hydrate saturation which are expected during depressurization for methane gas recovery

geophysical evidence of gas hydrates in shallow submarine mud volcanoes on the moroccan margin 1 gas hydrates inside mud volcanoes have been observed in several locations but are generally found at water depths of 1000 m and deeper we present the first observation of the base of a gas hydrate stability zone within a shallow mud volcano in the el arraiche mud volcano field on the moroccan atlantic margin the mud volcano base is located at about 475 m and is over 125 m high on high resolution seismics we observed an anomalous but coherent reflection under the slopes of the mud volcano the event was interpreted as the base of a gas hydrate stability zone because of its inverse polarity and its morphology far from the crater the event is nearly parallel to the seafloor closer toward the crater the event shallows inside the mud volcano crater no event is observed a stability model using thermogenic gas compositions is applied to local p t conditions indicating that thermogenic gas hydrates can be stable at this depth the high modeled heat flow in the crater of the mud volcano indicates a focused flow of warm fluids below the slopes of the mud volcano the inferred heat flow is also elevated but less high in areas of thermogenic gas production gas hydrates can occur at shallow water depths even in areas with high heat flow this also suggests that dewatering of the accretionary wedge complex is mainly focused along fault surfaces and through seafloor structures such as mud volcanoes

structure and evolution of the galicia interior basin atlantic western iberian continental margin abstract an industrial multichannel seismic reflection data set is presented on the galicia interior basin g i b a sedimentary basin that has been poorly studied until now seismic stratigraphic units defined in other areas of the western iberian continental margin as well as some deeper reflections can also be identified within this basin although they show some particular characteristics the g i b is bounded to the east by a major fault identified beneath the continental shelf and to the west by an alignment of highs western banks the structural framework of the area consists of nnw sse trending normal faults cross cut by ne sw transfer faults the inception of the g i b probably ocurred during triassic times within the late jurassic early cretaceous rifting phase it probably experienced several extensional episodes the most intense one being during valanginian times evidence for compressional tectonic activity in this basin during cenozoic times has also been found when comparing the g i b with the adjacent deep galicia margin a gap in the timing of the main extensional events as well as some differences in the structural styles have been found in a wider regional context an integration of data about the timing of the processes of continental rifting and oceanic spreading along the whole western iberian margin is consistent with a northward propagating rift for the late jurassic early cretaceous phase

mud volcano gas hydrates in the gulf of cadiz this paper presents new geochemical data on gas hydrate bearing mud volcanoes discovered for the first time in the gulf of cadiz during cruises ttr9 and ttr10 of the r v professor logachev in 1999 2000 the estimated gas hydrate content is 3 16 of sediment volume and 5 31 of pore space volume estimated values of the water isotopic composition for the ginsburg mud volcano are very heavy for 18o up to 53 and light for d up to 210 gas released from the hydrates contains 81 of c1 and 19 of c2 the inferred source of the gas in the hydrates is enriched in c2 c6 5 indicating that the gas has a thermogenic origin gas hydrate of cubic structure ii should be formed from a gas of such composition it is interpreted that the composition of the mud volcano fluid corresponds to deep oil basins below the gulf of cadiz

a laboratory investigation into the seismic velocities of methane gas hydrate bearing sand remote seismic methods which measure the compressional wave p wave velocity vp and shear wave s wave velocity vs can be used to assess the distribution and concentration of marine gas hydrates in situ however interpreting seismic data requires an understanding of the seismic properties of hydrate bearing sediments which has proved problematic because of difficulties in recovering intact hydrate bearing sediment samples and in performing valid laboratory tests therefore a dedicated gas hydrate resonant column ghrc was developed to allow pressure and temperature conditions suitable for hydrate formation to be applied to a specimen with subsequent measurement of both vp and vs made at frequencies and strains relevant to marine seismic investigations thirteen sand specimens containing differing amounts of evenly dispersed hydrate were tested the results show a bipartite relationship between velocities and hydrate pore saturation with a marked transition between 3 and 5 hydrate pore saturation for both vp and vs this suggests that methane hydrate initially cements sand grain contacts then infills the pore space these results show in detail for the first time using a resonant column how hydrate cementation affects elastic wave properties in quartz sand this information is valuable for validating theoretical models relating seismic wave propagation in marine sediments to hydrate pore saturation

seismic character of bottom simulating reflectors examples from the mid norwegian margin three classes of bottom simulating reflectors bsr cross cut the post breakup sediments of the mid norwegian margin the first class is caused by free gas at the base of the pressure and temperature dependent gas hydrate stability zone the second class of bsr is caused by the diagenetic transition from opal a to opal ct the third class of bsr is always observed underneath the opal a opal ct transition but heat flow data and the amplitude characteristics of this arrival exclude one of the known silicate diagenetic transitions or gas hydrates as the explanation for this reflector odp site 643 drilling results from the voring plateau suggest two possible processes as the reason for this third bsr a smectite illite conversion or b a sudden increase in the abundance of authigenic carbonates the genesis of both is pressure and temperature dependent and could potentially result in a cross cutting seismic reflector the data are not conclusive as to which process is causing the third class of observed bsr

mechanisms of extension at nonvolcanic margins evidence from the galicia interior basin west of iberia 1 we have studied a nonvolcanic margin the west iberia margin to understand how the mechanisms of thinning evolve with increasing extension we present a coincident prestack depth migrated seismic section and a wide angle profile across a mesozoic abandoned rift the galicia interior basin gib the data show that the basin is asymmetric with major faults dipping to the east the velocity structure at both basin flanks is different suggesting that the basin formed along a paleozoic terrain boundary the ratios of upper to lower crustal thickness and tectonic structure are used to infer the mechanisms of extension at the rift flanks stretching factor 2 the ratio is fairly constant indicating that stretching of upper and lower crust was uniform toward the center of the basin 3 5 5 5 fault block size decreases as the crust thins and faults reach progressively deeper crustal levels indicating a switch from ductile to brittle behavior of the lower crust at 3 5 faults exhume lower crustal rocks to shallow levels creating an excess of lower crust within their footwalls we infer that initially extension occurred by large scale uniform pure shear but as extension increased it switched to simple shear along deep penetrating faults as most of the crust was brittle the predominant brittle deformation might have driven small scale flow 40 km of the deepest crust to accommodate fault offsets resulting in a smooth moho topography the gib might provide a type example of nonvolcanic rifting of cold and thin crust

gas hydrate stability zone modelling in areas of salt tectonics and pockmarks of the barents sea suggests an active hydrocarbon venting system the barents sea seabed exhibits an area of major glacial erosion exposing parts of the old hydrocarbon basins in this region we modelled the gas hydrate stability field in a 3d perspective including the effects of higher order hydrocarbon gases we used 3d seismic data to analyse the linkage between fluid flow expressions and hydrate occurrences above old sedimentary basin systems and vertical faults pockmarks showed a relation to fault systems where some of them are directly connected to hydrocarbon bearing sedimentary formations the influence of bottom water temperature pore water salinity and geothermal gradient variation on gas hydrate stability zone ghsz thickness is critically analysed in relation to both geological formations and salt tectonics our analysis suggests a highly variable ghsz in the barents sea region controlled by local variations in the parameters of stability conditions recovery of gas hydrate sample from the region and presence of gas enhanced reflections below estimated bsr depths may indicate a prevalent gas hydrate stable condition

the black sea basins structure and history new model based on new deep penetration regional seismic data part 1 basins structure and fill abstract this work is based upon results of interpretation of about 8872 km long regional seismic lines acquired in 2011 within the international project geology without limits in the black sea the seismic lines cover nearly the entire black sea basins including russia turkey ukraine romania and bulgaria sectors a new map of acoustic basement relief and a new tectonic structure scheme are constructed for the black sea basins the basement of the black sea includes areas with oceanic crust and areas with highly rifted continental crust a chain of buried seamounts which were interpreted as submarine volcanoes of late cretaceous santonian to campanian age has been identified to the north of the turkish coast on the shatsky ridge probable volcanoes of albian age have also been recognized synorogenic turbidite sequences of paleocene eocene and oligocene ages have been mapped in the cenozoic numerous compressional and transpressional structures were formed in different parts of the black sea basin during the pleistocene quaternary turbidites mass transport deposits and leveed channels were formed in the distal part of the danube delta

the geology of the uk hatton rockall margin abstract seismic potential field sea bed sample and shallow drilling data have been used to investigate the geology of the uk part of the rockall plateau most of the rockall plateau is underlain by early proterozoic rockall bank islay terrane metamorphic basement although george bligh bank and the north eastern end of hatton bank may be underlain at depth by lewisian rocks the basement crops out on rockall bank but occurs at a much deeper level beneath hatton bank and hatton basin the widespread palaeogene lavas of rockall plateau have been sourced from large central igneous complexes rockall swithin sandastre mammal lyonesse and sandarro local volcanoes and fissures some of the lavas may also have been derived from the incipient rift axis west of hatton bank at the time of continental break up differences in seismic facies allow the extent of the lavas from the large centres to be mapped where the lavas are absent beneath parts of hatton bank either due to non emplacement or subsequent erosion during the cenozoic seismic data image the underlying mesozoic and older rocks here bgs boreholes 99 1 and 99 2a have proved mid cretaceous albian shales and sandstones respectively beneath a thin cenozoic cover the mesozoic and older rocks appear to be quite extensive and are folded and faulted mesozoic strata are not observed on rockall bank in uk waters the post lava cenozoic succession of rockall plateau can be sub divided into three megasequences separated by two unconformities which by analogy with rockall basin have been designated c30 intra late eocene and c10 intra early pliocene the ages can be corroborated by dsdp odp boreholes in the hatton basin the cenozoic succession contains eocene prograding fan sequences contourite deposits on the flanks of the banks and shallow faulting some of which affects the present day sea bed structurally rockall high appears mainly as a large basement block whereas hatton high is more complex exhibiting half grabens inversion structures and reverse fault geometries due to cenozoic tectonism the northern end of hatton high is a large anticline with its axis aligned ene wsw the structural differences between the highs may be due to their locations with rockall high exhibiting fewer tectonic effects due to its more landward intraplate setting further away from plate margin deformation

active gas venting through hydrate bearing sediments on the vestnesa ridge offshore w svalbard abstract gas hydrate systems offshore western svalbard are extensive and include the whole vestnesa ridge an elongated sediment drift north of the molloy transform and just east of the molloy ridge one of the shortest segments of the slow spreading north atlantic ridge system the crest of the vestnesa ridge at water depth between 1200 1300 m is pierced with fluid flow features seafloor pockmarks vary in size up to 700 m in diameter pockmarks are generally larger at the eastern start of the vestnesa ridge than at its western termination a recent cruise with r v jan mayen discovered methane flares in the water column above the pockmark field at the onset of the vestnesa ridge over a period of two days at least 3 pockmarks were continuously active and methane flares in the water column reached a height of approximately 800 m it is still unclear what has triggered the increase in gas expulsion from seafloor sediments high resolution 3d seismic data acquired in 2007 and 2010 show significant differences of the subseafloor expression of these fluid leakage systems at the western end of the vestnesa ridge sub seafloor fluid flow features resemble well described chimney structures however the seismic expression of the active fluid flow features is much broader much more chaotic dome shaped and is not very similar to a typical chimney structure the vestnesa ridge gas hydrate and free gas system occurs within few kilometers of a mid oceanic ridge and transform fault which makes this gas hydrate system unique on earth the close proximity to the spreading center and its hydrothermal circulation system affects the dynamics of the gas hydrate and free gas system the high heat flow together with the high tectonic activity of this region a thick sedimentary cover a shallow maturation window and an accelerated rate of biogenic and thermogenic gas production cause substantial disturbance to the free gas system leading to high variability in gas supply gas migration and gas hydrate build up and dissociation

thermogenic methane injection via bubble transport into the upper arctic ocean from the hydrate charged vestnesa ridge svalbard we use new gas hydrate geochemistry analyses echosounder data and three dimensional p cable seismic data to study a gas hydrate and free gas system in 1200 m water depth at the vestnesa ridge offshore nw svalbard geochemical measurements of gas from hydrates collected at the ridge revealed a thermogenic source the presence of thermogenic gas and temperatures of similar to 3 3 degrees c result in a shallow top of the hydrate stability zone thsz at similar to 340 m below sea level mbsl therefore hydrate skinned gas bubbles which inhibit gas dissolution processes are thermodynamically stable to this shallow water depth this was confirmed by hydroacoustic observations of flares in 2010 and 2012 reaching water depths between 210 and 480 mbsl at the seafloor bubbles are released from acoustically transparent zones in the seismic data which we interpret as regions where free gas is migrating through the hydrate stability zone hsz these intrusions result in vertical variations in the base of the hsz bhsz of up to similar to 150 m possibly making the shallow hydrate reservoir more susceptible to warming such arctic gas hydrate and free gas systems are important because of their potential role in climate change and in fueling marine life but remain largely understudied due to limited data coverage in seasonally ice covered arctic environments

the betic orogen and the iberian african boundary in the gulf of cadiz geological evolution central north atlantic abstract the study of the gulf of cadiz on the basis of multichannel seismic profiles and wells illustrates the stratigraphy and tectonics the evolution of the southern iberian margins was more complex than in most north atlantic margins since it entailed several phases of rifting convergence and strike slip motions three main tectonic provinces surround the internal zones of the gibraltar arc orogenic belt these include in the iberian margin of the gulf of cadiz the flysch units of the campo de gibraltar complex the betic external zones and the neogene basins of the guadalquivir valley fault bounded blocks of flysch and subbetic units crops out over large areas of the southeastern iberian shelf the basement of the northwestern area in contrast is represented by the paleozoic rocks of the hercynian massif of iberia half graben structures determined the main structural trends of the margin during the mesozoic which were affected by inversion structures during the neogene compressional stages the mesozoic and lower cenozoic units are best observed in wells and seismic profiles from the northern area these units are either obscure below a thick olistostrome deposit or are absent in most of the rest of the gulf of cadiz seven lithoseismic units from triassic to upper oligocene and another seven neogene and quaternary units are identified based on the relationship to the depositional sequence and the emplacement of the olistostrome the first tectonic phase was characterized by a passive margin which was controlled by the development of half graben extensional structures and carbonate platforms this evolution comprises the mesozoic and early cenozoic ocean spreading in the north atlantic induced extensional tectonics which deformed the cretaceous syn tectonic post aptian deposits increased amounts of terrigenous materials were supplied to the margin from aptian to albian times controlling depositional patterns while terrigenous siliciclastic facies replaced the jurassic carbonate platforms from middle eocene to early miocene the margin was influenced by the relative motions of iberia and africa and the development of the alpine orogeny the iberian african boundary in the gulf of cadiz experienced transpression and the mesozoic basins probably underwent subduction the emplacement of an olistostrome took place in the gulf of cadiz towards the central atlantic basin plains during the tortonian the end of the olistostrome emplacement during the late miocene coincides with accelerated tectonic subsidence while thick progradational and aggradational depositional sequences were developed the occurrence of closely juxtaposed regions of compression and extension during the miocene may reflect the westwards progression of the gibraltar arc mountain front over a subducting thinned tethys crust when the motion between iberian and africa was n s to nnw sse oriented the migration of the arcuate mountain front into the eastern gulf of cadiz is attributed to a mechanism of collision induced delamination of the mantle lithosphere in contrast to the betic rif belts however there is no geophysical evidence to postulate that continental collision took place in the gulf of cadiz during the cenozoic

large scale development of the mid norwegian margin during the last 3 million years abstract during the last c 2 7 my large quantities of glacially derived material were transported westwards from the norwegian mainland areas and inner shelf and deposited mainly as prograding sediment wedges into a basin of intermediate depth offshore mid norway the deposits are more than 1000 m thick in extensive areas and are defined as the naust formation in the haltenbanken traenabanken region the shelf edge migrated 100 150 km westwards the narrow more shelf was built out only in the order of 30 50 km mainly due to a steeper pre existing slope dipping towards a much deeper basin in this area the holocene storegga slide as well as older slides displaced slope sediments towards the deeper part of the basin in early naust time the most extensive progradation occurred in the northern area possibly due to the combined effect of land uplift and glaciations the importance of glaciations for the progradation of the more shelf and areas farther south increased through the pleistocene period the norwegian channel ice stream became very important during the last three glaciations and a thick succession of glacigenic debris flows was deposited on the north sea fan more than 400 m of sediments accumulated during the weichselian all the last three glaciations supplied glacial debris beyond the shelf edge the most extensive progradation in the north was in the skjoldryggen region particularly during the elsterian glaciation during ice free periods hemipelagic and contouritic sediments were deposited on the slope such sediments are most common in the storegga slide area where they hosted glide planes beneath the major slides