scholarly journals Gas Hydrate Estimate in an Area of Deformation and High Heat Flow at the Chile Triple Junction

Author(s):  
Lucía Villar-Muñoz ◽  
Iván Vargas-Cordero ◽  
Joaquim P. Bento ◽  
Umberta Tinivella ◽  
Francisco Fernandoy ◽  
...  

Large amounts of gas hydrate are present in marine sediments offshore Taitao Peninsula, near the Chile Triple Junction. Here, marine sediments on the forearc contain carbon that is converted to methane in a zone of very high heat flow and intense rock deformation above the downgoing oceanic spreading ridge separating the Nazca and Antarctic plates. This regime enables vigorous fluid migration. Here we present an analysis of the spatial distribution, concentration, estimate of gas phases (gas hydrate and free gas) and geothermal gradients in the accretionary prism and forearc sediments offshore Taitao (45.5° - 47° S). Velocity analysis of Seismic Profile RC2901-751 indicates gas hydrate concentration values <10% of the total rock volume, and extremely high geothermal gradients (<190 °Ckm-1). Gas hydrates are located in shallow sediments (90-280 meters below the seafloor). The large amount of hydrate and free gas estimated (7.21x1011 m3 and 4.1x1010 m3, respectively), the high seismicity, the mechanically unstable nature of the sediments, and the anomalous geothermal conditions, set the stage for potential massive releases of methane to the ocean mainly through hydrate dissociation and/or migration directly to the seabed through faults. We conclude that the Chile Triple Junction is an important methane seepage area and should be the focus of novel geological and ecological research.

Geosciences ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucía Villar-Muñoz ◽  
Iván Vargas-Cordero ◽  
Joaquim Bento ◽  
Umberta Tinivella ◽  
Francisco Fernandoy ◽  
...  

Large amounts of gas hydrate are present in marine sediments offshore Taitao Peninsula, near the Chile Triple Junction. Here, marine sediments on the forearc contain carbon that is converted to methane in a regime of very high heat flow and intense rock deformation above the downgoing oceanic spreading ridge separating the Nazca and Antarctic plates. This regime enables vigorous fluid migration. Here, we present an analysis of the spatial distribution, concentration, estimate of gas-phases (gas hydrate and free gas) and geothermal gradients in the accretionary prism, and forearc sediments offshore Taitao (45.5°–47° S). Velocity analysis of Seismic Profile RC2901-751 indicates gas hydrate concentration values <10% of the total rock volume and extremely high geothermal gradients (<190 °C·km−1). Gas hydrates are located in shallow sediments (90–280 m below the seafloor). The large amount of hydrate and free gas estimated (7.21 × 1011 m3 and 4.1 × 1010 m3; respectively), the high seismicity, the mechanically unstable nature of the sediments, and the anomalous conditions of the geothermal gradient set the stage for potentially massive releases of methane to the ocean, mainly through hydrate dissociation and/or migration directly to the seabed through faults. We conclude that the Chile Triple Junction is an important methane seepage area and should be the focus of novel geological, oceanographic, and ecological research.


Geology ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan L. B. Bangs ◽  
Dale S. Sawyer ◽  
Xenia Golovchenko

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kus ◽  
B. Cramer ◽  
F. Kockel

AbstractThermal history and evolution of the Palaeozoic petroleum system of the western Lower Saxony Basin as well as charge history of the Apeldorn gas field was reconstructed using 2-D forward basin modelling software. The Apeldorn gas field is located on an inverted western rim of the Lower Saxony Basin (LSB) and belongs with its relatively anomalous nitrogen content of 73.9 vol. % to one of the most unique gas accumulations in North Germany. Based on thermal calibration studies utilising both, vitrinite reflectance and corrected bottom hole temperatures as calibration parameters, a shallow burial model and an anomalous event of Coniacian high heat flow of 80 to 120 mW/m2was derived. As result, Lower Triassic and younger successions became subjected to slight changes in thermal maturity as opposed to Carboniferous and Permian successions, which show no assessable impact of the high heat flow event on the coalification pattern. The deep burial model in contrary to the shallow burial model is not supported by the structural reconstruction and backstripping in this more marginal setting. According to the modelling results, the key charge of the present Apeldorn gas field began in Tithonian (late Upper Jurassic) during the major phase of rifting in the Lower Saxony Basin. The present Westphalian coal-derived gas accumulations of the Lower Triassic Buntsandstein reservoir were sourced directly from modelled methane pools at top Rotliegend level. The hydrocarbon potential of the Westphalian source rocks became exhausted in Oxfordian (early Upper Jurassic). Reduction of the hydrostatic pressure during the Coniacian high heat flow event together with uplift during the Coniacian-Santonian inversion led to an extensive free gas exsolution. The resulting gas mixture between the exsolved free gas and the Westphalian coal-derived gas reached and saturated Buntsandstein reservoir. The structural trap became destroyed in course of the inversion leading to a sharp decrease of methane and nitrogen saturation.


Terra Nova ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Maria Prol‐Ledesma ◽  
Juan Luis Carrillo De La Cruz ◽  
Marco‐Antonio Torres‐Vera ◽  
Alejandro Estradas‐Romero

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Sass ◽  
L. A. Lawver ◽  
R. J. Munroe

Heat flow was measured at nine sites in crystalline and sedimentary rocks of southeastern Alaska. Seven of the sites, located between 115 and 155 km landward of the Queen Charlotte – Fairweather transform fault, have an average heat flow of 59 ± 6 mW m−2. This value is significantly higher than the mean of 42 mW m−2 in the coastal provinces between Cape Mendocino and the Queen Charlotte Islands, to the south, and is lower than the mean of 72 ± 2 mW m−2 for 81 values within 100 km of the San Andreas transform fault, even farther south. This intermediate value suggests the absence of significant heat sinks associated with Cenozoic subduction and of heat sources related to either late Cenozoic tectono-magmatic events or significant shear-strain heating. At Warm Springs Bay, 75 km from the plate boundary, an anomalously high heat flow of 150 mW m−2 can most plausibly be ascribed to the thermal spring activity from which its name is derived. At Quartz Hill, 240 km landward of the plate boundary, a value of 115 mW m−2 might indicate a transition to a province of high heat flow resulting from late Tertiary and Quaternary extension and volcanism.


1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (21) ◽  
pp. 3027-3030 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Guillou-Frottier ◽  
C. Jaupart ◽  
J. C. Mareschal ◽  
C. Gariépy ◽  
G. Bienfait ◽  
...  

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 635
Author(s):  
Liam A. Bullock ◽  
John Parnell ◽  
Joseph G.T. Armstrong ◽  
Magali Perez ◽  
Sam Spinks

Gold grains, up to 40 μm in size and containing variable percentages of admixed platinum, have been identified in coals from the Leinster Coalfield, Castlecomer, SE Ireland, for the first time. Gold mineralisation occurs in sideritic nodules in coals and in association with pyrite and anomalous selenium content. Mineralisation here may have reflected very high heat flow in foreland basins north of the emerging Variscan orogenic front, responsible for gold occurrence in the South Wales Coalfield. At Castlecomer, gold (–platinum) is attributed to precipitation with replacive pyrite and selenium from groundwaters at redox interfaces, such as siderite nodules. Pyrite in the cores of the nodules indicates fluid ingress. The underlying Caledonian basement bedrock is mineralised by gold, and thus likely provided a source for gold. The combination of the gold occurrences in coal in Castlecomer and in South Wales, proximal to the Variscan orogenic front, suggests that these coals along the front could comprise an exploration target for low-temperature concentrations of precious metals.


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