Variations in Gas and Water Pulses at an Arctic Seep: Fluid Sources and Methane Transport
Abstract
Methane fluxes into the oceans are largely dependent on the methane phase as it migrates upward through the sediments. Here we document decoupled methane transport by gaseous and aqueous phases in Storfjordrenna (offshore Svalbard) and propose a three-stage evolution model for active seepage in the region where gas hydrates are present in the shallow subsurface. In a preactive seepage stage, solute diffusion is the primary transport mechanism for methane in the dissolved phase. Fluids containing dissolved methane have high 87Sr/86Sr ratios due to silicate weathering in the microbial methanogenesis zone. During the active seepage stage, migration of gaseous methane results in near-seafloor gas hydrate formation and vigorous seafloor gas discharge with a thermogenic fingerprint. In the postactive seepage stage, the high concentration of dissolved lithium points to the contribution of a deeper-sourced aqueous fluid, which we postulate advects upward following cessation of gas discharge.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[2];
- Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim (Norway); Arctic Univ. of Norway (UiT), Tromsø (Norway)
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- Arctic Univ. of Norway (UiT), Tromsø (Norway); The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
- Arctic Univ. of Norway (UiT), Tromsø (Norway)
- Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim (Norway)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1539738
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1436189
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0013531; DE‐FE0013531
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 45; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; Geology
Citation Formats
Hong, W. -L., Torres, M. E., Portnov, A., Waage, M., Haley, B., and Lepland, A. Variations in Gas and Water Pulses at an Arctic Seep: Fluid Sources and Methane Transport. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1029/2018gl077309.
Hong, W. -L., Torres, M. E., Portnov, A., Waage, M., Haley, B., & Lepland, A. Variations in Gas and Water Pulses at an Arctic Seep: Fluid Sources and Methane Transport. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl077309
Hong, W. -L., Torres, M. E., Portnov, A., Waage, M., Haley, B., and Lepland, A. Thu .
"Variations in Gas and Water Pulses at an Arctic Seep: Fluid Sources and Methane Transport". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl077309. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1539738.
@article{osti_1539738,
title = {Variations in Gas and Water Pulses at an Arctic Seep: Fluid Sources and Methane Transport},
author = {Hong, W. -L. and Torres, M. E. and Portnov, A. and Waage, M. and Haley, B. and Lepland, A.},
abstractNote = {Methane fluxes into the oceans are largely dependent on the methane phase as it migrates upward through the sediments. Here we document decoupled methane transport by gaseous and aqueous phases in Storfjordrenna (offshore Svalbard) and propose a three-stage evolution model for active seepage in the region where gas hydrates are present in the shallow subsurface. In a preactive seepage stage, solute diffusion is the primary transport mechanism for methane in the dissolved phase. Fluids containing dissolved methane have high 87Sr/86Sr ratios due to silicate weathering in the microbial methanogenesis zone. During the active seepage stage, migration of gaseous methane results in near-seafloor gas hydrate formation and vigorous seafloor gas discharge with a thermogenic fingerprint. In the postactive seepage stage, the high concentration of dissolved lithium points to the contribution of a deeper-sourced aqueous fluid, which we postulate advects upward following cessation of gas discharge.},
doi = {10.1029/2018gl077309},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 9,
volume = 45,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {4}
}
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