New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard
We discovered seafloor features such as bacterial mats and carbonate crusts typical for active methane seeps on the continental slope southwest of Svalbard. These features are associated with two main northwest-southeast trending morphological structures that are oriented parallel to the regional co...
Published in: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2024
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357/full |
id |
crfrontiers:10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crfrontiers:10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 2024-05-12T08:04:55+00:00 New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard Bellec, V. K. Chand, S. Knies, J. Bjarnadóttir, L. R. Lepland, A. Sen, A. Thorsnes, T. 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Earth Science volume 12 ISSN 2296-6463 General Earth and Planetary Sciences journal-article 2024 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 2024-04-18T07:57:22Z We discovered seafloor features such as bacterial mats and carbonate crusts typical for active methane seeps on the continental slope southwest of Svalbard. These features are associated with two main northwest-southeast trending morphological structures that are oriented parallel to the regional continental slope. Both structures occur at c. 800 m water depth, at the boundary between the Storfjorden trough mouth fan to the south and the Hornsund trough mouth fan to the north, which suggests a loading related fluid seepage. The main structure displays depressions and ridges forming a crater in its center. Other occurring features include small sediment mounds, domes often covered by bacterial mats, and hummocky seafloor colonized by siboglinid tubeworms. Free gas bubbles were spotted close to the centre and plumes along the rims of the structure. Thick carbonate crusts indicate a long seepage history in the center of the structure and on top of the ridges. The sources of the seeps are likely to be Miocene old organic-rich deposits, or Paleocene hydrocarbon reservoirs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Hornsund Storfjorden Svalbard Frontiers (Publisher) Hornsund ENVELOPE(15.865,15.865,76.979,76.979) Svalbard Frontiers in Earth Science 12 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Frontiers (Publisher) |
op_collection_id |
crfrontiers |
language |
unknown |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Bellec, V. K. Chand, S. Knies, J. Bjarnadóttir, L. R. Lepland, A. Sen, A. Thorsnes, T. New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
description |
We discovered seafloor features such as bacterial mats and carbonate crusts typical for active methane seeps on the continental slope southwest of Svalbard. These features are associated with two main northwest-southeast trending morphological structures that are oriented parallel to the regional continental slope. Both structures occur at c. 800 m water depth, at the boundary between the Storfjorden trough mouth fan to the south and the Hornsund trough mouth fan to the north, which suggests a loading related fluid seepage. The main structure displays depressions and ridges forming a crater in its center. Other occurring features include small sediment mounds, domes often covered by bacterial mats, and hummocky seafloor colonized by siboglinid tubeworms. Free gas bubbles were spotted close to the centre and plumes along the rims of the structure. Thick carbonate crusts indicate a long seepage history in the center of the structure and on top of the ridges. The sources of the seeps are likely to be Miocene old organic-rich deposits, or Paleocene hydrocarbon reservoirs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bellec, V. K. Chand, S. Knies, J. Bjarnadóttir, L. R. Lepland, A. Sen, A. Thorsnes, T. |
author_facet |
Bellec, V. K. Chand, S. Knies, J. Bjarnadóttir, L. R. Lepland, A. Sen, A. Thorsnes, T. |
author_sort |
Bellec, V. K. |
title |
New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard |
title_short |
New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard |
title_full |
New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
New cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to Svalbard |
title_sort |
new cold seep sites on the continental slope southwest to svalbard |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357/full |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(15.865,15.865,76.979,76.979) |
geographic |
Hornsund Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Hornsund Svalbard |
genre |
Hornsund Storfjorden Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Hornsund Storfjorden Svalbard |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science volume 12 ISSN 2296-6463 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1328357 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
12 |
_version_ |
1798847167440355328 |