Inferred gas hydrate and permafrost stability history models linked to climate change in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Arctic Canada

Atmospheric methane from episodic gas hydrate (GH) destabilization, the "clathrate gun" hypothesis, is proposed to affect past climates, possibly since the Phanerozoic began or earlier. In the terrestrial Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin (BMB), GHs occur commonly below thick ice-bearing permafrost...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate of the Past
Main Authors: Majorowicz, J., Šafanda, J. (Jan), Osadetz, K.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
climate change
Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin
permafrost
Arctic
Canada
Climate change
Ice
Mackenzie Basin
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-667-2012
http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0209860
Description
Summary:Atmospheric methane from episodic gas hydrate (GH) destabilization, the "clathrate gun" hypothesis, is proposed to affect past climates, possibly since the Phanerozoic began or earlier. In the terrestrial Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin (BMB), GHs occur commonly below thick ice-bearing permafrost (IBP), but they are rare within it. Two end-member GH models, where gas is either trapped conventionally (Case 1) or where it is trapped dynamically by GH formation (Case 2), were simulated using profile (1-D) models and a 14 Myr ground surface temperature (GST) history based on marine isotopic data, adjusted to the study setting, constrained by deep heat flow, sedimentary succession conductivity, and observed IBP and Type I GH contacts in Mallik wells. Models consider latent heat effects throughout the IBP and GH intervals.

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