Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea
To estimate the potential inventory of natural gas hydrates (NGH) in the Levant Basin, southeastern Mediterranean Sea, we correlated the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), modeled with local thermodynamic parameters, with seismic indicators of gas. A compilation of the oceanographic measurements def...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:420a98da67054c04a968699f996f2dc0 2023-05-15T17:12:04+02:00 Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea Ziv Tayber Aaron Meilijson Zvi Ben-Avraham Yizhaq Makovsky 2019-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9070306 https://doaj.org/article/420a98da67054c04a968699f996f2dc0 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/7/306 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3263 2076-3263 doi:10.3390/geosciences9070306 https://doaj.org/article/420a98da67054c04a968699f996f2dc0 Geosciences, Vol 9, Iss 7, p 306 (2019) gas hydrates methane stability seismic interpretation Levant Basin Eastern Mediterranean climate change Geology QE1-996.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9070306 2022-12-31T00:23:49Z To estimate the potential inventory of natural gas hydrates (NGH) in the Levant Basin, southeastern Mediterranean Sea, we correlated the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), modeled with local thermodynamic parameters, with seismic indicators of gas. A compilation of the oceanographic measurements defines the >1 km deep water temperature and salinity to 13.8 °C and 38.8‰ respectively, predicting the top GHSZ at a water depth of ~1250 m. Assuming sub-seafloor hydrostatic pore-pressure, water-body salinity, and geothermal gradients ranging between 20 to 28.5 °C/km, yields a useful first-order GHSZ approximation. Our model predicts that the entire northwestern half of the Levant seafloor lies within the GHSZ, with a median sub-seafloor thickness of ~150 m. High amplitude seismic reflectivity (HASR), correlates with the active seafloor gas seepage and is distributed across the deep-sea fan of the Nile within the Levant Basin. Trends observed in the distribution of the HASR are suggested to represent: (1) Shallow gas and possibly hydrates within buried channel-lobe systems 25 to 100 mbsf; and (2) a regionally discontinuous bottom simulating reflection (BSR) broadly matching the modeled base of GHSZ. We therefore estimate the potential methane hydrates resources within the Levant Basin at ~100 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and its carbon content at ~1.5 gigatonnes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Methane hydrate Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Geosciences 9 7 306 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
gas hydrates methane stability seismic interpretation Levant Basin Eastern Mediterranean climate change Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
gas hydrates methane stability seismic interpretation Levant Basin Eastern Mediterranean climate change Geology QE1-996.5 Ziv Tayber Aaron Meilijson Zvi Ben-Avraham Yizhaq Makovsky Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea |
topic_facet |
gas hydrates methane stability seismic interpretation Levant Basin Eastern Mediterranean climate change Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
To estimate the potential inventory of natural gas hydrates (NGH) in the Levant Basin, southeastern Mediterranean Sea, we correlated the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), modeled with local thermodynamic parameters, with seismic indicators of gas. A compilation of the oceanographic measurements defines the >1 km deep water temperature and salinity to 13.8 °C and 38.8‰ respectively, predicting the top GHSZ at a water depth of ~1250 m. Assuming sub-seafloor hydrostatic pore-pressure, water-body salinity, and geothermal gradients ranging between 20 to 28.5 °C/km, yields a useful first-order GHSZ approximation. Our model predicts that the entire northwestern half of the Levant seafloor lies within the GHSZ, with a median sub-seafloor thickness of ~150 m. High amplitude seismic reflectivity (HASR), correlates with the active seafloor gas seepage and is distributed across the deep-sea fan of the Nile within the Levant Basin. Trends observed in the distribution of the HASR are suggested to represent: (1) Shallow gas and possibly hydrates within buried channel-lobe systems 25 to 100 mbsf; and (2) a regionally discontinuous bottom simulating reflection (BSR) broadly matching the modeled base of GHSZ. We therefore estimate the potential methane hydrates resources within the Levant Basin at ~100 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and its carbon content at ~1.5 gigatonnes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ziv Tayber Aaron Meilijson Zvi Ben-Avraham Yizhaq Makovsky |
author_facet |
Ziv Tayber Aaron Meilijson Zvi Ben-Avraham Yizhaq Makovsky |
author_sort |
Ziv Tayber |
title |
Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea |
title_short |
Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea |
title_full |
Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea |
title_fullStr |
Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Methane Hydrate Stability and Potential Resource in the Levant Basin, Southeastern Mediterranean Sea |
title_sort |
methane hydrate stability and potential resource in the levant basin, southeastern mediterranean sea |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9070306 https://doaj.org/article/420a98da67054c04a968699f996f2dc0 |
genre |
Methane hydrate |
genre_facet |
Methane hydrate |
op_source |
Geosciences, Vol 9, Iss 7, p 306 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/7/306 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3263 2076-3263 doi:10.3390/geosciences9070306 https://doaj.org/article/420a98da67054c04a968699f996f2dc0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9070306 |
container_title |
Geosciences |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
306 |
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1766068829664837632 |