Marine Gas Hydrate Geohazard Assessment on the European Continental Margins. The Impact of Critical Knowledge Gaps

• Published in: Applied Sciences
• Main Authors: Ricardo León, Miguel Llorente, Carmen Julia Giménez-Moreno
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021
• Subjects: gas hydrates; European margins; geohazard assessment; Technology; T; Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General); TA1-2040; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Physics; QC1-999; Chemistry; QD1-999; Barents Sea
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/app11062865; https://doaj.org/article/e0741b6bf57942ba88be9d97d8f22013

This paper presents a geohazard assessment along the European continental margins and adjacent areas. This assessment is understood in the framework of the seafloor’s susceptibility to (i.e., likelihood of) being affected by the presence of hydrate deposits and the subsequent hazardous dissociation processes (liquefaction, explosion, collapse, crater-like depressions or submarine landslides). Geological and geophysical evidence and indicators of marine gas hydrates in the theoretical gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) were taken into account as the main factors controlling the susceptibility calculation. Svalbald, the Barents Sea, the mid-Norwegian margin-northwest British Islands, the Gulf of Cádiz, the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea have the highest susceptibility. Seafloor areas outside the theoretical GHSZ were excluded from this geohazard assessment. The uncertainty analysis of the susceptibility inference shows extensive seafloor areas with no data and a very low density of data that are defined as critical knowledge gaps.