Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators
Abstract The Canadian Arctic Southern Beaufort Sea is characterized by prominent relict submarine permafrost and gas hydrate occurrences formed by subaerial exposure during extensive glaciations in Pliocene and Pleistocene. Submarine permafrost is still responding to the thermal change as a conseque...
Published in: | Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems |
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ftsubggeo:oai:e-docs.geo-leo.de:11858/11274 2024-01-14T10:04:19+01:00 Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators Grob, H. Riedel, M. Duchesne, M. J. Krastel, S. Bustamante, J. Fabien‐Ouellet, G. Jin, Y. K. Hong, J. K. 2023-05-10 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC010884 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11274 eng eng doi:10.1029/2023GC010884 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11274 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. ddc:551 submarine permafrost gas hydrate marine seismic Canadian Beaufort Sea seismic reflection doc-type:article 2023 ftsubggeo https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC010884 2023-12-17T23:12:32Z Abstract The Canadian Arctic Southern Beaufort Sea is characterized by prominent relict submarine permafrost and gas hydrate occurrences formed by subaerial exposure during extensive glaciations in Pliocene and Pleistocene. Submarine permafrost is still responding to the thermal change as a consequence of the marine transgression that followed the last glaciation. Submarine permafrost is still underexplored and is currently the focus of several research projects as its degradation releases greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In this study, seismic reflection indicators are used to investigate the presence of submarine permafrost and gas hydrates on the outer continental shelf where the base of permafrost is expected to cross‐cut geological layers. To address the challenges of marine seismic data collected in shallow water environments, we utilize a representative synthetic model to assess the data processing and the detection of submarine permafrost and gas hydrate by seismic data. The synthetic model allows us to minimize the misinterpretation of acquisition and processing artifacts. In the field data, we identify features along with characteristics arising from the top and base of submarine permafrost and the base of the gas hydrate stability zone. This work shows the distribution of the present submarine permafrost along the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea region and confirms its extension to the outer continental shelf. It supports the general shape suggested by previous works and previously published numerical models. Plain Language Summary: Submarine permafrost, ground beneath the seafloor that perennially remains below 0°C, is present on the continental shelf of the Canadian Beaufort Sea. During the Late Pleistocene (∼1 Million years ago), the continental shelf was subaerially exposed to the cold Arctic air causing the formation of ice in the ground. This period was followed by a sea level rise that flooded the continental shelf with warmer waters, resulting in an intensive change of the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Beaufort Sea Climate change Ice permafrost GEO-LEOe-docs (FID GEO) Arctic Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 24 5 |
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Open Polar |
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GEO-LEOe-docs (FID GEO) |
op_collection_id |
ftsubggeo |
language |
English |
topic |
ddc:551 submarine permafrost gas hydrate marine seismic Canadian Beaufort Sea seismic reflection |
spellingShingle |
ddc:551 submarine permafrost gas hydrate marine seismic Canadian Beaufort Sea seismic reflection Grob, H. Riedel, M. Duchesne, M. J. Krastel, S. Bustamante, J. Fabien‐Ouellet, G. Jin, Y. K. Hong, J. K. Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators |
topic_facet |
ddc:551 submarine permafrost gas hydrate marine seismic Canadian Beaufort Sea seismic reflection |
description |
Abstract The Canadian Arctic Southern Beaufort Sea is characterized by prominent relict submarine permafrost and gas hydrate occurrences formed by subaerial exposure during extensive glaciations in Pliocene and Pleistocene. Submarine permafrost is still responding to the thermal change as a consequence of the marine transgression that followed the last glaciation. Submarine permafrost is still underexplored and is currently the focus of several research projects as its degradation releases greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In this study, seismic reflection indicators are used to investigate the presence of submarine permafrost and gas hydrates on the outer continental shelf where the base of permafrost is expected to cross‐cut geological layers. To address the challenges of marine seismic data collected in shallow water environments, we utilize a representative synthetic model to assess the data processing and the detection of submarine permafrost and gas hydrate by seismic data. The synthetic model allows us to minimize the misinterpretation of acquisition and processing artifacts. In the field data, we identify features along with characteristics arising from the top and base of submarine permafrost and the base of the gas hydrate stability zone. This work shows the distribution of the present submarine permafrost along the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea region and confirms its extension to the outer continental shelf. It supports the general shape suggested by previous works and previously published numerical models. Plain Language Summary: Submarine permafrost, ground beneath the seafloor that perennially remains below 0°C, is present on the continental shelf of the Canadian Beaufort Sea. During the Late Pleistocene (∼1 Million years ago), the continental shelf was subaerially exposed to the cold Arctic air causing the formation of ice in the ground. This period was followed by a sea level rise that flooded the continental shelf with warmer waters, resulting in an intensive change of the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Grob, H. Riedel, M. Duchesne, M. J. Krastel, S. Bustamante, J. Fabien‐Ouellet, G. Jin, Y. K. Hong, J. K. |
author_facet |
Grob, H. Riedel, M. Duchesne, M. J. Krastel, S. Bustamante, J. Fabien‐Ouellet, G. Jin, Y. K. Hong, J. K. |
author_sort |
Grob, H. |
title |
Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators |
title_short |
Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators |
title_full |
Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators |
title_fullStr |
Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators |
title_full_unstemmed |
Revealing the Extent of Submarine Permafrost and Gas Hydrates in the Canadian Arctic Beaufort Sea Using Seismic Reflection Indicators |
title_sort |
revealing the extent of submarine permafrost and gas hydrates in the canadian arctic beaufort sea using seismic reflection indicators |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC010884 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11274 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Climate change Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Climate change Ice permafrost |
op_relation |
doi:10.1029/2023GC010884 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11274 |
op_rights |
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC010884 |
container_title |
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
5 |
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1788058880309198848 |