Gas hydrate reservoirs of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico : characterization and consequences

• Main Author: Meazell, Patrick Kevin, II
• Other Authors: Flemings, Peter Barry, 1960-, Covault, Jacob, Mohrig, David, Summa, Lori
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Gas hydrate; Methane hydrate; Geology; Deepwater sedimentology; Pore pressure; Mud volcanoes; Walker Ridge
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2152/115188; https://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/42089

Gas hydrate is found in cold, high-pressure, marine sediments around the world. Hydrate is important as a carbon sink, a natural geohazard, and a valuable economic resource. I use classic sedimentologic analyses, well log analysis, X-ray CT, seismic stratigraphy, pore pressure estimation, and basin modeling to elucidate the geologic conditions within highly-saturated, natural gas hydrate reservoirs in the deepwater northern Gulf of Mexico. I begin with the characterization of the channel-levee hydrate reservoir in GC-955 with grain size experiments, lithofacies mapping. Hydrate is found in thin-bedded layers of sandy silt that increase in net-to-gross and mean grainsize downhole. I use these results to interpret deposition of overbank sediment gravity flows from a deepwater bypass channel as it becomes increasingly confined by the levees it builds. Next, I use 3D seismic data to identify the relationship between similar channel-levee systems and venting seafloor gas mounds in the Terrebonne Basin of the Walker Ridge protraction area. I estimate the pore pressures, and show that below the hydrate phase boundary, free gas in the levees builds to a critical pressure and creates hydraulic fractures to the seafloor. I describe a conceptual model by which the venting process perturbs the hydrate stability zone, leading to further venting from shallower positions and the formation of distinct rows of gas mounds on the seafloor. Finally, I combine geomechanical properties of the GC-955 reservoir with the structure of the Terrebonne Basin system to show that the pressure estimates are well within reason. Together, these studies provide new insights into where hydrate is found, and how hydrate systems can both control and in turn be controlled by fluid flow, pressure, and stress in the deepwater environment Geological Sciences