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BOTTOM SIMULATING REFLECTORS ON CANADA'S EAST COAST MARGIN: EVIDENCE FOR GAS HYDRATE.

University of British Columbia. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; International Conference on Gas Hydrates (6th : 2008 : Vancouver, B.C.)

The presence of gas hydrates offshore of eastern Canada has long been inferred from estimated stability zone calculations, but the physical evidence is yet to be discovered. While geophysical evidence derived from seismic and borehole logging data provides indications of hydrate occurrence in a number of areas, the results are not regionally comprehensive and, in some cases, are inconsistent. In this study, the results of systematic seismic mapping along the Scotian and Newfoundland margins are documented. An extensive set of 2-D and 3-D, single and multi-channel, seismic reflection data comprising ~45,000 line-km was analyzed for possible evidence of hydrate. Bottom simulating reflectors (including one double BSR) were identified at five different sites, ranging between 300 and 600 m below the seafloor and in water depths of 1000 to 2900 m. The combined area of the five BSRs is 1720 km2, which comprises a small proportion of the theoretical stability zone area along the Scotian and Newfoundland margins (~635,000 km2). The apparent paucity of BSRs may relate to the rarity of gas hydrates on the margin or may be simply due to geophysical limitations in detecting hydrate.

Gas hydrates; Continental margin; Seismic reflection; Bottom simulating reflector; Hydrate stability

Conference Paper

application/pdf

2008-07-21

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/1044

Mosher, David. C. 2008. BOTTOM SIMULATING REFLECTORS ON CANADA'S EAST COAST MARGIN: EVIDENCE FOR GAS HYDRATE. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Gas Hydrates (ICGH 2008), Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA, July 6-10, 2008.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/