U.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates

By: , and 
Edited by: Jürgen MienertChristian BerndtAnne M. TréhuAngelo Camerlenghi, and Char-Shine Liu

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Abstract

The minimum distribution of gas hydrates on the U.S. Atlantic margin is from offshore South Carolina northward to the longitude of Shallop Canyon on the southern New England margin. Few wells have logged or sampled the gas hydrate zone on this margin, meaning that the presence of gas hydrates is inferred primarily based on seismic data that reveal bottom simulating reflections, mostly at water depths greater than 2000 m. The highest hydrate saturations most likely exist in sandy sediments of the Whale Prospect offshore New Jersey, New York, and the western part of Cape Cod, an area characterized by strong bottom simulating reflections. Such reflections are also imaged on the well-studied Blake Ridge, where fine-grained sediments host lower hydrate saturations that have been constrained by drilling. Within the section of the margin stretching from south of Cape Hatteras to nearly Hudson Canyon, the diagnostic seismic reflections are hard to discern, making inferences about gas hydrate distributions more uncertain. The recognition of as-yet unmapped bottom simulating reflections or top of gas features seaward of the 2000 m bathymetric contour (e.g., Cape Fear Slide, Currituck slide, beneath deepwater gas seeps) within the Mid-Atlantic Bight expands the area of probable gas hydrates on this margin.

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Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title U.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates
DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-81186-0_24
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher Springer
Contributing office(s) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description 16 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Monograph
Larger Work Title World atlas of submarine gas hydrates in continental margins
First page 287
Last page 302
Country United States
State Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia
Other Geospatial Blake Ridge, Cape Cod, Cape Fear Slide, Cape Hatteras, Currituck slide, Hudson Canyon, Mid-Atlantic Bight, Shallop Canyon, United States Atlantic margin, Whale Prospect
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