Oligocene to Holocene hydrocarbon migration and salt-dome carbonates, northern Gulf of Mexico

Sassen, Roger; Cole, Gary A.; Drozd, R. J.; Roberts, Harry H.

doi:10.1016/0264-8172(94)90009-4

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…It is important to estimate the volume of CO 2 that has been sequestered by long-term microbial hydrocarbon oxidation and sulfate reduction at MC 118 (5). Authigenic carbonate rock at the MC 118 site is estimated to have sequestered ~ 3 billion m 3 of CO 2 gas at standard temperature and pressure (4).…”

Section: Microbial Hydrocarbon Oxidation and Sulfate Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mississippi Canyon 118 Gas Hydrate Site: A Complex Natural System

Sassen

Roberts

Jung

et al. 2006

Offshore Technology Conference

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TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractThe easternmost gas hydrate site in Mississippi Canyon (MC) was discovered using the Johnson Sea-Link research submersible in 2002. Free gas (C 1 -C 5 hydrocarbons and minor CO 2 ) vents from the seafloor to the water column at ~890 m water depth where temperature is ~5.7° Celsius. Vent gas rapidly crystallizes as massive white fracture-fillings of gas hydrate in mud at the seafloor. The Structure II gas hydrate is relatively deficient in methane (70.0%), relatively rich in ethane (7.5%) and propane (15.9%). The site is characterized by crater-like depressions and mounds of authigenic carbonate rock over an area of ~1 km 2 . The authigenic carbonate rock is the result of episodic microbial hydrocarbon oxidation. Chemosynthetic communities include bacterial mats (Beggiatoa) with tube worms, mussels, and bivalves. The MC 118 site is a unique seafloor laboratory to address important questions concerning the processes that result in crystallization of gas hydrate in fractures, microbially-driven precipitation of enormous volumes of authigenic carbonate rock, and the development of complex chemosynthetic communities in an extreme environment for life.

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Section: Microbial Hydrocarbon Oxidation and Sulfate Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mississippi Canyon 118 Gas Hydrate Site: A Complex Natural System

Sassen

Roberts

Jung

et al. 2006

Offshore Technology Conference

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“…Alteration of sulfur-rich hydrocarbon endmembers can produce sulfide (Kennicutt et al 1992), as can microbial metabolism of buried organic material (Martens et al 1991, Carney 1994. Sulfide may also be derived from the interaction of dissolved gaseous-phase or liquid hydrocarbons with anhydrite and gypsum contained in salt-dome cap rocks or sulfatebearing evaporites (Sassen et al 1994b, Saunders & Thomas 1996, Röling et al 2003. However, the majority of the sulfide present at the sea floor in the GoM cold seeps is generated in the shallow subsurface by the anaerobic oxidation of methane, higher hydrocarbons, and organic material using sulfate as an oxidant (Aharon & Fu 2000, Arvidson et al 2004.…”

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confidence: 99%

Macro-Ecology of Gulf of Mexico Cold Seeps

Cordes

Bergquist

Fisher

2009

Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci.

158

110

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Shortly after the discovery of chemosynthetic ecosystems at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, similar ecosystems were found at cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past two decades, these sites have become model systems for understanding the physiology of the symbiont-containing megafauna and the ecology of seep communities worldwide. Symbiont-containing bi-valves and siboglinid polychaetes dominate the communities, including five bathymodiolin mussel species and six vestimentiferan (siboglinid polychaete) species in the Gulf of Mexico. The mussels include the first described examples of methanotrophic symbiosis and dual methanotrophic/thiotrophic symbiosis. Studies with the vestimentiferans have demonstrated their potential for extreme longevity and their ability to use posterior structures for subsurface exchange of dissolved metabolites. Ecological investigations have demonstrated that the vestimentiferans function as ecosystem engineers and identified a community succession sequence from a specialized high-biomass endemic community to a low-biomass community of background fauna over the life of a hydrocarbon seep site.

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“…Subsequently, the margin of the GoM received input of abundant terrigenous sediments, resulting in thick sedimentary strata overlying the Louann salt [18,19]. Driven by rapid, yet patchy deposition of terrigenous sediment, widespread salt diapirism coupled with a series of fractures developed in subsurface sediments onshore and offshore the Gulf region [20]. It has been discovered that seawater, groundwater, and hypersaline seawater were enclosed in continental shelf sediments [21][22][23][24], which could migrate along fractures and interact with ambient sediments, resulting in complex pore water geochemistry.…”

Section: Geological Setting and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Salt dome cap rocks resulting from salt dissolution, element substitution, and sulfate reduction were widely discovered at the top of salt diapirs in the GoM [20,25]. As salt diapirs dissolve, less soluble anhydrite and gypsum accumulate at the margin of salt structures [25].…”

Section: Geological Setting and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of Authigenic Low-Magnesium Calcite from Sites SS296 and GC53 of the Gulf of Mexico

Huang

Gong

et al. 2019

Minerals

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Authigenic low-magnesium calcite (LMC)—a mineral phase that should precipitate in calcite seas rather than today’s aragonite sea—was recently discovered at the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) at water depths of 65 m (site SS296) and 189 m (site GC53). This study investigates the mineralogical, petrographic, and geochemical characteristics of LMC from both sites to reveal its formation process. The δ18O values of LMC from site SS296 cluster in two groups (−0.6‰ to 1.7‰; 6.3‰ to 7.5‰) and the presence of cone-in-cone texture in the samples with lower δ18O values suggest precipitation at higher temperatures and greater depth. Low δ18O values of LMC from site GC53 ranging from −9.4‰ to −2.5‰ indicate an influence of meteoric waters during formation. LMC at both sites reveals a wide range of δ13C values (−17.4‰ to 2.6‰), indicating various carbon sources including seawater and/or organic matter. This interpretation is further supported by the δ13C values of organic carbon extracted from the LMC lithologies (δ13Corg: from −26.8‰ to −18.9‰). Relatively low Sr concentrations of LMC samples regardless of variable 87Sr/86Sr ratios, ranging from 0.707900 to 0.708498 for site GC53 and from 0.709537 to 0.710537 for site SS396, suggest the exchange of Sr between pore fluids and ambient sediments/rocks. The observed wide range of 87Sr/86Sr ratios and the enrichment of Fe and Mn in LMC is in accordance with pore fluids deriving from the dissolution of Louann salt. Overall, this study reveals that the formation of LMC at sites SS296 and GC53 was favored by the presence of low Mg/Ca ratio pore fluids resulting from salt dissolution in subsurface environments when sufficient dissolved inorganic carbon was available. These results are essential for understanding the formation of marine LMC at times of an aragonite sea, highlighting the role of formation environments—open environments close to or at the seafloor vs. confined subseafloor environments typified by pore waters with a composition largely different from that of seawater.

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Oligocene to Holocene hydrocarbon migration and salt-dome carbonates, northern Gulf of Mexico

Cited by 21 publications

References 19 publications

The Mississippi Canyon 118 Gas Hydrate Site: A Complex Natural System

The Mississippi Canyon 118 Gas Hydrate Site: A Complex Natural System

Macro-Ecology of Gulf of Mexico Cold Seeps

Formation of Authigenic Low-Magnesium Calcite from Sites SS296 and GC53 of the Gulf of Mexico

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