Mud volcano gas hydrates in the Gulf of Cadiz

✍ Scribed by L. L. Mazurenko; V. A. Soloviev; I. Belenkaya; M. K. Ivanov; L. M. Pinheiro

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 243 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0954-4879
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3121.2002.00428.x

✦ Synopsis

ABSTRACT This paper presents new geochemical data on gas‐hydrate‐bearing mud volcanoes discovered for the first time in the Gulf of Cadiz during cruises TTR9 and TTR10 of the R/V Professor Logachev in 1999–2000. The estimated gas hydrate content is 3–16% of sediment volume and 5–31% of pore space volume. Estimated values of the water isotopic composition for the Ginsburg mud volcano are very heavy for δ^18^O (up to +53‰) and light for δD (up to − 210‰). Gas released from the hydrates contains 81% of C~1~ and 19% of C~2+~. The inferred source of the gas in the hydrates is enriched in C~2~–C~6~ (≤ 5%), indicating that the gas has a thermogenic origin. Gas hydrate of cubic structure II should be formed from a gas of such composition. It is interpreted that the composition of the mud volcano fluid corresponds to deep oil basins below the Gulf of Cadiz.