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Seep carbonate formation controlled by hydrothermal vent complexes: a case study from the Vøring Basin, the Norwegian Sea

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Abstract

Several hundred hydrothermal vent complexes were formed in the Vøring Basin as a consequence of magmatic sill emplacement in the late Palaeocene. The 6607/12-1 exploration well was drilled through a 220-m-thick sequence of Eocene–Miocene diatomites with carbonate nodules above the apex of one of these vent complexes. Analysed calcites and dolomites from this interval have isotopic signatures typical for methane seep carbonates, with low δ13C signatures of −28 to −54‰ PDB. The data suggest that the vent complex acted as a fluid migration pathway for about 50×106 years after its formation, leading to near-surface microbial activity and seep carbonate formation.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant 120897 to Jamtveit/Svensen and by the FUNN program (analytical work) from the Norwegian Research Council. We would like to thank TGS-NOPEC for access to seismic data, and Debra Stakes and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments. This work was motivated by a seismic profile appearing in an article by H. Carstens in GEO (September 2001), showing the position of the 6607/12-1 borehole and the eye structure (described as a buried mud volcano).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics of Geological Processes (PGP), University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1048 Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Henrik Svensen, Sverre Planke & Bjørn Jamtveit

  2. Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research (VBPR), Oslo Research Park, 0349, Oslo, Norway

    Sverre Planke

  3. Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), P.O. Box 40, 2027, Kjeller, Norway

    Tom Pedersen

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  1. Henrik Svensen
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  2. Sverre Planke
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  3. Bjørn Jamtveit
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  4. Tom Pedersen
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Correspondence to Henrik Svensen.

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Svensen, H., Planke, S., Jamtveit, B. et al. Seep carbonate formation controlled by hydrothermal vent complexes: a case study from the Vøring Basin, the Norwegian Sea. Geo-Mar Lett 23, 351–358 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-003-0141-2

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