Geo-Marine Letters

, Volume 27, Issue 2–4, pp 197–201 | Cite as

Discovery of prolific natural methane seeps at Gullfaks, northern North Sea

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Abstract

The Gullfaks and Kvitebjørn fields are located on the North Sea Plateau (135 m water depth), and on an ancient beach (135–190 m) deposited during the sea-level lowstand during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). There are several continuous seeps of mainly methane gas, where large patches of Beggiatoa bacterial mats occur. The ‘Heincke’ seep area, which is named after the German research vessel Heincke, has been targeted by scientists studying seep-associated processes and microbiology. The Gullfaks area has a long history of shallow gas and seepage. In 1980, well no. 34/10–10 had a blowout from a reservoir located 230 m below seafloor. The active Heincke seep location has no topographic expression, probably because the seabed consists of dense sand and gravel. Extensive bacterial mats (Beggiatoa sp.) are found on the seafloor at this seep site. Organisms such as hermit crabs were seen ingesting pieces of such mat, indicating ‘trophic bypass,’ where carbon derived directly from seeping methane is evidently feeding directly into higher trophic organisms. Ongoing and future research at this seep location in the North Sea can answer some important questions on the environmental impact of natural methane seeps on continental shelves.

Keywords

Last Glacial Maximum Hermit Crab Remotely Operate Vehicle Methane Seep Beach Deposit 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Statoil ASA is thanked for the release of these data. The crew on the Normand Tonjer is thanked for professional work along the Gullfaks–Kvitebjørn route, with the ROV. Dave Long and John Woodside are also thanked for helpful suggestions for improving the article. This study is also part of the METROL project (www.metrol.org) of the 5th framework program of the European Commission.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.StatoilStavangerNorway

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