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Transient discharges from marine hydrocarbon seeps: spatial and temporal variability

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Marine hydrocarbon gas emissions at an intense, 20-m-deep seep in the Santa Barbara Channel, California were studied with a network of three turbine seep-tents and repeated seabed mapping. The tents observed two gas ejection events that are interpreted as due to blockage of constrictions in fractures and subsequent blow-through. Seabed mapping suggests that very large transient emission events occur, are related to tar, and are temporally and spatially variable. Transient emissions have the potential to more efficiently transport methane to the atmosphere than steady-state emissions. We present an electrical model analog of subsurface seepage useful for seepage flux interpretation. The model predicts that variations in resistance at one vent shifts some of its flux to other connected vents, and that the shift is not zero-sum, i.e., a resistance change at one vent causes a flow change for the overall fracture system.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the support of the U.S. Mineral Management Service, Agency #1435-01-00-CA-31063, Task #18211 and the University of California Energy Institute. Special thanks to University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) divers Shane Anderson, Dave Farrar, Dennis Divins, and underwater videographer Eric Hessel. The views and conclusions in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied of the U.S. government or UCSB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Sciences Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    I. Leifer

  2. Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    J. R. Boles, B. P. Luyendyk & J. F. Clark

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  1. I. Leifer
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  2. J. R. Boles
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Correspondence to I. Leifer.

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Leifer, I., Boles, J.R., Luyendyk, B.P. et al. Transient discharges from marine hydrocarbon seeps: spatial and temporal variability. Env Geol 46, 1038–1052 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1091-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1091-3

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