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GIS-based mapping for marine geohazards in seabed fluid leakage areas (Gulf of Cadiz, Spain)

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Abstract

This paper applies, for the first time in offshore deepwater, a method based on geographic information systems for seafloor susceptibility assessment as a first approach to marine geohazard mapping in fluid leakage areas (slope instabilities, gas escapes, seabed collapses, pockmarks, etc.). The assessment was carried out in a known seabed fluid-flow province located on the Iberian margin of the Gulf of Cádiz, Spain. The method (based on statistical bivariate analysis) creates a susceptibility map that defines the likelihood of occurrence of seafloor features related to fluid flow: crater-like depressions and submarine landslides. It is based on the statistical index (Wi) method (Van Westen in Statistical landslide hazard analysis. ILWIS 2.1 for Windows application guide. ITC Publication, Enschede, pp 73–84, 1997), in which Wi is a function of the cartographic density of seafloor features on “factor maps”. The factors selected monitor the seafloor’s capability to store and transfer hydrocarbon gases and gravitational instability triggers: geology-lithology, gas hydrate stability zone thickness (temperature, pressure–water depth and geothermal gradient), occurrence of diapirs, proximity to faults or lineaments, and slope angle of the seafloor. Results show that the occurrence of seafloor features related to fluid flow is highest where the factors “gas source and storage” and “pathways of fluid escape” converge. This means that they are particularly abundant over diapirs in contourite deposits, in the vicinity of faults, and inside theoretical gas hydrate stability fields thinned by warm undercurrents. Furthermore, the submarine landslides located on the Palaeozoic-Toarcian basement are not related to fluid leakage. This methodology provides helpful information for hazard mitigation in regional selection of potential drill sites, deep-water construction sites or pipeline routes. It is an easily applied and useful tool for taking the first step in risk assessment on a regional scale for vast areas where fluid leakage may be present, the geological model is known, and the geologically hazardous features have already been mapped.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all participants in the Tasyo and Anastasya research cruises: the captains, technicians and crews of R/V Cornide de Saavedra and R/V Hespérides. Special thanks are due to the projects Cadisar (UMR CNRS 5805, France), Gap (Germany) and Golfo (SMAR99-0643T, Spain) for contributing oceanographic data to this study. We are especially grateful to Michael Ivanov and Luis Pinheiro for their helpful co-operation within the framework of the TTR IOC/UNESCO Programme. Thanks are extended to REPSOL-YPF for their helpful collaboration. This work is currently supported by the Spanish Department for Research and Innovation (MICINN) projects CONTOURIBER (CTM 2008-06399-C04/MAR and GLOBANT (CTM 2008-06386-C02/ANT). It is also a contribution to the European Action COST ES0902 “Permafrost and gas hydrate related methane release in the Arctic and impact on climate change: European cooperation for long-term monitoring (PERGAMON)”.

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  1. IGME, Geological Survey of Spain, Rios Rosas 23, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo León & Luis Somoza

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  1. Ricardo León
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Correspondence to Ricardo León.

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León, R., Somoza, L. GIS-based mapping for marine geohazards in seabed fluid leakage areas (Gulf of Cadiz, Spain). Mar Geophys Res 32, 207–223 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-011-9135-z

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