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World Atlas of Submarine Gas Hydrates in Continental Margins pp 89–107Cite as

Hydrate Ridge—A Gas Hydrate System in a Subduction Zone Setting

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Abstract

Hydrate Ridge is a 6–10 km wide, 22 km long N–S striking thrust ridge within the Cascadia accretionary prism offshore of Oregon in the NE Pacific Ocean. Over the past four decades it has been a primary focus site for studies of gas hydrate/free gas systems within a convergent margin setting. A local peak called the North Hydrate Ridge (NHR), located at a depth of 590 m, hosts the first documented cold seep system driven by convergent margin processes and supports chemosynthetic communities sustained by the anaerobic oxidation of methane. A southern peak at 780 m depth, known as the South Hydrate Ridge (SHR), is actively venting gas around an area of seafloor bacterial mats and a 40 m high carbonate chimney within a long-lived vent system separate from NHR. Bottom simulating reflections (BSRs) observed in seismic profiles indicate these vents are part of a broad gas hydrate province that extends across all of Hydrate Ridge. Hydrate Ridge has been the focus of extensive geophysical surveys, water column acoustic and sampling surveys, high-resolution seafloor mapping using remotely operated, autonomous and deep-towed vehicles, seafloor fluid flow monitoring, and a site for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). All of these are in support or complementing Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) drilling efforts during Legs 146 and 204 to quantify and characterize the gas hydrate/free gas system. Hydrate concentrations are up to 45% of pore space (30% of total volume), but typically 2–20%, and are strongly coupled with the structure and stratigraphy within the thrust ridge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas At Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Nathan L. Bangs

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    Joel E. Johnson

  3. College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Anne M. Tréhu

  4. US Geological Survey, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Matthew A. Arsenault

Authors
  1. Nathan L. Bangs
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  2. Joel E. Johnson
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  3. Anne M. Tréhu
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  4. Matthew A. Arsenault
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Correspondence to Nathan L. Bangs .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CAGE—Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate, Department of Geosciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Jürgen Mienert

  2. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

    Christian Berndt

  3. College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Anne M. Tréhu

  4. National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics—OGS, Sgonico, Trieste, Italy

    Angelo Camerlenghi

  5. National Taiwan University Ocean Center, Taipei, Taiwan

    Char-Shine Liu

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Bangs, N.L., Johnson, J.E., Tréhu, A.M., Arsenault, M.A. (2022). Hydrate Ridge—A Gas Hydrate System in a Subduction Zone Setting. In: Mienert, J., Berndt, C., Tréhu, A.M., Camerlenghi, A., Liu, CS. (eds) World Atlas of Submarine Gas Hydrates in Continental Margins. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81186-0_7

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