Abstract
Seafloor pockmarks and subsurface chimney structures are common on the Norwegian continental margin north of the Storegga Slide scar. Such features are generally inferred to be associated with fluid expulsion, and imply overpressures in the subsurface. Six long gravity and piston cores taken from the interior of three pockmarks were compared with four other cores taken from the same area but outside the pockmarks, in order to elucidate the origins and stratigraphy of these features and their possible association with the Storegga Slide event. Sulfate gradients in cores from within pockmarks are less steep than those in cores from outside the pockmarks, which indicates that the flux of methane to the seafloor is presently smaller within the pockmarks than in the adjacent undisturbed sediments. This suggests that these subsurface chimneys are not fluid flow conduits lined with gas hydrate. Methane-derived authigenic carbonates and Bathymodiolus shells obtained from a pockmark at >6.3 m below the seafloor indicate that methane was previously available to support a chemosynthetic community within the pockmark. AMS 14C measurements of planktonic Foraminifera overlying and interlayered with the shell-bearing sediment indicate that methane was present on the seafloor within the pockmark prior to 14 ka 14C years b.p., i.e., well before the last major Storegga Slide event (7.2 ka 14C years b.p., or 8.2 ka calendar years b.p.). These observations provide evidence that overpressured fluids existed within the continental margin sediments off Norway during the last major advance of Pleistocene glaciation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atakan K, Ojeda A (2005) Stress transfer in the Storegga area, offshore mid-Norway. Mar Petrol Geol 22:161–170
Bathurst RG (1975) Carbonate sediments and their diagenesis. Developments in sedimentology 12. Elsevier, New York
Bergquist DC, Fleckenstein C, Szalai EB, Knisel J, Fisher CR (2004) Environment drives physiological variability in the cold seep mussel Bathymodiolus childressi. Limnol Oceanogr 49:706–715
Berndt C, Bünz S, Mienert J (2003) Polygonal fault systems on the mid-Norwegian margin: a long-term source of fluid flow. In: Van Rensbergen P, Hills RR, Maltman AJ, Morley CK (eds) Subsurface sediment mobilization. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 216:283–290
Bondevik S, Mangerud J (2002) A calendar age estimate of a very late Younger Dryas ice sheet maximum in western Norway. Quat Sci Rev 21:1661–1676
Borowski WS, Paull CK, Ussler W III (1996) Marine pore water sulfate profiles indicate in situ methane flux from underlying gas hydrate. Geology 24:655–658
Borowski WS, Paull CK, Ussler W III (1999) Global and local variations of interstitial sulfate gradients in deep-water, continental margin sediments: sensitivity to underlying methane and gas hydrates. Mar Geol 159:131–154
Brown HE, Holbrook WS, Hornbach MJ, Nealon J (2006) Role of gas hydrate phase boundary in Storegga Slide, Norway. Mar Geol 229:179–186
Bryn P, Berg K, Forsberg CF, Solheim A, Kvalstad TJ (2005) Explaining the Storegga Slide. Mar Petrol Geol 22:11–19
Bünz S, Mienert J, Berndt C (2003) Geological controls on the Storegga gas-hydrate system of the mid-Norwegian continental margin. Earth Planet Sci Lett 209:291–307
Cartwright J, James D, Bolton A (2003) The genesis of polygonal fault systems: a review. In: Van Rensbergen P, Hills RR, Maltman AJ, Morley CK (eds) Subsurface sediment mobilization. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 216:223–243
Claypool GE, Kaplan IR (1974) The origin and distribution of methane in margin sediments. In: Kaplan IR (ed) Natural gases in marine sediments. Plenum Press, New York, pp 99–139
Gay A, Lopez M, Cochonat P, Séranne M, Levaché D, Sermondadaz G (2006) Isolated seafloor pockmarks linked to BSRs, fluid chimneys, polygonal faults and stacked Oligocene–Miocene turbiditic palaeochannels in the Lower Congo Basin. Mar Geol 226:25–40
Haflidason H, Sejrup HP, Nygard A, Mienert J, Bryn P, Lien R, Forsberg CF, Berg K, Masson D (2004) The Storegga Slide: architecture, geometry and slide development. Mar Geol 213:201–234
Haflidason H, Lien R, Sejrup HP, Forsberg CF, Bryn P (2005) The dating and morphometry of the Storegga Slide. Mar Petrol Geol 22:123–136
Holbrook WS, Hoskins H, Wood WT, Stephen RA, Lizarralde D (1996) Methane hydrate and free gas on the Blake Ridge from vertical seismic profiling. Science 273:1840–1843
Hovland M, Judd G (1988) Seabed pockmarks and seepages. Graham & Trotman, London
Hovland M, Svensen H, Forsberg CF, Johansen H, Fichler C, Helge J, Jonsson R, Rueslatten H (2005) Complex pockmarks with carbonate-ridges off mid-Norway; products of sediment degassing. Mar Geol 214:191–206
Hughen KA, Baillie MGL, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Bertrand CJH, Blackwell PG, Buck CE, Burr GS, Cutler KB, Damon PE, Edwards RL, Fairbank RG, Friedrich M, Guilderson TP, Kromer B, McCormac FG, Manning SW, Bronk Ramsey C, Reimer PJ, Reime RW, Remmele S, Southon JR, Stuiver M, Talamo S, Taylor FW, van der Plicht J, Weyhenmeyer CE (2004) Marine radiocarbon age calibration, 26–0 ka BP. Radiocarbon 46:1059–1086
Kvalstad TJ, Andresen L, Forsberg CF, Berg K, Bryn P, Wangen M (2005) The Storegga Slide: evaluation of triggering sources and slide mechanics. Mar Petrol Geol 22:245–256
Martens CS, Berner RA (1974) Methane production in interstitial water of sulfate depleted marine sediments. Science 185:1167–1169
Meldahl P, Heggland R, Bril B, de Groot P (2001) Identifying faults and gas chimneys using multiattributes and neural networks. Lead Edge 20:474–482
Mienert J, Posewang J, Luas D (2001) Changes in the hydrate stability zone on the Norwegian margin and their consequences for methane carbon releases into the ocean and atmosphere. In: Schäfer P, Rizrau W, Schlüter M, Thiede J (eds) The Northern Atlantic: a changing environment. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 281–290
Paull CK, Ussler W III, Dillon WP (1991) Is the extent of glaciation limited by marine gas-hydrates? Geophys Res Lett 18:432–434
Paull CK, Chanton J, Neumann AC, Coston JA, Martens CS, Showers W (1992) Indicators of methane-derived carbonates and chemosynthetic organic carbon deposits: examples from the Florida escarpment. Palaios 7:361–375
Paull CK, Buelow WJ, Ussler W III, Borowski WS (1995) Increased continental-margin slumping frequency during sea-level lowstands above gas hydrate-bearing sediments. Geology 24:143–146
Paull CK, Ussler W III, Dillon WP (2000) Potential role of gas-hydrate decomposition in generating submarine slope failures. In: Max M (ed) Natural gas hydrate in oceanic and permafrost environments. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 149–156
Paull CK, Ussler W III, Greene HG, Barry J, Keaten R (2005) Bioerosion by chemosynthetic biologic communities on Holocene submarine slide scars. Geo-Mar Lett 25:11–19
Paull CK, Ussler W III, Holbrook WS (2007) Assessing methane release from the colossal Storegga submarine landslide. Geophys Res Lett 34:L04601 DOI 10.1029/2006GL028331
Reeburgh WS (1976) Methane consumption in Cariaco Trench waters and sediments. Earth Planet Sci Lett 28:337–344
Roberts ML, Bench GS, Brown TA, Caffee MW, Finkel RC, Freeman SPHT, Hainsworth LJ, Kashgarien M, McAninch JE, Proctor ID, Southon JR, Vogel JS (1997) The LLNL AMS facility. Nuclear Instruments Methods Phys Res B 123:57–61
Solheim A, Bryn P, Sejrup HP, Mienert J, Berg K (2005) Ormen Lange—and integrated study for the safe development of a deep-water gas field within the Storegga Complex, NE Atlantic continental margin: executive summary. Mar Petrol Geol 22:1–9
Stuiver M, Reimer PJ (1993) Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230
Wood WT, Gettrust JF, Chapman NR, Spence GD, Hyndman RD (2002) Decreased stability of methane hydrates in marine sediments owing to phase-boundary roughness. Nature 420:656–660
Acknowledgements
The US National Science Foundation (OCE-0221366), and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation provided support for this work. Dr. Rudo von Cosel kindly identified the Bathymodiolus shells. John Bratton and John Pohlman are thanked for their detailed reviews. We thank Chris Lane (University of Wyoming) for seismic data processing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Paull, C.K., Ussler, W., Holbrook, W.S. et al. Origin of pockmarks and chimney structures on the flanks of the Storegga Slide, offshore Norway. Geo-Mar Lett 28, 43–51 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-007-0088-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-007-0088-9