Are seafloor pockmarks on the Chatham Rise, New Zealand, linked to CO2 hydrates? Gas hydrate stability considerations.

Abstract:

Vast areas of the Chatham Rise east of New Zealand are covered by seafloor pockmarks. Pockmark occurrence appears to be bathymetrically controlled with a band of smaller pockmarks covering areas between 500 and 700 m and large seafloor depressions beneath 800 m water depth. The current depth of the top of methane gas hydrate stability in the ocean is about 500 m and thus, we had proposed that pockmark formation may be linked to methane gas hydrate dissociation during sealevel lowering. However, while seismic profiles show strong indications of fluid flow, geochemical analyses of piston cores do not show any evidence for current or past methane flux.

The discovery of Dawsonite, indicative of significant CO2 flux, in a recent petroleum exploration well, together with other circumstantial evidence, has led us to propose that instead of methane hydrate, CO2 hydrate may be linked to pockmark formation. We here present results from CO2 hydrate stability calculations. Assuming water temperature profiles remain unchanged, we predict the upper limit of pockmark occurrence to coincide with the top of CO2 gas hydrate stability during glacial-stage sealevel lowstands. CO2 hydrates may therefore have dissociated during sealevel lowering leading to gas escape and pockmark formation. In contrast to our previous model linking methane hydrate dissociation to pockmark formation, gas hydrates would dissociate beneath a shallow base of CO2 hydrate stability, rather than on the seafloor following upward “grazing” of the top of methane hydrate stability.

Intriguingly, at the water depths of the larger seafloor depressions, the base of gas hydrate stability delineates the phase boundary between CO2 hydrates and super-saturated CO2. We caution that because of the high solubility of CO2, dissociation from hydrate to free gas or super-saturated CO2 would imply high concentrations of CO2 and speculate that pockmark formation may be linked to CO2 hydrate dissolution rather than dissociation. While still speculative, CO2 flux and resulting CO2 hydrate formation would be compatible with many of the geophysical and geochemical anomalies observed on the Chatham Rise and adjacent Canterbury Basin.