Is Submarine Groundwater Discharge a Gas Hydrate Formation Mechanism on the Circum-Arctic Shelf?

Abstract:

Methane hydrate is an ice-like solid that can sequester large quantities of methane gas in marine sediments along most continental margins where thermodynamic conditions permit its formation. Along the circum-Arctic shelf, relict permafrost-associated methane hydrate deposits formed when non-glaciated portions of the shelf experienced subaerial exposure during ocean transgressions. Gas hydrate stability and the permeability of circum-Arctic shelf sediments to gas migration is closely linked with relict submarine permafrost. Heat flow observations on the Alaskan North Slope and Canadian Beaufort Shelf suggest the movement of groundwater offshore, but direct observations of groundwater flow do not exist. Submarine discharge, an offshore flow of fresh, terrestrial groundwater, can affect the temperature and salinity field in shelf sediments, and may be an important factor in submarine permafrost and gas hydrate evolution on the Arctic continental shelf. Submarine groundwater discharge may also enhance the transport of organic matter for methanogenesis within marine sediments. Because it is buoyancy-driven, the velocity field contains regions with a vertical (upward) component as groundwater flows offshore. This combination of factors makes submarine groundwater discharge a potential mechanism controlling permafrost-associated gas hydrate evolution on the Arctic continental shelf.

In this study, we quantitatively investigate the feasibility of submarine groundwater discharge as a control on permafrost-associated gas hydrate formation on the Arctic continental shelf, using the Canadian Beaufort Shelf as an example. We have developed a shelf-scale, two-dimensional numerical model based on the finite volume method for two-phase flow of pore fluid and methane gas within Arctic shelf sediments. The model tracks the evolution of the pressure, temperature, salinity, methane gas, methane hydrate, and permafrost fields given imposed boundary conditions, with latent heat of water ice and hydrate formation included. The permeability structure of the sediments is coupled to changes in the permafrost and gas hydrate deposits, and the model can be run over several glacial cycles. Model development and preliminary results will be presented.