Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A modified gas hydrate-geomorphological model for a new discovery of enigmatic craters and seabed mounds in the Central Barents Sea, Norway

  • Original
  • Published:
Geo-Marine Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hundreds of newly discovered gas seeps, craters, and mounds are presented from the central Barents Sea, Norway. Where they occur together, the crater-mound pairs have a preferred orientation towards the southeast. According to complex cross-cutting relationships with iceberg ploughmarks, both the craters and mounds formed during deglaciation (ca. 11–13 ka BP). Free gas, trapped beneath shallow gas hydrates in discrete areas, deformed or displaced overlying bedrock and sediment, forming mounds. Over-steepened slopes, weak layers, fractured bedrock, and unstable sediment resulted in small landslides towards the southeast: the direction of regional slope. In some cases, the highly buoyant, hydrate-cored sediment mounds may have instead, detached and floated with bottom currents before being re-deposited, either locally or distally. In this scenario, southeasterly flowing bottom currents would also explain the preferred orientation of the observed crater-mound pairs. Crater collapse would have occurred simultaneously or subsequently to landslide or detachment and floating due to the rapid dissociation of any remaining gas hydrates; a result of attendant regional changes in temperature and pressure following deglaciation and local removal of overlying sediment. The model of formation developed in this study explains the southeasterly trend in crater-mound orientation, but differs from other studies that interpret modern mounds, located elsewhere in the Barents Sea, as gas hydrate-cored.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aagaard-Sørensen S, Groot DE, Husum K, Hald M (2013) Paleoceanographic reconstruction in the western and northern Barents Sea during and after the last deglaciation. In: EGU General Assembly Abstracts, EGU2013–2766

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreassen K, Laberg JS, Vorren TO (2008) Seismic seafloor geomorphology of the SW Barents Sea and its glaci-dynamic implications. Geomorphology 97:157–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andreassen K, Hubbard A, Winsborrow M, Patton H, Vadakkepuliyambatta S, Plaza-Faverola A, Gudlaugsson E, Serov P, Deryabin A, Mattingsdal R, Mienert J, Bünz S (2017) Massive blow-out craters formed by hydrate-controlled methane expulsion from the Arctic seafloor. Science 356:948–953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andreassen K, Winsborrow MCM, Bjarnadóttir LR, Rüther DC, (2014) Ice stream retreat dynamics inferred from an assemblage of landforms in the northern Barents Sea. Quat Sci Rev 92:246-257

  • Anell I, Faleide J-I, Braathen A (2016) Regional tectono-sedimentary development of the highs and basins of the northwestern Barents Shelf. Nor J Geol 96:27–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellec VK, Bøe R, Rise L, Lepland A, Thorsnes T, Bjarnadóttir LR (2017) Seabed sediments (grain size) of Nordland VI, offshore North Norway. J Maps 13:608–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biastoch A, Treude T, Rüpke LH, Riebesell U, Roth C, Burwicz EB, Park W, Latif M, Böning CW, Madec G, Wallmann K (2011) Rising Arctic Ocean temperatures cause gas hydrate destabilization and ocean acidification. Geophys Res Lett L08602. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL047222

  • Bjarnadóttir LR, Winsborrow M, Andreassen K (2014) Deglaciation of the Central Barents Sea. Quat Sci Rev 92:208–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjarnadóttir LR, Ottensen D, Dowdeswell JA, Bugge T (2016) Unusual iceberg ploughmarks on the Norwegian continental shelf. Geol Soc Lond Mem 46:283–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer PG, Paull C, Peltzer ET, Ussler W, Rehder G, Friederich G (2002) Measurements of the fate of gas hydrates during transit through the ocean water column. Geophys Res Lett 29:38–1-38-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crémière A, Lepland A, Chand S, Sahy D, Condon DJ, Noble SR, Toñu M, Thorsnes T, Sauer S, Brunstad H (2016) Timescales of methane seepage on the Norwegian margin following collapse of the Scandinavian ice sheet. Nat Commun 7(11509). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11509

  • Elverhøi A, Solheim A (1983) The Barents Sea ice sheet: a sedimentological discussion. Polar Res 1:23–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fader G (1991) Gas-related sedimentary features from the eastern Canadian continental shelf. Cont Shelf Res 11:1123–1153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forman S, Lubinski D, Miller GH, Snyder J, Matishov G, Korsun S, Myslivets V (1995) Postglacial emergence and distribution of Late Weichselian ice-sheet loads in the northern Barents and Kara seas, Russia. Geology 23:113–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabrielsen RH, Færseth RB, Jensen LN, Kalheim JE, Riis F (1990) Structural elements of the Norwegian continental shelf part I: the Barents Sea region, NPD Bulletin No. 6

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer Ø, Webb KE, Depreiter D (2009) Numerical simulation of upwelling currents in pockmarks and data from the inner Oslofjord, Norway. Geo-Mar Lett 29:269–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan KA, Dowdeswell JA, Hillenbrand C-D, Ehrmann W, Noormets R, Wacker L (2017) Subglacial sediment pathways and deglacial chronology of the northern Barents Sea ice sheet. Boreas 46:750–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong W-L, Torres ME, Carroll J, Crémière A, Panier G, Yao H, Serov P (2017) Seepage from an arctic shallow marine gas hydrate reservoir is insensitive to momentary ocean warming. Nat Commun 8:15745. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jung W-Y, Vogt PR (2004) Effects of bottom water warming and sea-level rise on Holocene hydrate dissociation and mass wasting along the Norwegian-Barents continental margin. J Geophys Res 109. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JB002738

  • King LH, MacLean B (1970) Pockmarks on the Scotian shelf. Geol Soc Am Bull 81:3141–3148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King EL, Rise L, Bellec VK (2016) Crescentic submarine hills and holes produced by iceberg calving and rotation. Geol Soc Lond Mem 46:267–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambeck K (1995) Constraints on the Late Weichselian ice sheet over the Barents Sea from observations of raised shorelines. Quat Sci Rev 14:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambek K (1996) Limits on the areal extent of the Barents Sea ice sheet in Late Weichselian time. Glob Planet Chang 12:41–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landvik JY, Bondevik S, Elverhøi A, Fjeldskaar W, Mangerud J, Salvigsen O, Siegert JI, Svendsen J-I, Vorren TO (1998) The last glacial maximum of Svalbard and the Barents Sea area: ice sheet extent and configuration. Quat Sci Rev 17:43–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long D, Lammers S, Linke P (1998) Possible hydrate mounds within large sea-floor craters in the Barents Sea. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 137:223–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Micallef A, Masson DG, Berndt C, Stow DAV (2009) Development and mass movement processes of the north-eastern Storegga slide. Quat Sci Rev 28:433–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran SR, Clayton L, Hooke RL, Fenton MM, Andriashek LD (1980) Glacier-bed landforms of the prairie region of North America. J Glaciol 25:457–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newton AMW, Huuse M (2017) Glacial geomorphology of the Central Barents Sea: implications for the dynamic deglaciation of the Barents Sea ice sheet. Mar Geol 387:114–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ottesen D, Dowdeswell JA, Rise L (2005) Submarine landforms and the reconstruction of fast-flowing ice streams within a large Quaternary ice sheet: the 2500 km-long Norwegian-Svalbard margin (57°-80°N). Geol Soc Am Bull 117:1033–1050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portnov A, Vadakkepuliyambatta S, Mienert J, Hubbard A (2016) Ice-sheet-driven methane storage and release in the Arctic. Nat Commun 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10314

  • Rise L, Bellec VK, Ottesen D, Bøe R, Thorsnes T (2016) Hill-hole pairs on the Norwegian continental shelf. Geol Soc Lond Mem 46:203–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers J, Kelley JT, Belknap DF, Gontz A, Barnhardt WA (2006) Shallow-water pockmark formation in temperate estuaries: a consideration of origins in the western Gulf of Maine with special focus on Belfast Bay. Mar Geol 225:45–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rüther DC, Mattingsdal R, Andreassen K, Forwick M, Husum K (2011) Seismic architecture and sedimentology of a major grounding zone system deposited by the Bjørnøyrenna ice stream during the Late Weichselian deglaciation. Quat Sci Rev 30:2776–2792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rüther DC, Bjarnadóttir LR, Junttila J, Husum K, Rasmussen TL, Lucchi RG, Andreassen K (2012) Pattern and timing of the northwestern Barents Sea ice sheet deglaciation and indications of episodic Holocene deposition. Boreas 41:494–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvigsen O (1981) Radiocarbon Dated Raised Beaches in Kong Karls Land, Svalbard, and Their Consequences for the Glacial History of the Barents Sea Area. Geogr Ann Ser B 63:283-291

  • Sættem J (1990) Glaciotectonic forms and structures on the Norwegian continental shelf: observations, processes and implications. Nor Geol Tidsskr 70:81–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Serov P, Vadakkepuliyambatta S, Mienert J, Patton H, Portnov A, Silyakova A, Panieri G, Carroll ML, Carroll J, Andreassen K, Hubbard A (2017) Postglacial response of Arctic Ocean gas hydrates to climatic amelioration. PNAS 114:6215–6220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan ED, Koh C (2007) Clathrate hydrates of natural gases, 3rd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Solheim A, Elverhøi A (1993) Gas-related sea floor craters in the Barents Sea. Geo-Mar Lett 3:11–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Solheim A, Kristoffersen Y (1984) Physical environment Western Barents Sea, 1: 1,500,000; sediments above the upper regional unconformity: thickness, seismic stratigraphy and outline of the glacial history. Nor Polarinst Skr 179B:3–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokes CR, Clark CD (1999) Geomorphological criteria for identifying Pleistocene ice streams. Ann Glaciol 28:67–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suess E, Torresb ME, Bohrmanna G, Collierb RW, Greinerta J, Linke P, Rehder G, Trehu A, Wallmann K, Winckler G, Zuleger E (1999) Gas hydrate destabilization: enhanced dewatering, benthic material turnover and large methane plumes at the Cascadia convergent margin. Earth Planet Sci Lett 170:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svendsen JI, Gataullin V, Mangerud J, Polyak L (2004) The glacial history of the Barents and Kara Sea region. In: Ehlers J, Gibbard PL (eds) Quaternary glaciations—extent and chronology part 1: Europe. Elsevier B.V, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogt PR, Jung W-Y (2002) Holocene mass wasting on upper non-polar continental slopes—due to post-Glacial Ocean warming and hydrate dissociation? Geophys Res Lett 29:1341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallmann K, Riedel M, Hong WL, Patton H, Hubbard A, Pape T, Hsu CW, Schmidt C, Johnson JE, Torres ME, Andreassen K, Berndt C, Bohrmann G (2018) Gas hydrate dissociation off Svalbard induced by isostatic rebound rather than global warming. Nat Commun 9:83. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02550-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winsborrow M, Andreassen K, Corner GD, Laberg JS (2010) Deglaciation of a marine-based ice sheet: late Weichselian palaeo-ice dynamics and retreat in the southern Barents Sea reconstructed from onshore and offshore glacial geomorphology. Quat Sci Rev 29:424–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winsborrow M, Andreassen K, Hubbard A, Plaza-Faverola A, Gudlaugsson E, Patton H (2016) Regulation of ice stream flow through subglacial formation of gas hydrates. Nat Geosci 9:370–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zatsepina OY, Buffett BA (1998) Thermodynamic conditions for the stability of gas hydrate in the seafloor. J Geophys Res 103(B10):24127–24139

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Kartverket (The Norwegian Hydrographic Service), the Geological Survey of Norway, and MAREANO for providing the high-resolution bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, and water column backscatter data used in this study. Thanks also to Edward L. King, Geological Survey of Canada, for his insightful comments on our interpretations of the data, and to two anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped improve the manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Francis Chantel Nixon

    Present address: Department of Geography, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway

    Francis Chantel Nixon, Shyam Chand, Terje Thorsnes & Lilja Rún Bjarnadóttir

Authors
  1. Francis Chantel Nixon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shyam Chand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Terje Thorsnes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lilja Rún Bjarnadóttir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francis Chantel Nixon.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nixon, F.C., Chand, S., Thorsnes, T. et al. A modified gas hydrate-geomorphological model for a new discovery of enigmatic craters and seabed mounds in the Central Barents Sea, Norway. Geo-Mar Lett 39, 191–203 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-019-00567-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-019-00567-1

Search

Navigation