한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
- 2005.06a
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- Pages.663-666
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- 2005
Drilling Gas Hydrate at Hydrate Ridge, ODP Leg 204
Abstract
Gas hydrates are ice-like compounds that form at the low temperature and high pressure conditions common in shallow marine sediments at water depths greater than 300-500 m when concentrations of methane and other hydrocarbon gases exceed saturation. Estimates of the total mass of methane carbon that resides in this reservoir vary widely. While there is general agreement that gas hydrate is a significant component of the global near-surface carbon budget, there is considerable controversy about whether it has the potential to be a major source of fossil fuel in the future and whether periods of global climate change in the past can be attributed to destabilization of this reservoir. Also essentially unknown is the interaction between gas hydrate and the subsurface biosphere. ODP Leg 204 was designed to address these questions by determining the distribution, amount and rate of formation of gas hydrate within an accretionary ridge and adjacent basin and the sources of gas for forming hydrate. Additional objectives included identification of geologic proxies for past gas hydrate occurrence and calibration of remote sensing techniques to quantify the in situ amount of gas hydrate that can be used to improve estimates where no boreholes exist. Leg 204 also provided an opportunity to test several new techniques for sampling, preserving and measuring gas hydrates. During ODP Leg 204, nine sites were drilled and cored on southern Hydrate Ridge, a topographic high in the accretionary complex of the Cascadia subduction zone, located approximately 80km west of Newport, Oregon. Previous studies of southern Hydrate Ridge had documented the presence of seafloor gas vents, outcrops of massive gas hydrate, and a pinnacle' of authigenic carbonate near the summit. Deep-towed sidescan data show an approximately