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A marine deep-towed DC resistivity survey in a methane hydrate area, Japan Sea  

Goto, Tada-Nori (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC))
Kasaya, Takafumi (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC))
Machiyama, Hideaki (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC))
Takagi, Ryo (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC))
Matsumoto, Ryo (Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo)
Okuda, Yoshihisa (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ), Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment (GREEN))
Satoh, Mikio (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ), Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment (GREEN))
Watanabe, Toshiki (Research Center for Seismology, Volcanology and Disaster Mitigation, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University)
Seama, Nobukazu (Research Center for Inland Seas, Kobe University)
Mikada, Hitoshi (Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University)
Sanada, Yoshinori (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC))
Kinoshita, Masataka (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC))
Publication Information
Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration / v.11, no.1, 2008 , pp. 52-59 More about this Journal
Abstract
We have developed a new deep-towed marine DC resistivity survey system. It was designed to detect the top boundary of the methane hydrate zone, which is not imaged well by seismic reflection surveys. Our system, with a transmitter and a 160-m-long tail with eight source electrodes and a receiver dipole, is towed from a research vessel near the seafloor. Numerical calculations show that our marine DC resistivity survey system can effectively image the top surface of the methane hydrate layer. A survey was carried out off Joetsu, in the Japan Sea, where outcrops of methane hydrate are observed. We successfully obtained DC resistivity data along a profile ${\sim}3.5\;km$ long, and detected relatively high apparent resistivity values. Particularly in areas with methane hydrate exposure, anomalously high apparent resistivity was observed, and we interpret these high apparent resistivities to be due to the methane hydrate zone below the seafloor. Marine DC resistivity surveys will be a new tool to image sub-seafloor structures within methane hydrate zones.
Keywords
DC resistivity survey; methane hydrate; deep-towed system; high apparent resistivity; piston coring;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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