Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Seepage of methane at Jaco Scar, a slide caused by seamount subduction offshore Costa Rica

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Methane (CH4) concentrations and CH4 stable carbon isotopic composition (\( \delta^{13} {\text{C}}_{{{\text{CH}}_{4} }} \)) were investigated in the water column within Jaco Scar. It is one of several scars formed by massive slides resulting from the subduction of seamounts offshore Costa Rica, a process that can open up structural and stratigraphical pathways for migrating CH4. The release of large amounts of CH4 into the adjacent water column was discovered at the outcropping lowermost sedimentary sequence of the hanging wall in the northwest corner of Jaco Scar, where concentrations reached up to 1,500 nmol L−1. There CH4-rich fluids seeping from the sedimentary sequence stimulate both growth and activity of a dense chemosynthetic community. Additional point sources supplying CH4 at lower concentrations were identified in density layers above and below the main plume from light carbon isotope ratios. The injected CH4 is most likely a mixture of microbial and thermogenic CH4 as suggested by \( \delta^{13} {\text{C}}_{{{\text{CH}}_{4} }} \) values between −50 and −62 ‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite. This CH4 spreads along isopycnal surfaces throughout the whole area of the scar, and the concentrations decrease due to mixing with ocean water and microbial oxidation. The supply of CH4 appears to be persistent as repeatedly high CH4 concentrations were found within the scar over 6 years. The maximum CH4 concentration and average excess CH4 concentration at Jaco Scar indicate that CH4 seepage from scars might be as significant as seepage from other tectonic structures in the marine realm. Hence, taking into account the global abundance of scars, such structures might constitute a substantial, hitherto unconsidered contribution to natural CH4 sources at the seafloor.

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

Access this article

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
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Badan-Dagon A (1998) Coastal circulation from the Galapagos to the Gulf of California. In: Robinson AR, Brink KH (eds) The sea, vol 11: the global coastal ocean—regional studies and syntheses. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp 315–343

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballance PF, Scholl DW, Vallier TL, Herzer RH (1989) Subduction of a late cretaceous seamount of the Loisville Ridge at the Tonga Trench: a model of normal and accelerated tectonic erosion. Tectonics 8:953–962

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker JF, Fritz P (1981) Carbon isotope fractionation during microbial methane oxidation. Nature 293:289–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernard BB, Brooks JM, Sackett WM (1977) A geochemical model for the characterization of hydrocarbon gas sources in marine sediments. In: Proceedings of offshore technology conference, pp 435–438

  • Bohrmann G, Jung C, Heeschen K, Weinrebe W, Baranov B, Cailleau B, Heath R, Hühnerbach V, Hort M, Masson D, Schaffer I (2002) Widespread fluid expulsion along the seafloor of Costa Rica convergent margin. Terra Nova 14:69–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brueckmann W, Rhein M, Rehder G, Bialas J, Kopf A (2009) SUBFLUX, Cruise No. 66, August 12–December 22, 2005. METEOR-Berichte 09-2. Universitaet Hamburg, Hamburg

  • Cita MB, Woodside JM, Ivanov MK, Kidd RB, Limonov AF, Scientific Staff of Cruise TTR3-Leg2 (1995) Fluid venting from a mud volcano in the Mediterranean Ridge diapiric belt. Terra Nova 7:453–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark J, Washburn L, Hornafius JS, Luyendyk BP (2000) Dissolved hydrocarbon flux from natural marine seeps to the southern California Bight. J Geophys Res 105:11509–11522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman DD, Risatti JB, Schoell M (1981) Fractionation of carbon and hydrogen isotopes by methane-oxidizing bacteria. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 45:1033–1037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collot J-Y, Fisher MA (1989) Formation of forearc basins by collision between seamounts and accretionary wedges: an example from the New Hebrides subduction zone. Geology 17:930–933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cranston RE, Ginsburg GD, Soloviev VA, Lorenson TD (1994) Gas venting and hydrate deposits in the Okhotsk Sea. Bull Geol Soc Den 41:80–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Damm E, Budeus G (2003) Fate of vent-derived methane in seawater above the Håkon Mosby mud volcano (Norwegian Sea). Mar Chem 82:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dia AN, Aquilina L, Boulègue J, Bourgois J, Suess E, Torres M (1993) Origin of fluids and related barite deposits at the vent sites along the Peru convergent margin. Geology 21:1099–1102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etnoyer PJ, Wood J, Shirley TC (2010) How large is the seamount biome? Oceanography 23:206–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faber E, Berner U, Gerling P, Hollerbach A, Stahl WJ, Schroeder HG (1996) Isotopic tracing of methane in water and exchange with the atmosphere. Energy Convers Manag 37:1193–1198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faure G (1986) Principles of isotope geology. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Faure K, Greinert J, Schneider von Deimling J, McGinnis DF, Kipfer R, Linke P (2010) Methane seepage along the Hikurangi margin of New Zealand: geochemical and physical data from the water column, sea surface and atmosphere. Mar Geol 272:170–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felden J, Wenzhöfer F, Feseker T, Boetius A (2010) Transport and consumption of oxygen and methane in different habitats of the Håkon Mosby mud volcano (HMMV). Limnol Oceanogr 55:2366–2380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher CR (1990) Chemoautotrophic and methanotrophic symbioses in marine invertebrates. Aquat Sci 2:399–436

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburg GD, Milkov AV, Soloviev VA, Egorov AV, Cherkashev GA, Vogt PR, Crane K, Lorenson TD, Khutorskoy MD (1999) Gas hydrate accumulation at the Håkon Mosby mud volcano. Geo-Mar Lett 19:57–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant NJ, Whiticar MJ (2002) Stable carbon isotopic evidence for methane oxidation in plumes above Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Oregon Margin. Global Biogeochem Cycles 16(4):71-1–71-13

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasshoff K, Ehrhardt M, Kremling K (1997) Methods of seawater analysis. Verlag Chemie, Gulf Publishing, Houston

    Google Scholar 

  • Haese RR, Meile C, van Cappellen P, de Lange GJ (2003) Carbon geochemistry of cold seeps: methane fluxes and transformation in sediments from Kazan mud volcano, eastern Mediterranean Sea. Earth Planet Sci Lett 212:361–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Happell JD, Chanton JP, Showers WS (1994) The influence of methane oxidation on the stable isotopic composition of methane emitted from Florida swamp forests. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 58:4377–4388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harders R, Ranero C, Weinrebe W, Behrmann JH (2011) Submarine slope failure along the convergent continental margin of the Middle American Trench. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 12:1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heeschen KU, Collier RW, de Angelis MA, Linke P, Suess E, Klinkhammer GP (2005) Methane sources, distributions, and fluxes from cold vent sites at Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Margin. Global Biogeochem Cycles 19:GB2016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry P, Le Pichon X, Lallement S, Lance S, Martin JB, Foucher J-P, Fiala-Medioni A, Rostek F, Guilhaumou N, Pranal V, Castrec M (1996) Fluid flow in and around a mud volcano field seaward of the Barbados accretionary wedge: results from Manon cruise. J Geophys Res 101:20297–20323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornafius JS, Quigley DC, Luyendyk BP (1999) The world’s most spectacular marine hydrocarbon seeps (Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara Channel, California): quantification of emission. J Geophys Res 104:20703–20711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hovland M, Gallagher JW, Clennell MB, Lekvam K (1997) Gas hydrate and free gas volumes in marine sediments: example from the Niger Delta front. Mar Pet Geol 14:245–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hühnerbach V, Masson DG, Bohrmann G, Bull JM, Weinrebe W (2005) Deformation and submarine landsliding caused by seamount subduction beneath the Costa Rican continental margin—new insights from high-resolution sidescan sonar data. Geological Society spec. publ, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Joye SB, Boetius A, Orcutt BN, Montoya JP, Schulz HN, Erickson MJ, Lugo SK (2004) The anaerobic oxidation of methane and sulfate reduction in sediments from Gulf of Mexica cold seeps. Chem Geol 205:219–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judd A, Hovland M (2007) Seabed fluid flow. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Judd AG, Davies G, Wilson J, Holmes R, Baron G, Bryden I (1997) Contributions to atmospheric methane by natural seepages on the U.K. continental shelf. Mar Geol 140:427–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judd AG, Hovland M, Dimitrov LI, Garcia Gil S, Jukes V (2002) The geological methane budget at continental margins and its influence on climate change. Geofluids 2:109–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeling CD (1958) The concentration and isotopic abundances of atmospheric carbon dioxide in rural areas. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 13:322–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeling CD (1961) The concentration and abundance of carbon dioxid in rural and marine air. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 24:277–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King C-Y (1986) Gas geochemistry applied to earthquake prediction: an overview. J Geophys Res 91:12269–12281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopf A, Behrmann JH (2000) Extrusion dynamics of mud volcanoes on the Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex. In: Vendeville B, Mart Y, Vigneresse J-L (eds) From the Artic to the Mediterranean: salt, shale, and igneous diapirs in and around Europe. Journal of the Geological Society, Spec. Publ., London, pp 169–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulm LD, Suess E, Moore JC, Carson B, Lewis BT, Ritger SD, Kadko DC, Thornburg TM, Embley RW, Rugh WD, Massoth GJ, Langseth MG, Cochrane GR, Scamman RL (1986) Oregon subduction zone: venting, fauna, and carbonates. Science 231:561–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kvenvolden KA, Lorenson TD, Reeburgh WS (2001) Attention turns to naturally occuring methane seepage. EOS 82:457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lallemand S, Le Pichon X (1987) Coulomb wedge model applied to the subduction of seamounts in the Japan Trench. Geology 15:1065–1069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lammers S, Suess E (1994) An improved head-space analysis method for methane in seawater. Mar Chem 47:115–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lein A, Vogt P, Crane K, Egorov A, Ivanov M (1999) Chemical and isotopic evidence for the nature of the fluid in CH4-containing sediments of the Håkon Mosby mud volcano. Geo-Mar Lett 19:76–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin AL, Orphan VJ, Rouse GW, Rathburn AE, Ussler W III, Cook GS, Goffredi SK, Perez EM, Waren A, Grupe BM, Chadwick G, Strickrott B (2012) A hydrothermal seep on the Costa Rica margin: middle ground in a continuum of reducing ecosystems. Proc R Soc B. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0205

    Google Scholar 

  • Linke P, Suess E, Torres M, Martens V, Rugh WD, Ziebis W, Kulm LD (1994) In situ measurement of fluid flow from cold seeps at active continental margins. Deep Sea Res Pt I 41:721–739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lückge A, Kastner M, Littke R, Cramer B (2002) Hydrocarbon gas in the Costa Rica subduction zone: primary composition and post-genetic alteration. Org Geochem 33:933–943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mau S, Sahling H, Rehder G, Suess E, Linke P, Soeding E (2006) Estimates of methane output from mud extrusions at the erosive convergent margin off Costa Rica. Mar Geol 225:129–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mau S, Rehder G, Arroyo IG, Gossler J, Suess E (2007) Indications of a link between seismotectonics and CH4 release from seeps off Costa Rica. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 8:Q04003. doi:10.1029/2006GC001326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niemann H, Duarte J, Hensen C, Omoregie E, Magalhaes VH, Elvert M, Pinheiro LM, Kopf A, Boetius A (2006) Microbial methane turnover at mud volcanoes of the Gulf of Cadiz. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 70:5336–5355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nikolovska A, Sahling H, Bohrmann G (2008) Hydroacoustic methodology for detection, localization, and quantification of gas bubbles rising from the seafloor at gas seeps from the Black Sea. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 9. doi:10.1029/2008GC002118

  • Olu K, Duperret A, Sibuet M, Foucher J-P, Fiala-Medioni A (1996a) Structure and distribution of cold seep communities along the Peruvian active margin: relationship to geological and fluid patterns. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 132:109–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olu K, Sibuet M, Harmegnies F, Foucher J-P, Fiala-Medioni A (1996b) Spatial distribution of diverse cold seep communities living on various diapiric structures of the southern Barbados prism. Prog Oceanogr 38:347–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paull CK, Lorenson TD, Borowski WS, Ussler W III, Olsen K, Rodriguez NM (2000) Isotopic composition of CH4, CO2 species, and sedimentary organic matter within samples from the Blake Ridge: Gas source implications. In: Paull CK, Matsumoto R, Wallace PJ, Dillon WP (eds) Proceedings of the ocean drilling program scientific result. Ocean Drilling Program, College Station, TX, pp 67–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranero CR, von Huene R (2000) Subduction erosion along the Middle America convergent margin. Nature 404:748–752

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reeburgh WS (2007) Oceanic methane biogeochemistry. Chem Rev 107:486–513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed DL, Silver EA, Tagudin JE, Shipley TH, Vrolijk P (1990) Relations between mud volcanoes, thrust deformation, slope sedimentation, and gas hydrate, offshore north Panama. Mar Pet Geol 7:44–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehder G, Keir RS, Suess E, Rhein M (1999) Methane in the northern Atlantic controlled by microbial oxidation and atmospheric history. Geophys Res Lett 26:587–590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahling H, Rickert D, Lee RW, Linke P, Suess E (2002) Macrofaunal community structure and sulfide flux at gas hydrate deposits from the Cascadia convergent margin, NE Pacific. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 231:121–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahling H, Bohrmann G, Spiess V, Bialas J, Breitzke M, Ivanov M, Kasten S, Krastel S, Schneider R (2008a) Pockmarks in the Northern Congo Fan area, SW Africa: complex seafloor features shaped by fluid flow. Mar Geol 249:206–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahling H, Masson DG, Ranero C, Huehnerbach V, Weinrebe W, Klaucke I, Buerk D, Brueckmann W, Suess E (2008b) Fluid seepage at the continental margin offshore Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 9:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahling H, Bohrmann G, Artemov YG, Bahr A, Bruening M, Klapp SA, Klaucke I, Kozlova E, Nikolovska A, Pape T, Reitz A, Wallmann K (2009) Vodyanitskii mud volcano, Sorokin trough, Black Sea: geological characterization and quantification of gas bubble streams. Mar Pet Geol 26:1799–1811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauter EJ, Muyakshin SI, Charlou J-L, Schlüter M, Boetius A, Jerosch K, Damm E, Foucher J-P, Klages M (2006) Methane discharge from a deep-sea submarine mud volcano into the upper water column by gas hydrate-coated methane bubbles. Earth Planet Sci Lett 243:354–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schleicher T (2006) Bestimmung von ventspezifischen Faunenvergesellschaftungen am mittelamerikanischen Kontinentalrand mit Hilfe quantitativer Videoauswertung. Diploma thesis, Kiel

  • Schmale O, Beaubien SE, Rehder G, Greinert J, Lombardi S (2010) Gas seepage in the Dnepr paleo-delta area (NW-Black Sea) and its regional impact on the water column methane cycle. J Mar Syst 80:90–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider von Deimling J, Rehder G, Greinert J, McGinnis DF, Boetius A, Linke P (2011) Quantification of seep-related methane gas emissions at Tommeliten, North Sea. Cont Shelf Res 31:876–878

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibuet M, Olu K (1998) Biogeography, biodiversity and fluid dependence of deep-sea cold-seep communities at active and passive margins. Deep Sea Res Pt II 45:517–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soeding E, Wallmann K, Suess E, Flueh E (2003) RV METEOR Cruise Report M54/2+3 Fluids and Subduction Costa Rica 2002, Kiel

  • Staudigel H, Clague DA (2010) The geological history of deep-sea volcanoes. Oceanography 23:58–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suess E, Bohrmann G, von Huene R, Linke P, Wallmann K, Lammers S, Sahling H, Winckler G, Lutz RA, Orange D (1998) Fluid venting in the eastern Aleutian subduction zone. J Geophys Res 103:2597–2614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tissot BP, Welte DH (1984) Petroleum formation and occurrence. Springer, Heidelberg

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Torres ME, Bohrmann G, Suess E (1996) Authigenic barites and flux of barium associated with fluid seeps in the Peru subduction zone. Earth Planet Sci Lett 144:469–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsunogai U, Yoshida N, Ishibashi J, Gamo T (2000) Carbon isotopic distribution of methane in deep-sea hydrothermal plume, Myojin Knoll Caldera, Izu-Bonin arc: implications for microbial methane oxidation in the oceans and applications to heat flux estimation. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 64:2439–2452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valentine DL, Blanton DC, Reeburgh WS, Kastner M (2001) Water column methane oxidation adjacent to an area of active hydrate dissociation, Eel River Basin. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 65:2633–2640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Huene R, Ranero CR, Weinrebe W (2000) Quaternary convergent margin tectonics of Costa Rica, segmentation of the Cocos Plate, and Central American volcanism. Tectonics 19:314–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Rad U, Berner U, Delisle G, Doose-Rolinski H, Fecher N, Linke P, Lückge A, Roeser HA, Schmaljohann R, Wiedicke M, Party SS (2000) Gas and fluid venting at the Makran accretionary wedge off Pakistan. Geo Mar Lett 20:10–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe S, Tsurushima N, Kusakabe M, Tsunogai S (1995) Methane in Izena Cauldron, Okinawa Trough. J Oceanogr 51:239–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinrebe W, Flueh E (2002) RV Sonne, Cruise Report SO 163, Subduction I, Balboa-Caldera-Balboa (March 13–May 21, 2002). GEOMAR Report 106:534

  • Whiticar MJ (1990) A geochemical perspective of natural gas and atmospheric methane. 14th EAOG Mtg. Paris, 1989. In: Durand B, Behar F (eds) Advances in organic geochemistry, 1989. Organic Geochemistry, pp 531–547

  • Whiticar MJ (1996) Isotope tracking of microbial methane formation and oxidation. In: Adams DD, Crill PM, Seitzinger SP (eds) Cycling of reduced gases in the hydrosphere. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (Nägele u. Obermiller), Stuttgart, pp 39–54

  • Whiticar MJ (1999) Carbon and hydrogen isotope systematics of bacterial formation and oxidation of methane. Chem Geol 161:291–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiticar MJ, Faber E (1986) Methane oxidation in sediment and water column environments—isotope evidence. Org Geochem 10:759–768

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiedicke M, Sahling H, Delisle G, Faber E, Neben S, Beiersdorf H, Marchig V, Weiss W, von Mirbach N, Afiat A (2002) Characteristics of an active vent in the fore-arc basin of the Sunda Arc, Indonesia. Mar Geol 184:121–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the scientists, masters, and crews aboard research vessels SONNE and METEOR during cruises SO 163, M 54, SO 173, and M66 for their support, information, and discussion. We are grateful for the many helpful hands during sampling, most of all Karen Stange and Bert Mantzke. Karen Stange provided also shore-based stable carbon isotope analysis. For comments and discussion, we like to thank Robin Keir, Jürgen Gossler, Christian Hensen, Warner Brückmann, Steffen Kutterrolf, Roger Luff, Oliver Bartdorff, and Heidi Wehrmann. This publication is contribution no. 80 of the Sonderforschungsbereich 574 “Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones” at the University of Kiel.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Mau.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 473 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (EPS 15744 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mau, S., Rehder, G., Sahling, H. et al. Seepage of methane at Jaco Scar, a slide caused by seamount subduction offshore Costa Rica. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 103, 1801–1815 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-012-0822-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-012-0822-z

Keywords

Navigation