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New Zealand’s Gas Hydrate Systems

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World Atlas of Submarine Gas Hydrates in Continental Margins

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Abstract

New Zealand’s large offshore region is dominated by the collision of the Pacific and Australian Plates. Gas hydrates have been identified in three areas: the Hikurangi Margin, the Taranaki and Northland Basins, and the Fiordland-Puysegur Margin. The Hikurangi Margin subduction margin to the east of the North Island stands out, displaying numerous indications of highly-concentrated gas hydrate occurrences. This subduction zone constitutes an environment with high fluid flow and rapidly changing pressure–temperature conditions, leading to anomalies such as the occurrence of double-bottom simulating reflections (BSRs). The Taranaki and Northland Basins west of the North Island is New Zealand’s most prominent petroleum province. So far, however, only limited evidence for hydrate occurrence has been found there. BSRs have also been detected south of the South Island along the Fiordland-Puysegur Margin, an incipient subduction zone. It is likely that gas hydrates are present elsewhere along New Zealand’s vast continental margins.

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Acknowledgements

Several New Zealand, German, US and other international funding agencies have supported the research presented here; most recently, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) contract C05X1708, and the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund Grant NIW1603. GNS Science and NIWA also contributed internal funding (NIWA SSIF). We acknowledge the invaluable support provided by the International Ocean Discovery Program, as well as the captains and crews of R/V Tangaroa, R/V Sonne and D/V JOIDES Resolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Ingo Pecher

  2. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Gareth Crutchley

  3. GNS Science, P O Box 30 368, Lower Hutt, 5040, New Zealand

    Karsten F. Kröger & Jess Hillman

  4. National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA), 301 Evans Bay Parade, Hataitai, 6021, Wellington, New Zealand

    Joshu Mountjoy

  5. Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, 78412, USA

    Richard Coffin

  6. Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    Andrew Gorman

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  1. Ingo Pecher
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  2. Gareth Crutchley
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  3. Karsten F. Kröger
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  4. Jess Hillman
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  5. Joshu Mountjoy
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  6. Richard Coffin
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  7. Andrew Gorman
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Correspondence to Ingo Pecher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CAGE—Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate, Department of Geosciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Jürgen Mienert

  2. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

    Christian Berndt

  3. College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Anne M. Tréhu

  4. National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics—OGS, Sgonico, Trieste, Italy

    Angelo Camerlenghi

  5. National Taiwan University Ocean Center, Taipei, Taiwan

    Char-Shine Liu

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Pecher, I. et al. (2022). New Zealand’s Gas Hydrate Systems. In: Mienert, J., Berndt, C., Tréhu, A.M., Camerlenghi, A., Liu, CS. (eds) World Atlas of Submarine Gas Hydrates in Continental Margins. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81186-0_35

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