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Römer, Miriam; Sahling, Heiko; Pape, Thomas; Spieß, Volkhard; Bohrmann, Gerhard (2012): Gas bubble emissions from submarine hydrocarbon seeps at the Makran continental margin (offshore Pakistan) [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.802141, Supplement to: Römer, M et al. (2012): Quantification of gas bubble emissions from submarine hydrocarbon seeps at the Makran continental margin (offshore Pakistan). Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 117, C10015, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JC007424

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Abstract:
Evidence for twelve sites with gas bubble emissions causing hydroacoustic anomalies in 18 kHz echosounder records ('flares') was obtained at the convergent Makran continental margin. The hydroacoustic anomalies originating from hydrocarbon seeps at water depths between 575 and 2870 m disappeared after rising up to 2000 m in the water column. Dives with the remotely operated vehicle 'Quest 4000 m' revealed that several individual bubble vents contributed to one hydroacoustic anomaly. Analyzed gas samples suggest that bubbles were mainly composed of methane of microbial origin. Bubble size distributions and rise velocities were determined and the volume flux was estimated by counting the emitted bubbles and using their average volume. We found that a low volume flux (Flare 1 at 575 mbsl: 90 ml/min) caused a weak hydroacoustic signal in echograms whereas high volume fluxes (Flare 2 at 1027 mbsl: 1590 ml/min; Flare 5 C at 2870 mbsl: 760 ml/min) caused strong anomalies. The total methane bubble flux in the study area was estimated by multiplying the average methane flux causing a strong hydroacoustic anomaly in the echosounder record with the total number of equivalent anomalies. An order-of-magnitude estimate further considers the temporal variability of some of the flares, assuming a constant flux over time, and allows a large range of uncertainty inherent to the method. Our results on the fate of bubbles and the order-of-magnitude estimate suggest that all of the ?40 ± 32 ? 106 mol methane emitted per year within the gas hydrate stability zone remain in the deep ocean.
Project(s):
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM)
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 24.082727 * Median Longitude: 63.258292 * South-bound Latitude: 21.843030 * West-bound Longitude: 61.387500 * North-bound Latitude: 24.903900 * East-bound Longitude: 65.607983
Date/Time Start: 2007-10-08T12:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2007-11-22T13:00:00
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
4 datasets

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Datasets listed in this publication series

  1. Römer, M; Sahling, H; Pape, T et al. (2012): Track of METEOR cruise M74/2 with links to navigation files in 10 sec interval. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.784353
  2. Römer, M; Sahling, H; Pape, T et al. (2012): Subbottom and water column data recorded with Parasound echo sounder on METEOR cruise M74/2 in October 2007 at the Makran Continental Margin, offshore Pakistan. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.784346
  3. Römer, M; Sahling, H; Pape, T et al. (2012): Track of METEOR cruise M74/3 with links to navigation files in 2 min interval. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.782955
  4. Römer, M; Sahling, H; Pape, T et al. (2012): Profile of sediment echo sounding during METEOR cruise M74/3 with links to ParaSound data files. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.782961