Geochemical Process of Gas Hydrate Formation in the Nankai Trough Based on Chloride and Isotopic Anomalies in Interstitial Water

Abstract: Interstitial water expelled from gas hydrate-bearing and -free sediments in the Nankai Trough are analyzed in terms of Cl-, SO₄²-, δ¹⁸O and δD. The baselines for the Cl- concentration and δ¹⁸O value are close to seawater values (530 mM and 0%), indicating that the interstitial water is of seawater origin. The δD values decrease with depth, implying isotopic exchange of hydrogen between upwelling biogenic methane depleted in D and interstitial water. The Cl- concentrations in gas hydrate-bearing sediments are anomalously low, while the δ¹⁸O and δD values are both high, suggesting that the water forming these gas hydrates was poor in Cl- and enriched in ¹⁸O and D during gas hydrate formation. Calculation of the gas hydrate saturations using Cl "and δ¹⁸O anomalies gives results of up to 80 % in sand, and shows that the δ¹⁸O baseline is not consistent with the Cl" baseline. The δ¹⁸O baseline increases by +1% in gas hydrate-free clay and silt. This is considered to be caused by clustering of water molecules after gas hydrate dissociation in response to the upward migration of the base of gas hydrate stability, as indicated by the presence of a double bottom-simulating reflector at this site. The water clusters enriched in ¹⁸O are responsible for the increase in the δ¹⁸O baseline with normal Cl". The abrupt shallowing of the base of gas hydrate stability may induce the dissociation of gas hydrates and the accumulation of gases in the new stability zone, representing a geological process that increases gas hydrate saturation.     

Petrophysical Properties of Natural Gas Hydrates-Bearing Sands and Their Sedimentology in the Nankai Trough

Abstract. The Nankai Trough parallels the Japanese Island, where extensive BSRs have been interpreted from seismic reflection records. High resolution seismic surveys and drilling site-survey wells conducted by the MTI in 1997, 2001 and 2002 have revealed subsurface gas hydrate at a depth of about 290 mbsf (1235 mbsl) in the easternmost part of Nankai Trough. The MITI Nankai Trough wells were drilled in late 1999 and early 2000 to provide physical evidence for the existence of gas hydrate. During field operations, continuous LWD and wire-line well log data were obtained and numerous gas hydrate-bearing cores were recovered. Subsequence sedimentologic and geochemical analyses performed on the cores revealed important geologic controls on the formation and preservation of natural gas hydrate. This knowledge is crucial to predicting the location of other hydrate deposits and their eventual energy resource. Pore-space gas hydrates reside in sandy sediments from 205 to 268 mbsf mostly filling intergranular porosity. Pore waters chloride anomalies, core temperature depression and core observations on visible gas hydrates confirm the presence of pore-space hydrates within moderate to thick sand layers. Gas hydrate-bearing sandy strata typically were 10 cm to a meter thick. Gas hydrate saturations are typically between 60 and 90 % throughout most of the hydrate-dominant sand layers, which are estimated by well log analyses as well as pore water chloride anomalies.
It is necessary for evaluating subfurface fluid dlow behavious to know both porosity and permeability of gas hydrate-bearing sand to evaluate subsurface fluid flow behaviors. Sediment porosities and pore-size distributions were obtained by mercury porosimetry, which indicate that porosities of gas hydrate-bearing sandy strata are approximately 40 %. According to grain size distribution curves, gas hydrate is dominant in fine- to very fine-grained sandy strata.     

The trans-Pacific Chinook Trough megatrend

The Chinook Trough is a trans-Pacific megatrend. By using heretofore unpublished bathymetry and geophysical data, the trend of the Chinook Trough megatrend has been determined from the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Gulf of Alaska to the Izu-Bonin trench. The feature passes through the Emperor Fracture Zone, intersects the Krusenstern Fracture Zone at the Hess Rise, passes through the Emperor Seamounts, intersects the Mamua Fracture Zone and several unnamed NNW–SSE-trending fractures at the Shatskiy Rise. After an undetermined passage through Nadeshda Basin, it intersects another NNW–SSE-trending fracture zone, Kashima Fracture Zone, at Nelson Guyot, and ends as Uyeda Ridge. Instead of being a trough, the feature is a fracture zone, herein called a megatrend. The feature is colinear to the Mendocino and Clipperton Fracture Zones.     

用测井资料自动评价烃源岩

根据东海油气勘探实际需要，依靠地球物理测井资料使用人工智能的方法，在微机上自动、快速识别评价烃源岩的有机质主度。     

应用6.7μm水汽图像分析一次特大暴雨的大气环境特征

本文所采用的资料是日本GMS-5卫星每天1小时一张的6.7μm水汽图像资料和常规的探空资料，卫星图像资料等，对2000年4月14日发生的一场特大暴雨的大气环境特征进行了分析。分析指出，造成此次特大暴雨主要是由于由副高西侧南支槽和西风槽同位相叠加，造成强烈和持续的深厚水汽输送，使得MCS猛烈发展，带来强降雨。     

中部冲绳海沟及伊豆,小笠原伴随海底热水活动的碳素起源

本文对日本中部冲绳海沟，小笠原弧的水了海山、爱丽斯泉与太平洋中央海岭威玛斯海盆等不同大地构造单元中的热水系，运用Ｃ，Ｎｅ，Ｎ等元素－同位素地球化学方法进行分析，对比和研究，并探讨了热水系中碳氮的来源，为大地构造单元的划分对比，提供了新的地球化学依据。     

Organic Composition of Sulphide Ores in the Okinawa Trough and Its Implications

A preliminary organic geochemical study shows that the sulphide ores from the hydrothermal deposit of the Okinawa Trough are generally low in the total organic carbon and extremely low in the soluble organic matter. In the aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction, the n-alkanes range from C15 to C35, with usual maxima in the middle n-C20 region and strong odd-carbon number predominance when n > C25 (CPI = 1.2). The dominant analog in the aromatic fraction is phenanthrene, a polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon, which provides evidence for hydrothermal activity. The organic matter derived mainly from marine planktonic and terrigenous vascular plants is entrapped in a high-temperature regime such as an active chimney and cooled quickly in the sulphide ores on the seafloor. Organic matter and sulphides are definitely products of a high-temperature alteration. The biomarker compounds indicate that the ores are formed under low Eh and pH conditions-a reducing to anoxic environment, which is favourable for sulphates to be     

MAGMATIC EVOLUTION OF OKINAWA TROUGH DURING ITS EARLY SPREADING STAGE

The Okinawa Trough is different from other typical backarc spreading basins because the acidic vol-canic rock(pumice)is extensively distributed in it.Systematic mineralogical and petrochemical study on arepresentative core(Z14—5)to characterize the magmatic evolution of the Trough during its early spreading stage showed that the pumice magma was originally from the mantle,but underwent full crystallizationdifferentiation and was possibly contaminated by crust-derived material.With time,the acidic volcanic ac-tivities of the Okinawa Trough have an evolutional tendency of shifting to relatively basic magma activity.With further spreading of the Trough the magmatic activity will be intensified and the crust of the Troughwill develop from the transitional type to the oceanic type.     

南沙海槽南部海区表层沉积物的碳酸盐沉积特征

南海的深海碳酸盐沉积及溶解作用包含极其丰富的信息,既由于陆源物质供应而关系到陆地风化作用速度及气候问题,又通过海水生产力和碱度涉及大气CO₂含量的变化[1～2].南沙海槽位于加里曼丹岛西北部大陆坡与南沙台阶之间,构造上处在南沙海槽北断裂和南沙海槽南断裂之间的断堑带,南沙台阶有众多的海山、礁盘与槽谷,东南坡直下南沙海槽,其坡度变化为5°47'-2°23'-1°57'[3].研究区为7°Ｎ以南至曾母暗沙浅滩、112°E以东至加里曼丹岛西北大陆坡的海区,本文称之为南沙海槽南部海区.