The base of the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) is a critical interface, providing a first-order estimate of gas hydrate distribution. Sensitivity to thermobaric conditions makes its prediction challenging particularly in the regions with dynamic pressure-temperature regime. In Green Canyon in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Block GC955), the seismically inferred base of the GHSZ is 450 meters (1476 ...

In order to establish a baseline for proxy-based reconstructions for the Young Sound–Tyrolerfjord system (Northeast Greenland), we analysed the spatial distribution of primary production and sea ice proxies in surface sediments from the fjord, against monitoring data from the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring Programme. Clear spatial gradients in organic carbon and biogenic silica contents reflected ...

The variability of Arctic sea-ice during abrupt stadial-interstadial shifts in the last glacial period remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the millennial-scale relationship, with a focus on Heinrich Stadials (HS), between sea-ice cover and bottom water temperature (BWT) during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 and 2 (64–13 ka) in the Fram Strait using new molecular sea ice biomarker data and ...

Trough mouth fans (TMF) situated at the mouths of formerly glaciated cross-shelf troughs are important paleoclimatic archives. Whereas the sedimentary processes of large, low-gradient TMFs have received considerable interest, little attention has been paid to the other end member of this landform class, i.e. TMFs with higher slope gradients. Detailed swath-bathymetric data and seismic profiles from ...

The geological evolution of the northern Barents Shelf is complex, and the area has undergone several phases of tectonic activity leading to a mosaic of several deep and shallow basins, platforms, salt-cored domes and structural highs. The area is highly gas prone with some very few commercial oil discoveries, and only two fields currently in production. Deep burial and subsequent Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic ...

The Arctic Ocean subseabed holds vast reservoirs of the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH₄), often seeping into the ocean water column. In a continuously warming ocean as a result of climate change an increase of CH₄ seepage from the seabed is hypothesized. Today, CH₄ is largely retained in the water column due to the activity of methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) that ...

Sediment transport and the potential for erosion or deposition have been investigated on the Palos Verdes (PV) and San Pedro shelves in southern California to help assess the fate of an effluent-affected deposit contaminated with DDT and PCBs. Bottom boundary layer measurements at two 60-m sites in spring 2004 were used to set model parameters and evaluate a one-dimensional (vertical) model of local, ...

Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) offers a novel retrospective approach to reconstructing the history of marine ecosystems over geological timescales. Until now, the biological proxies used to reconstruct paleoceanographic and paleoecological conditions were limited to organisms whose remains are preserved in the fossil record. The development of ancient DNA analysis techniques substantially expands ...

The oldest part of the upper Riphean (Cryogenian) sedimentary succession of the Varanger Peninsula, North Norway, includes a series of sandstone-dominated units of fluvio-deltaic to shallow-marine origin and thinner, intercalated mudstone-rich units. The sedimentology and stratigraphic understanding of the mudstone-rich units are less complete compared to their sandstone-dominated counterparts. In ...

Paleokarst breccias are a common feature of sedimentary rift basins. The Billefjorden Trough in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is an example of such a rift. Here the Carboniferous stratigraphy exhibits intervals of paleokarst breccias formed by gypsum dissolution. In this study we integrate digital outcrop models (DOMs) with a 2D ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey to extrapolate external ...