Timescales of methane seepage on the Norwegian margin following collapse of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet

Antoine Crémière (), Aivo Lepland (), Shyam Chand, Diana Sahy, Daniel J. Condon, Stephen R. Noble, Tõnu Martma, Terje Thorsnes, Simone Sauer and Harald Brunstad
Additional contact information
Antoine Crémière: Marine Geology, Geological Survey of Norway
Aivo Lepland: Marine Geology, Geological Survey of Norway
Shyam Chand: Marine Geology, Geological Survey of Norway
Diana Sahy: British Geological Survey
Daniel J. Condon: British Geological Survey
Stephen R. Noble: British Geological Survey
Tõnu Martma: Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology
Terje Thorsnes: Marine Geology, Geological Survey of Norway
Simone Sauer: Marine Geology, Geological Survey of Norway
Harald Brunstad: Lundin Norway AS

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Gas hydrates stored on continental shelves are susceptible to dissociation triggered by environmental changes. Knowledge of the timescales of gas hydrate dissociation and subsequent methane release are critical in understanding the impact of marine gas hydrates on the ocean–atmosphere system. Here we report a methane efflux chronology from five sites, at depths of 220–400 m, in the southwest Barents and Norwegian seas where grounded ice sheets led to thickening of the gas hydrate stability zone during the last glaciation. The onset of methane release was coincident with deglaciation-induced pressure release and thinning of the hydrate stability zone. Methane efflux continued for 7–10 kyr, tracking hydrate stability changes controlled by relative sea-level rise, bottom water warming and fluid pathway evolution in response to changing stress fields. The protracted nature of seafloor methane emissions probably attenuated the impact of hydrate dissociation on the climate system.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11509 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11509

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11509

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().