http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~
Focused ongoing fluid effluent from the sediment into
the ocean generates a structure known as a mud volcano.
Approximately 1800 mud volcanoes have been discovered
around the world, above and below sea level, mostly in a belt
beginning in the Mediterranean Sea and winding across Asia
to Indonesia (Dimitrov, 2002). Submarine mud volcanoes
are often associated with methane hydrates......The tendency for slope failure can be amplified if the sediment
accumulates so quickly that the excess high porosity
of surface sediments cannot be squeezed out. This can
lead to instability of the sediment column, causing periodic
Storegga-type landslides off the coast of Norway (see below),
in the Mediterranean Sea (Rothwell et al., 2000) and
potentially off the East coast of the United States (Dugan and
Flemings, 2000).Climate Treaty
http://www.euractiv.com/en/
"Scientists have predicted that as ocean temperatures rise as a result of climate change, methane hydrates would begin to break down at greater depths. But the fact that the process has begun already surprised the team."
(they are not surprised they have known this since the 90's see the "Bush Hill" and "Caspian Sea" documents below)
K-T Event
http://www.energybulletin.net/
Recently BP-Amoco discovered how to bring these frozen fireballs to the surface intact...
...Ever since the discovery of these hydrates one of the big questions has been "can we mine them without triggering a disaster that makes the K-T event look mild by comparison"?
(21 Feb 2007)
(The K-T event was the Cretacious Tertiary extinction event in the geological record.)
Bush Hill document
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/
Methane fluxes from the surface ocean (mixed layer) to the atmosphere at the three seep sites in the Gulf of Mexico have been computed using air-sea gas exchange models presented in Wannikof (1992) and Wannikof and McGillis (1999)...
...The areas affected by seepage where gas hydrate is found are often on the order of a square kilometer or more......Side scan sonar, and satellite remote sensing (Figure 12) were used to detect thelocations where escaping gas reaches the sea surface to carefully determine the number of
gas vents at a “typical” seep (De Beukelaer et al., 2003).
The main objective of our attempts to quantify CH4 flux into the atmosphere at Bush Hilland vicinity and extrapolate it over the entire Gulf of Mexico basin was to asses the contribution of this oceanic basin methane source to the atmosphere.
If significant, it would be important to conduct similar studies at other regions with active methane seeps and natural oil, such as the Sea of Okhotsk, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea, in order to better constrain/quantify the flux of oceanic methane to the atmosphere.
Caspian Sea (Iran)
The original link I found to this info has been blocked but I found an html version saved by google. Can you see why Saudi Arabia urged the US to start a war with Iran which borders the Caspian?
The presence of both thermogenic and biogenic gas, identified from coring at the seafloor, suggests that gas hydrates in the South Caspian Sea may be stable in water depths as shallow as~150 m, much shallower than other areas reported worldwide.
The maximum predicted thickness is 1300 m, considerably
thicker than other known hydrate occurrences. Accumulation of these hydrates near the base of the continental rise appears to control a large region (>200 sq. km) of shallow deformation, including shallow faulting evident on the detailed bathymetry of the seafloor. The gas hydrates of the South Caspian region prove to be widespread features of the deepwater of the South Caspian Sea, buried deposits well beneath the seafloor, and accordingly, they may represent significant and previously underestimated geo-hazards.
Primary among these hazards are (1) uncontrolled release of free gas trapped beneath the hydrate seal, (2) disruption of the gass hydrate stability field leading to either explosive dissociation of the gas hydrate, or reduction in sediment strength, and (3) slope instability, and mass sediment transport. The association of gas hydrates with active mud volcanoes in the South Caspian Sea increases the potential for offshore flaming eruptions.
Korea
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
(same day as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico same day S. Korea claimed the island of Dokdo in 1953 Dokdo is the island Japan and China both want which is surrounded by methane hydrate. You can bet the US wants it too and is behind this conflict between N and S Korea. The US left ownership of the island in question at the end of the Korean conflict as a loophole to start another war.)
Methane has scent of potential
SINGAPORE — Starting this month and extending through May, South Korea will resume exploratory drilling in waters off its east coast to find out whether a long-hidden energy resource can be turned into a new wellspring of natural gas. Other major energy users and importers, including the United States, China, Japan and India, are in the midst of similar research and development programs to unlock what they hope will be a treasure trove of methane hydrates on land and at sea. All of them aim to be in commercial production by 2020 at the latest.
A team of Russian, American and Swedish scientists last month reported that a relatively shallow section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of gas hydrate is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of methane into the atmosphere. However, it is not clear whether these emissions are new and are being triggered by the increasing temperature of bottom waters, or whether they have been there unnoticed for decades or longer.
And Finally here is the sickening truth of why America really attacked Afghanistan. Do people in Italy think 911 was a professional demolition designed by our own leaders to justify economic acquisition in Afghanistan and Iraq? I do, especially after I watched a documentary that showed the Pentagon before the roof collapsed and the news started filming it. The hole they claim a jetliner went through was only 15 feet wide before the roof collapsed and the cameras pointed at it.
This survey of Afghan mineral wealth was conducted in the 80's and 90's. Many people in the US are stupid, but some of us know what kind of evil we are ruled by. That is why I was not offended at all when you suggested American wars are rich bastards getting richer while Americans like me get poorer. I know it is true. Thank you for your time in reading all this please pass it on. People need to know what is really driving all the bloodshed.
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