Discovery of massive seafloor gas seepage along the Wagner Fault, northern Gulf of California

Carles Canet, Rosa María Prol-Ledesma, Paul R. Dando, Viridiana Vázquez-Figueroa, Evgueni Shumilin, Elisabet Birosta, Alberto Sánchez, Carlos J. Robinson, Antoni Camprubí, Esperança Tauler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Large-scale gas seepage and fluid ejection features are described from the edges of the active pull-apart Wagner and Consag basins (northern Gulf of California, Mexico), at water depths between ~. 65 and 150. m. Gas vents, pockmarks, possible mud volcanoes, pyrite- and barite-rich sediments, slabs of lithified shell debris, and chemosynthetic fauna were found. Gas venting occurs mainly through N-S synsedimentary small-scale faults and fault-propagation folds that are believed to derive from the Wagner Fault. The presumed mud volcanoes are sub-rounded, domed bathymetric features, several hundreds of metres across, underlain by gas-charged sediments and surrounded by gas vents. Upward gas migration throughout the thick sedimentary sequence produces the fluid expulsion features on the sea floor.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)292-303
Number of pages12
JournalSedimentary Geology
Volume228
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Barite
  • Bubble seep
  • Chemosynthetic
  • Hydroacoustic flare
  • Mud volcano
  • Rifting

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