The role of giant drifts as gas hydrate reservoirs on the Argentine contourite depositional system

• F. Javier Hernández-Molina ^[1] ; Luis Somoza ^[2] ; C. Marcelo Paterlini ^[4] ; Roberto Violante ^[4] ; Michele Rebesco ^[3] ; Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben ^[5] ; M. Alejandra Arecco ^[6] ; Martin de Isasi ^[6]
  1. [1] Universidade de Vigo

     Universidade de Vigo

     Vigo, España

     
  2. [2] Instituto Geológico y Minero de España

     Instituto Geológico y Minero de España

     Madrid, España

     
  3. [3] National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics

     National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics

     Trieste, Italia

     
  4. [4] Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (SHN)
  5. [5] Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Foundation for Polar and Marine Research Geophysics
  6. [6] Argentine National Commission of the Outer Limit of the Continental Shelf (COPLA)

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• Localización: Geotemas (Madrid), ISSN 1576-5172, Nº. 11, 2010 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Deep-Water Circulation: Processes & Products. International Congress. Baitona, Pontevedra, Spain. 16 & 17 June 2010), págs. 71-72
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Partially buried drifts are located in the southern-most sector of the Argentine margin. They are characterised as giant, asymmetrical elongated, mounded contourite drifts, and are described by bathymetric and multichannel seismic reflection profiles data. They were generated by Antarctic Bottom Deep Water, from the Eocene-Oligocene boundary until the middle Miocene. However, after a major palaeoceanographic change in the mid-to-late Miocene, a new oceanographic scenario was established which fossilised these drifts. These giant-drifts show seismic evidence of hydrates and free gas that are ripe for energy resources exploration, thus demonstrating the economic potential of contourite deposits in deep marine environments.