Abstract
This study presents the results from recent intense marine geophysical surveys conducted offshore of southwestern Taiwan. Mud volcanoes and gassy sediments have been identified along chirp sonar and seismic reflection profile data. The distribution of gassy sediments and mud volcanoes has been compiled, showing these features extending from the accretionary wedge to the passive China continental margin. Submarine mud volcanoes could be grouped into four main clusters in the accretionary wedge province: offshore Kaohsiung, adjacent to the Kaoping Submarine Canyon, near the head of the Fangliao Submarine Canyon and along the Yung-An Lineament. Each cluster is composed of a few to more than 10 submarine mud volcanoes. Their origin could be related to gas hydrate dissociation with rising highpressure fluid along faults or mud diapir piercing the seafloor. These gassy sediments and mud volcanoes could be formed by fluids escaping from dewatering sedimentary layers of mud diapirs, or along faults and fractures where free gases or gases dissociating from hydrates migrate to the seafloor.
Highlights
The occurrence of gassy sediments and submarine mud volcanoes has been reported in both coastal and deep-water environments (Yun et al 1999; Fleischer et al 2001; Lee and Chough 2003)
This paper presents the results of our efforts to map the distribution of gassy sediments and submarine mud volcanoes offshore southwestern Taiwan that appear in different geological settings, including shelf, slope, submarine canyons, intra-slope basins and deep-sea basins
Two distribution patterns are observed in the study area: in the passive China continental margin province, most mud volcanoes are observed on slope ridges, especially in a centralized area around 22°05’N, 119°11’E; while in the accretionary wedge province, approximately 70% of the mud volcanoes are distributed in the Kaoping Shelf and upper Kaoping Slope
Summary
The occurrence of gassy sediments and submarine mud volcanoes has been reported in both coastal and deep-water environments (Yun et al 1999; Fleischer et al 2001; Lee and Chough 2003). Gassy sediments and submarine mud volcanoes are the most common pathways that methane, the predominant gas in marine sediments, migrates from the seabed into the atmosphere (Dimitrov 2002). They become increasingly important in global studies of gas hydrates and climate change
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