Large‐scale elongated gas blowouts along the U.S. Atlantic margin

Abstract

In May 2000 we surveyed a series of en echelon, asymmetric depressions along the outer shelf off Virginia and North Carolina using high‐resolution chirp and side‐scan sonar. The features, which are elongated parallel to the shelf edge and have steep landward walls, are ∼4 km long, 1 km wide, and up to 50 m deep. On the basis of internal stratal geometry interpreted from chirp profiles, the depressions do not appear to result from simple, down‐to‐the‐east, normal displacement along deep‐seated faults or structure. Rather, the depressions seem to have been excavated primarily by gas expulsion, creating large‐scale asymmetric gas escape structures that have been termed “gas blowouts.” Gas appears to have been trapped beneath a shelf edge delta that is a few tens of meters thick and exhibits internal soft sediment deformation suggestive of progressive downslope (seaward) creep. These new data suggest the blowouts occurred when thin‐skinned deformation and creep of the surficial deltaic sediment layers combined with updip/upslope gas migration, ultimately leading to gas pressure in excess of the overburden. The location of the expulsion craters along the shelf edge and their elongated, asymmetric shapes strongly suggests a causal relation between the downslope creep of the delta and the expulsion event. We suggest a positive feedback between upward migration of gas‐rich fluids through the low‐stand delta and the downslope creep processes. While the complex interplay between differential permeability, overpressure, and upslope fluid migration remains poorly understood, we suggest such interactions may play an important role in controlling slope stability.