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Hydrocarbon gases in seafloor sediments of the TATAR strait, the northern sea of Japan

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Abstract

The distributions of hydrocarbon gases (HCGs) from C1-C5 in seafloor sediments of the South Tatar sedimentary basin (northern Sea of Japan) were obtained during five research cruises from 2012 to 2017. As a result of this work, areas of gas hydrates, gas flares, and anomalous gas concentrations were discovered. The concentration of HCGs in seafloor sediment, as determined by the “headspace method” varied from 0.38 to 149,000 ppm, with a median of 177 ppm (N = 1420). The median values of HCGs for the Western, Central, and Eastern part of the South Tatar sedimentary basin are 11.7, 99, and 1134 ppm, respectively. Maximum values and gradients in concentrations of HCGs were found in the central and eastern parts of Tatar Strait, where multiple cores contain gas hydrates and gas-saturated sediments. The predominant gas component in all samples was methane, but relatively high concentrations of ethane (up to 789 ppm) and propane (up to 111 ppm) occur. Methane concentrations below 5.25 ppm can be considered as regional background for near seafloor (0–15 cm) sediments from the South Tatar sedimentary basin. The С1/(С2 + С3) ratio across all samples ranges between 2.6 and 345,000, with a median value of 219. The presence of a large-scale degassing zone exists in the northeastern part of Tatar Strait, which coincides with areas of gas hydrates and gas anomalies in the sediments and gas flares in the water column.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all our colleagues from the laboratory of gas geochemistry POI FEB RAS, who in various years participated in expeditionary works. Special gratitude to Olga Vereshchagina, Natalya Pestrikova, Elena Maltseva, and Nadezhda Syrbu for performing high-quality chromatographic analysis; Alexander Salomatin (POI) for high-quality hydro-acoustic survey; and Maxim Valitov (POI) for organizing of the expedition OP-54 (2017) and bathymetric survey of the water area. We appreciate to Alexander Derkachev (POI) for proffessional geological sampling. We are very grateful to Glen Snyder for constructive commentary. We appreciate to our colleagues Hitoshi Shoji, Hirotsugu Minami, Akihiro Hachikubo (Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan), Young K. Jin (KOPRI, South Korea), and Boris Baranov (IO RAS, Russia) for many years of joint collaborations in the field of study of gas hydrates in the Far Eastern seas. We also acknowledge the captains and crews of R/V Akademik M.A. Lavrentyev and Akademik Oparin for assistance during expedition works.

Funding

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) grant No. 18–35-00047.

The research is performed within the state basic research programs: № 0271-2019-0006 “Gas-geochemical fields of the seas of Eastern Asia, geodynamic processes and natural gas flux, which influence the formation of geological structures with hydrocarbon deposits and authigenic mineralization in the seafloor sediments”.

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  1. V.I.Il’ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, POI FEB RAS, 43 Baltiyskaya St., 690041, Vladivostok, Russia

    Andrey Yatsuk, Renat Shakirov, Alexander Gresov & Anatoly Obzhirov

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  1. Andrey Yatsuk
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Correspondence to Andrey Yatsuk.

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Yatsuk, A., Shakirov, R., Gresov, A. et al. Hydrocarbon gases in seafloor sediments of the TATAR strait, the northern sea of Japan. Geo-Mar Lett 40, 481–490 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-019-00628-5

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