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A rock magnetic perspective of gas hydrate occurrences in a high-energy depositional system in the Krishna-Godavari basin, Bay of Bengal

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Abstract

We conducted a detailed rock magnetic study complemented by sedimentological and mineralogical methods on a 177.2-m-long sediment core of Hole NGHP-01-14A to constrain the influence of high-energy depositional environment on the magnetic mineral diagenesis and formation of gas hydrates in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin, Bay of Bengal. Five sediment magnetic zones were identified based on the downcore variation in rock magnetic parameters. The magnetic mineralogies comprised of detrital titanomagnetite, diagenetically formed magnetic iron sulfides and their mixture. A distinct magnetically enhanced zone (Z-3) close to a bottom simulating reflector (BSR) is dominated by higher magnetite content, sediment bulk density, and grain size and probably represents several sand-rich sediment layers formed as a result of short-duration intense sedimentation events and got rapidly buried and provided conducive environment for the formation of gas hydrate deposits at the studied site. The concurrence of gas hydrates and high gas saturations within the sand-rich layers (Z-3) suggests that the high-energy depositional environment had a larger control over hydrate formation at Hole NGHP-01-14A. Two magnetic iron sulfide bearing sediment intervals in Z-1b and Z-1c below sulfate-methane transition zone (SMTZ) suggest that their formation is controlled by microbially mediated diagenetic reactions fuelled by presence of gas hydrates and probably represents the fossil gas hydrate zones. We propose that the rock magnetic variations in the studied sediment core at Hole NGHP-01-14A is controlled by both differential loading of detrital magnetic minerals as well as hydrate-induced late diagenetic magnetic iron sulfide formation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Directors of CSIR-NIO, NIOT, NCAOR, advisor MOES and NGHP (India) for supporting this work. The National Gas Hydrate Program coordinated by DGH is thanked for providing sediment samples from Indian National Gas Hydrate Expedition 01 for this study. This study was funded by SERB-DST, Government of India, under the scheme “Early Career Research Award (DST no. ECR/2016/000528) to Dr. Firoz Badesab. We thank A. Mazumdar and T. Ramprasad for their suggestions. Prem Piyush Panda, Aarbaz Khan, Areef Sardar, Girish Prabhu, Shrikanth and Kaveri Salunke are thanked for providing assistance with magnetic, XRD and SEM-EDS analyses at CSIR-NIO. We thank Rahul Mohan, A. Prajith, Shahina Gazi and Abhishek Tyagi from NCPOR, Vasco, Goa, India, for providing assistance to carry out grain size and SEM-EDS analyses. We also thank Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, India for providing permission to carry out specialized rock magnetic measurements. We thank the editor (Andrew Green) and reviewers for the valuable comments/suggestions which have improved the quality of the manuscript. The data used in this study can be made available upon email request to the corresponding author (firoz@nio.org). The authors declare no conflicts of interests. This is the contribution of a CSIR-NIO with publication no. 6513.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR - National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, 403004, India

    Firoz Badesab, Pawan Dewangan & Virsen Gaikwad

  2. Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, 576104, India

    Joju George Sebastian

  3. CSIR–National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500007, India

    M. Venkateshwarlu

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  1. Firoz Badesab
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  2. Pawan Dewangan
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Key points

• Delineate the control of high-energy depositional environment on the methane-influenced magnetic mineral diagenesis and formation of gas hydrates in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin, Bay of Bengal.

• Rock magnetic variations at Hole NGHP-01-14A is controlled by both differential loading of detrital magnetic minerals as well as hydrate-induced late diagenetic magnetic iron sulfide formation.

• Concurrence of gas hydrates and high gas saturations within the sand-rich layers suggests that the high energy depositional environment had a larger control over hydrate formation at Hole NGHP-01-14A.

• A conceptual model explaining the evolution of magnetic mineralogies controlled by gas hydrate dynamics (formation/dissociation), diagenetic processes, and differential sediment supply is developed.

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Badesab, F., Dewangan, P., Gaikwad, V. et al. A rock magnetic perspective of gas hydrate occurrences in a high-energy depositional system in the Krishna-Godavari basin, Bay of Bengal. Geo-Mar Lett 40, 525–539 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-020-00646-8

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