Gas hydrate dissociation during sea‐level highstand inferred from U/Th dating of seep carbonate from the South China Sea

Type Article
Date 2019-12
Language English
Author(s) Chen Fang1, Wang Xudong2, 3, 4, 5, Li Niu3, Cao Jun1, Bayon Germain4, Peckmann Jörn6, Hu Yu7, Gong Shanggui7, Cheng Hai8, 9, Edwards R. Lawrence8, Ning Youfeng9, Jin Meng3, 5, Huang Huiwen3, 5, Wu Cong1, Sun Yuedong3, 5, Chen Hong1, Zhou Yang1, Chen Duofu2, 7, Feng Dong2, 7
Affiliation(s) 1 : MNR Key Laboratory of Marine Mineral Resources, Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Ministry of Natural Resources Guangzhou Guangdong ,China
2 : Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology Qingdao ,China
3 : CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou ,China
4 : IFREMER, Marine Geosciences Unit F‐29280 Plouzané, France
5 : University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
6 : Institute for Geology, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Universität Hamburg Hamburg ,Germany
7 : Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hadal Science and Technology, College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University Shanghai ,China
8 : Department of Earth Sciences University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN, USA
9 : Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an, China
Source Geophysical Research Letters (0094-8276) (American Geophysical Union (AGU)), 2019-12 , Vol. 46 , N. 23 , P. 13928-13938
DOI 10.1029/2019GL085643
WOS© Times Cited 32
Keyword(s) methane seep gas hydrate seep carbonate
Abstract

Gas hydrates represent a huge reservoir of methane in marine sediments, prone to dissociation in response to environmental changes. There is consensus that past events of gas hydrate dissociation in the marine environment mainly occurred during periods of low sea‐level. Here, we report geochemical data for two meter‐thick layers of seep carbonate collected from a hydrate‐bearing drill core from ~800 m water depth in the northern South China Sea. The aragonite‐rich carbonates reveal positive δ18O values, confirming a genetic link with gas hydrate dissociation. Uranium‐thorium dating of seep carbonates indicates that gas hydrates at the study site dissociated between 133,300 and 112,700 yr BP, hence coinciding with the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e) sea level highstand. We put forward the concept that a climate‐driven increase in temperature was responsible for a period of pronounced gas hydrate dissociation.

Plain Language Summary

The gas hydrate reservoir is a dynamically changing system extremely susceptible to variations of seafloor temperature and pressure. Therefore, gas hydrate dissociation and subsequent methane seepage frequently occur during times of global climate change, especially during sea level lowstands with reduced seabed pressure. However, this conclusion was mainly based on dating of seep carbonates sampled from the seabed. As a consequence, one cannot exclude that previous results have been compromised by a sampling bias since seafloor samples are easier to collect. Authigenic seep carbonates from drill cores represent a continuous record of gas hydrate dynamics. Our uranium‐thorium dating of seep carbonate from drill cores provides a unique example of the effects of temperature and pressure on the stability of the hydrate system in the Dongsha area, northern South China Sea (SCS), during the last interglacial stage (MIS 5e, about 130,000 years BP). Representing the most similar and most contemporary analogue to the current interglacial, the study of a methane release event in the SCS during MIS 5e will shed light on the expected trend of methane release events in the future, while providing insight into the response of low latitude oceans to climate change.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Supporting Information S1 22 1 MB Open access
Publisher's official version 20 14 MB Open access
Top of the page

How to cite 

Chen Fang, Wang Xudong, Li Niu, Cao Jun, Bayon Germain, Peckmann Jörn, Hu Yu, Gong Shanggui, Cheng Hai, Edwards R. Lawrence, Ning Youfeng, Jin Meng, Huang Huiwen, Wu Cong, Sun Yuedong, Chen Hong, Zhou Yang, Chen Duofu, Feng Dong (2019). Gas hydrate dissociation during sea‐level highstand inferred from U/Th dating of seep carbonate from the South China Sea. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(23), 13928-13938. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085643 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00593/70555/