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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 90, No. 5 (May 2006), P. 701-713.

Copyright copy2006. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/11170505089

Methane and hydrogen sulfide seepage in the northwest Peloponnesus petroliferous basin (Greece): Origin and geohazard

Giuseppe Etiope,1 George Papatheodorou,2 Dimitris P. Christodoulou,3 George Ferentinos,4 Efthimios Sokos,5 Paolo Favali6

1INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), Sezione Roma 2, Italy; [email protected]
2Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece
3Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece
4Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece
5Seismological Laboratory, Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece
6INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), Sezione Roma 2, Italy

ABSTRACT

Gas seepages along the Ionian coast of the northwestern Peloponnesus (Greece), at Killini, Katakolo, and Kaiafas reflect deep hydrocarbon-generation processes and represent a real hazard for humans and buildings. Methane microseepage, gas concentration in offshore and onshore vents, and gas dissolved in water springs, including the isotopic analysis of methane, have shown that the seeps are caused by thermogenic methane that had accumulated in Mesozoic limestone and had migrated upward through faults, or zones of weakness, induced by salt diapirism. A link between local seismicity and salt tectonics is suggested by the analyses of hypocenter distribution. Methane acts as a carrier gas for hydrogen sulfide produced by thermal sulfate reduction and/or thermal decomposition of sulfur compounds in kerogen or oil. Methane seeps in potentially explosive amounts, and hydrogen sulfide is over the levels necessary to induce toxicological diseases and lethal effects.

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