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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
DOI: 10.1306/06022120134
Methane migration mechanisms for the Green Canyon Block 955
gas
hydrate reservoir, northern Gulf of Mexico
gas
hydrate reservoir, northern Gulf of MexicoLi Wei,1 Ann Cook,2 and Kehua You3
1School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; present address: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York; [email protected]
2School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; [email protected]
3Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; [email protected]
ABSTRACT
In marine continental margins, high saturations of natural
gas
hydrate are observed within the
gas
hydrate stability zone, but the
gas
migration pathways to the hydrate reservoir are not commonly clear. We focus on a site in Green Canyon Block 955 (GC 955) in the Gulf of Mexico, where
gas
hydrate occurs in a 35-m-thick reservoir with saturations of 79%–93% in numerous centimeter- to decimeter-thick sandy silt layers and little to no
gas
hydrate in the interbedded centimeter- to decimeter-thick clayey silt layers. Different
data
sets (well logging, coring, and seismic
data
) suggest different types of potential methane migration mechanisms. For example, relatively high particulate organic carbon content in the reservoir and the microbial methane source indicated by
gas
chromatography and methane isotopes suggest
gas
might be made locally and migration could occur through dissolved methane sources or water advection. In contrast, the visible deeply rooted faults intersecting the
gas
hydrate reservoir and the
gas
pockets adjacent to the faults on seismic
data
suggest that free
gas
may migrate directly into the reservoir. We tested three different mechanisms to form
gas
hydrate at GC 955: short-range methane diffusion, short-range methane diffusion coupled with upward water advection, and free
gas
flow. The one-dimensional and two-dimensional numerical models show that both the short-range migration and the upward water advection are not enough to form high saturations
gas
hydrate at GC 955, and that free
gas
flow is required to form the high saturations of
gas
hydrate observed at GC 955.
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