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Parkes, R. J., D. Martin, H. Amann, E. Andes, M. Holland, P. J. Schultheiss, X. Wang, and K. Dotchev, 2009, Technology for high-pressure sampling and analysis of deep-sea sediments, associated gas hydrates, and deep-biosphere processes, in T. Collett, A. Johnson, C. Knapp, and R. Boswell, eds., Natural gas hydrates—Energy resource potential and associated geologic hazards: AAPG Memoir 89, p. 672–683.

DOI:10.1306/13201131M893362

Copyright copy2009 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Technology for High-pressure Sampling and Analysis of Deep-sea Sediments, Associated Gas Hydrates, and Deep-biosphere Processes

R. John Parkes,1 Derek Martin,2 Hans Amann,3 Erik Anders,4 Melanie Holland,5 Peter J. Schultheiss,6 Xiangwei Wang,7 Krassimir Dotchev8

1School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom
2School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom
3FG Maritime Technik, Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany
4FG Maritime Technik, Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany
5Geotek Ltd., Drayton Fields, Daventry, United Kingdom
6Geotek Ltd., Drayton Fields, Daventry, United Kingdom
7Manufacturing Engineering Center, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom
8Manufacturing Engineering Center, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Some of the work mentioned in this article was sponsored by the EU Commission in Brussels; by Deutsche Forschungs-Gemeinschaft (DFG) in Bonn; and by the Federal Ministry for Research (BMBF) and the United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council. We thank our sponsors for financial help, our partners for assistance, and the EU project coordinators for the stimulating project management. We acknowledge the dedication and cooperation of the many project engineers, technicians, and scientists who have been associated with the project, and in particular, Tim Francis who coordinated the HYACINTH project, P. P. Thjunjoto who contributed to HYACINTH from 2001 to 2005, and Mike Dury, Bristol University, for the initial design concepts of the DeepIsoBUG cutter-diverter system. We also thank the Ocean Drilling Program for providing tool-testing opportunities during the early development stages on board the JOIDES Resolution.

ABSTRACT

High pressure is a defining feature of marine sediments and a major factor influencing biogeochemical processes, the deep biosphere, and gas-hydrate deposits. However, the considerable technical challenges of recovering, handling, and analyzing sediment cores under pressure limit the detailed investigation of the impact of pressure on marine sediment processes. Here we describe recent developments in high-pressure coring, handling, and analysis. In particular, we provide an update on a further development of the European hydrate autoclave coring equipment (HYACE) coring system during the recent Development of the HYACE Tools in New Tests on Hydrates (HYACINTH) project. The two high-pressure coring systems (HYACE rotary corer and Fugro percussion corer) have now successfully recovered good quality cores, under high pressure (maximum 25 MPa), from a range of ocean sediments. Gas hydrates within these have been well preserved, and a high-pressure core transfer, logging, and subsampling system has been successfully developed and used. This includes the pressurized core subsampling and extrusion system (PRESS, maximum 25 MPa), which removes any potential contamination on the outer core by producing a central subcore; this subcore can then be sliced and transferred to high-pressure vessels for biogeochemical experiments and microbial enrichment and isolation using the DeepIsoBUG system (maximum 100 MPa). These systems have already contributed to both gas-hydrate and deep-biosphere research by demonstrating the presence of free methane gas in sediments in the gas-hydrate stability zone and the formation of maximum microbial cell densities at elevated pressures (up to sim80 MPa) during bacterial enrichment experiments.

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