Distribution of the gas hydrate stability zone in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

Abstract

The theoretical gas hydrates stability zone (GHSZ) in the Ross Sea area was evaluated by mean of a steady state simple approach by using bathymetric data, sea bottom temperature, a variable geothermal gradient and assuming that the natural gas is methane. The results from our study suggest that bathymetry and distribution of the GHSZ are correlated; in fact, the GHSZ reaches a maximum (ca. 400 m) in the basins, where the water temperature is the lowest, and decreases in the banks with thickness ranging between 7 and <100 m. On the other hand, the existence and dynamics of the gas hydrate distribution is strictly related to the existence and evolution of the shallow geological and geomorphological features below the sea floor, as suggested in the past by several authors.