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USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program

Field Activity Details for field activity 2005-017-FA

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Other ID: none

Status: Completed

Organization(s): USGS, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Funding Program(s):

Principal Investigator(s): Deborah Hutchinson

Affiliate Investigator(s): GoM Hydrates JIP

Information Specialist(s): Brian Buczkowski

Data Type(s): Sampling: Geology, Location-Elevation: Navigation

Scientific Purpose/Goals: Cruise and project objectives include (1) calibrating geophysical estimates of location and concentration of hydrate and underlying free gas concentrations; (2) determining physical properties (e.g., strength, permeability, compressibility) of hydrate-bearing and underlying sediments in order to evaluate the relationship between gas hydrates, fluid flow, and sea floor/slope stability; (3) evaluating the sources and transport mechanisms for gas and the physical and chemical mechanisms of hydrate formation near the sea floor and at the base of the gas hydrate stability zone; (4) collecting samples of gas hydrate preserved at in situ pressures for investigation both during and post-cruise; (5) collecting and preserving pore water, gas, and sediment samples for post-cruise geochemical and microbiological investigations; and (6) developing a better basis for understanding the impact of gas hydrates on offshore petroleum drilling and production operations.

Vehicle(s):

Start Port/Location: Mobile, AL

End Port/Location: Galveston, TX

Start Date: 2005-04-15

End Date: 2005-05-21

Equipment Used: Well drilling, Starfix navigation system

Information to be Derived: Samples and chemical analysis; Grain size analysis;

Summary of Activity and Data Gathered: Pressurized drilling yielded 210.06 m of core from both Atwater Valley and Keathley Canyon sites. Various geochemical and physical properties analyses were performed on the cores, as well as non-invasive scans using IR cameras, MSCL scanners and X-ray imaging.

Staff: Brian Buczkowski

Affiliate Staff:
George Claypool
Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Chief Scientist; Miriam Kastner
Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Geochemistry; Tim Collett
USGS-Denver - Downhole Logging; Tom Lorenson
USGS-Menlo Park - Geochemistry; Brandon Dugan
Rice University - Physical Properties; Peter Schultheiss
Geotek Ltd. - Core Logging; Barry Freifeld
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - X-ray Imaging; John Roberts
Geotek Ltd. - Core Logging; Melanie Holland
Geotek Ltd. - IR Imaging; Tae Sup Yun
Georgia Tech. - Physical Properties; Guillermo Narsilio
Georgia Tech. - Physical Properties; Gretchen Robertson
Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Pore Water Specialist; Christie Lindemann
Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Curator/Data Manager; Jennifer Dougherty
USGS-Menlo Park - Gas Geochemistry; Rebecca Fenwick
Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Curator/Data Manager

Notes: Sample and Data Distribution: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Miriam Kastner and Neal Driscoll): Porewater Geochemistry, Squeeze Cakes, and repository for split cores; Fugro McClelland Marine Geosciences, Inc. (Gary Humphry and Fabian Hippe): Whole Round samples for Geotechnical Properties; Georgia Institute of Technology (Tae Sup Yun and Guillermo Narsilio Ferrero): Whole Round Samples; Rice University (Brandon Dugan): Whole Round samples and Squeeze Cakes; USGS, Menlo Park (Tom Lorenson and Jennifer Dougherty): Free Gas Geochemistry and Head Space Samples; USGS, Woods Hole (Debbie Hutchinson and Bill Winters): Subsamples for Physical Properties and Pressurized Core samples. Original Center People field contained: Brian Buczkowski, sample curator and data management specialist.
Project = Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Joint Industry Program, Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Joint Industry Program

Location:

Atwater Valley, Keathley Canyon, Gulf of Mexico, United States, North America, North Atlantic;

Boundaries
North: 28 South: 26.5 West: -93 East: -89

Platform(s):

photo of Uncle John
Uncle John

Publications

Hutchinson, D.R., Hart, P.E., Collett, T.S., Edwards, K.M., Twichell, D.C., and Snyder, F., 2008, Geologic framework of the 2005 Keathley Canyon gas hydrate research well, northern Gulf of Mexico: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 25 no. 9, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.012.

Lee, J.Y., Santamarina, J.C., and Ruppel, C., 2008, Mechanical and electromagnetic properties of northern Gulf of Mexico sediments with and without THF hydrates: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 25 no. 9, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.019.

Ruppel, C., Boswell, R., and Jones, E., 2008, Scientific results from Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrates Joint Industry Project Leg 1 drilling; introduction and overview: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 25 no. 9, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.02.007.

Wilcox-Cline, R., and Winters, W.J, 2011, The Influence of Grain Size on the Formation of Natural Gas Hydrate [abs.]: , 2011 Fall Meeing of the American Physical Society-American Assoc. for Physics Teachers-Society of Physics Students. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, November 18-19, 2011.

Winters, W.J., Dugan, Brandon, and Collett, Timothy S., 2008, Physical properties of sediments from Keathley Canyon and Atwater Valley, JIP Gulf of Mexico gas hydrate drilling program: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 25 no. 9, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.018.

Portals/Viewers

Data Acquired

Survey EquipmentSurvey InfoData Type(s)Data Collected
Well drilling --- Geology
Starfix navigation system --- Navigation

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