Biogeochemistry of Active Methane Seeps on the Continental Margin

麻点是在海床上发现的具有侵蚀性的特征，它记录了最近流体渗漏--主要是气体--通过沉积物的活动。这些类似陨石坑的特征在世界各地的大陆架上得到了广泛的记录，并被认为主要与碳氢化合物从沉积物水库中的渗漏有关。尽管这些系统普遍存在，但基本上没有人对它们进行研究，而且这些系统对陆架沉积物和沿海水域的生物地球化学影响几乎完全未知。排放的气体主要是甲烷(生物来源和热源)，这一来源对海洋和大气收支的重要性完全未知。最近有人假设，这些系统甚至可能计划一个重要的作用--提高大陆架上的渔业产量。在对俄勒冈州会聚边缘陆架和斜坡上流体喷发的开创性研究的基础上，在当地渔民的指导下，俄勒冈州外大陆架上的一个麻坑标记中存在一个极其活跃的甲烷喷口，这一点已经被证实是水和沉积物。这项研究是一项探索性的努力，目的是证明可以在不损失或改变所含气体和进行分析以识别气体的情况下获得样品。

Pockmarks are errosive features found on the seabed that record the recent activity of fluid seepage --primarily gas -- through the sediments. These craters-like features have been extensively documented on continental shelves throughout the world oceans and are thought to be primarily associated with the seepage of hydrocarbons from sediment reservoirs. In spite of their common occurrence, active systems are essentially unstudied and the biogeochemical impacts of these systems on shelf sediments and coastal waters are almost completely unknown. The gas released is primarily methane (both biogenic and thermogenic) and the significance of this source to the marine and atmospheric budgets is completely unknown. It has recently been hypothesized that these systems may even plan an important role -- enhancing fisheries production on continental shelves. Following up on the pioneering studies of fluid venting along the shelf and slope of the Oregon convergent margin and upon the guidance of local fishermen, the existence of an extremely active methane vent in a pock mark on the continental shelf off Oregon has been verified water and sediment. This research is an exploratory effort to demonstrate that samples can be obtained without loss or alterations of the contained gases and analyses to identify the gases.