Overpressure and Fluid Flow in New Jersey Continental Slope: Implications for Slope Stability and Cold Seeps

新泽西大陆斜坡的超压和流体流动：斜坡稳定性和冷泉的含义。观测、理论和实验将被用来描述新泽西近海大陆坡流体压力和应力的时间和空间演变。PI将利用岩心数据、测井记录和地震速度对斜坡沉积物的孔隙度进行成像。将使用孔隙度-有效应力关系预测流体压力。这种方法将提供孔隙度和流体压力的区域图。格雷格山（拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球观测站）将帮助他们将压力分布与关键的中新世到现在的地层表面联系起来。流体压力也将与暴露的海底峡谷相关，以评估高压对边坡稳定性的影响。将固结理论与地下水力学耦合的数值模型可以模拟孔隙度和压力的演化。孔隙水地球化学数据将与孔隙度数据配合使用，以验证流动模型。PI将在埃克森美孚上游研究公司对ODP 1073现场的样品进行实验室实验，以确定斜坡沉积物的压缩性和渗透性。实验还将提供流体压力估计值，该估计值可以与根据孔隙度预测的压力和流动模型中模拟的压力进行比较。在约束流体压力、它们的来源和它们的分布之后，我们将评估应力演化，这与流体压力和斜坡稳定性密切相关。拟议的研究将为快速沉积边缘上的流体动力学和应力状态如何联系提供定量的见解。这项当地研究对各种地质环境和社会问题具有广泛的应用。这项研究有可能估计海底渗漏的位置及其排出的液体量;液体流量与利用渗漏液体提供的营养物的生物群落的规模和多样性有关。地应力场对于地下勘探和边坡稳定性评价具有重要意义。对压力的来源和它们可以产生的集中流的明确理解将很容易出口到工业。流体压力和应力的耦合将确定超流体压力在塑造大陆坡方面所起的作用，并可作为评估潜在海底滑坡危险的一种方式。

Overpressure and Fluid Flow in New Jersey Continental Slope: Implications for Slope Stability and Cold SeepsPrincipal Investigator: Peter B. FlemingsObservations, theory, and experiments will be used to characterize the temporal and spatial evolution of fluid pressure and stress on the continental slope, offshore New Jersey. PI will image the porosity of the slope sediments using core data, well logs, and seismic velocities. Fluid pressures will be predicted using a porosity-effective stress relationship. This approach will provide a regional map of the porosity and fluid pressures. Greg Mountain (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) will aid them in correlating the pressure distribution to key Miocene-to-present stratigraphic surfaces. Fluid pressures will also be correlated with exposed submarine canyons to evaluate the impact high pressures have on slope stability. A numerical model that couples consolidation theory and groundwater mechanics will simulate the porosity and pressure evolution. Porewater geochemical data will be used in concert with porosity data to validate the flow model. PI will perform laboratory experiments, at ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, on samples from ODP Site 1073 to determine the compressibility and permeability of slope sediments. The experiments will also provide fluid pressure estimates that can be compared to the pressures predicted from porosity and those simulated in the flow models. After constraining the fluid pressures, their origins, and their distribution, we will evaluate the stress evolution, which is intimately tied to the fluid pressures and to slope stability.The proposed research will provide quantitative insights into how hydrodynamics and state of stress are linked on rapidly deposited margins. This local study has broad application to a variety of geological settings and societal problems. The study has the potential to estimate the location of sea floor seeps and the volume of fluids they expel; fluid flux relates to the size and diversity of biotic communities that use nutrients supplied by seep fluids. The pressure-stress field is important to understand for subsurface exploration and to evaluate slope stability. A definitive understanding of the origin of pressures and the focussed flows they can generate will be easily exportable to industry. The coupling of fluid pressure and stress will define the role excess fluid pressures play in sculpting continental slopes and may serve as a way to evaluate potential submarine landslide hazards.