Abstract
Recently, several countries have conducted projects to explore and develop natural gas hydrate, which is one of the new alternative energy resources for the future. In Korea, a five-year national research project was initiated in 2000. As part of this project, a seismic survey was performed in the East Sea of Korea to quantify the potential magnitude and distribution of natural gas hydrates. Multi-channel seismic data and core samples have been acquired and recovered in the survey area. Analysis of seismic data show clear bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs), seismic blank zones (or wipe-out zones) with velocity pull-up structure, and pock-marks. In this study, we present the results of seismic surveys which indicate the existence of natural gas hydrates in Korean offshore areas. These results will be applied to select areas for coring (or drilling) and detailed exploration such as 2D seismic survey with long offset or 3D seismic in the future.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
T.S. Collett (1993) ArticleTitleNatural gas hydrates of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River area, North Slope, Alaska Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geolog. Bull. 77/5 793–812
velocities. Those velocities suggest a much smaller concentrations of hydrate, possibly between 10 Collett, T.S., 2000, Natural gas hydrate as a potential energy resource, in Max, M.D. (ed.), Kluwer Academic Publ, pp. 21–25.
Dallimore, S.R., Collett, T.S., Uchida, T., Weber, M., Takahashi, H. and the Mallik Gas Hydrate research Team., 2002, Overview of the 2002 Mallik gas hydrate production research well program, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Gas Hydrates, pp. 19–23, Yokohama, Japan
C.R. Fink G.D. Spence (1999) ArticleTitleHydrate distribution of Vancouver Island from multi-frequency single channel reflection data J. Geophys. Res. 104 2909–2922 Occurrence Handle10.1029/98JB02641
N. Ganguly G. D. Spence N. R. Chapman R. D. Hyndman (2000) ArticleTitleHeat flow variations from bottom simulating reflectors on the Cascadia margin Mar. Geol. 164 53–68 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0025-3227(99)00126-7
J.M. Gardner A.N. Shor W.Y. Jung (1998) ArticleTitleAcoustic evidence for methane hydrate in the Ulleung Basin Mar. Geophys. Res. 20 495–503 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1004716700055
G.D. Ginsburg V.A. Soloviev (1998) Submarine gas hydrates Norma Publishers St. Petersburg, Russia 216
E.L. Hamilton (1980) ArticleTitleGeoacoustic modeling of the seafloor J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 68 1313–1340 Occurrence Handle10.1121/1.385100
R.D. Hyndman G.D. Spence (1992) ArticleTitleA seismic study of methane hydrate marine bottom simulating reflectors J. Geophys. Res. 97 6683–6698
H-J. Kim S-J. Han G-H. Lee S. Huh (1998) ArticleTitleSeismic study of the Ulleung Basin crust and its implications for the opening of the East Sea (Japan Sea) Mar. Geophys. Res. 20 219–237 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1004573816915
K. Kvenvolden (1993) ArticleTitleGas hydrates-geological perspective and global change Rev. Geophysics 31 173–187 Occurrence Handle10.1029/93RG00268
M.W. Lee D.R. Hutchinson T.S. Collett W.P. Dillon (1996) ArticleTitleSeismic velocities for hydrate-bearing sediments using weighted equation J. Geophys. Res. 101 20347–20358
T.A. Minshull S.C. Singh G.K. Westbrook (1994) ArticleTitleSeismic velocity structure at a gas hydrate reflector, offshore western Columbia, from full wave inversion J. Geophys. Res. 99 (B3) 4715–4734
Riedel, M., Hyndman, R.D., Spence, G.D. and Chapman, N.R., 2002, Seismic investigations of a vent field associated with gas hydrates, offshore Vancouver Island. J. Geophys. Res., Solid Earth, 107 (B9), 2200, doi: 10.1029/2001JB000269
Spence, G.D., Riedel, M., Novosel, I., Solem, C., Hyndman, R.D., Chapman, N.R. and Kastner, M., 2000, Seafloor gas hydrates at an active vent offshore Vancouver Island: Seismic, Coring and heat flow investigations, EOS, Trans., Amer. Geophys. Union, 81, No. 48, F603
Yamano, M., Shevaldin, Y.V., Zimin, P.S. and Baladashin, V.I., 1996, Heat Flow of the Japan Sea, in Isezaki, N., Bersenv, I.I., Tamaki, K., Karp, B.Y. and Lelikov, E.P. (eds.), Terra Scientific Publ, pp. 61–74.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, J.H., Baek, Y.S., Ryu, B.J. et al. A seismic survey to detect natural gas hydrate in the East Sea of Korea. Mar Geophys Res 26, 51–59 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-005-6975-4
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-005-6975-4