Gas Hydrates Accumulations on the South Shetland Continental Margin : New Detection Possibilities

Abstract EN

The results of investigations in 2006–2010 for hydrocarbon and gas hydrates on the Antarctic Peninsula continental margin are given.

In 2004 and 2006, the marine geoelectric researches by methods of forming a short-pulsed electromagnetic field (FSPEF) and vertical electric-resonance sounding (VERS) had been conducted in this region.

The “deposit” type anomaly was mapped by FSPEF survey, and anomalous polarized layers of “hydrocarbon deposit” type were chosen by VERS sounding within this anomaly on Antarctic margin in the region of UAS “Academician Vernadsky.” Anomalous zones of “gas hydrate deposit” type were detected on the South Shetland margin due to the special technology of satellite data processing and interpretation using.

These results confirm the high gas hydrates potential of the West Antarctica region.

Some practical results of the experimental approbation of these original technologies for the “direct” prospecting and exploration of hydrocarbon (HC) and gas hydrates accumulations in different oil-and-gas bearing basins of Russia and Gulf of Mexico are proposed.

The integration of satellite data processing and materials of FSPEF-VERS methods enable improving their efficiency for different geological and geophysical problems solving.