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NATURAL GAS IN THE CONTINENTAL MARGINS

Guest Scientist: Jeffrey Weissel

We'll begin with a review of our historical understanding of the ocean floors, going back to M. F. Maury's famous "Physical Geography of the Sea" and continuing through early sonar studies and the Heezen-Tharp maps to modern seismic surveying and other geophysical techniques.  We will view a special DVD about ODP Leg 204 and the launching of the new drilling ship, Chiku. Then we'll focus on the Atlantic coast of North America, and especially the region off the Southeast where methane and gas hydrates exist within sediments. This sets the basis for our guest scientist, Jeffrey Weissel, to describe more about about the potential impact of these materials on energy supplies, climate change, and hazards, such as tsunamis from offshore slumps.

For more information about the Margins Project, go to http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/margins/Home.html

To understand more about gas hydrates off the East Coast, you may want to read this R/V Cape Hatteras cruise report: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/obs/BlakeRidge95.html#Summary