Davy Depreiter

Linked halokinesis and mud volcanism at the Mercator mud volcano, Gulf of Cadiz

Mud volcanoes are seafloor expressions of focused fluid flow that are common in compressional tectonic settings. New high-resolution 3-D seismic data from the Mercator mud volcano (MMV) and an adjacent buried mud volcano (BMV) image the internal structure of the top 800 m of sediment at both mud volcanoes, revealing that both are linked and have been active episodically. The total volumes of extruded mud range between 0.15 and 0.35 km3 and 0.02–0.05 km3 for the MMV and the BMV, respectively. The pore water composition of surface sediment samples suggests that halokinesis has played an important role in the evolution of the mud volcanoes. We propose that erosion of the top of the Vernadsky Ridge that underlies the mud volcanoes activated salt movement, triggering deep migration of fluids, dissolution of salt, and sediment liquefaction and mobilization since the end of the Pliocene. Since beginning of mud volcanism in this area, the mud volcanoes erupted four times while there was only one reactivation of salt tectonics. This implies that there are other mechanisms that trigger mud eruptions. The stratigraphic relationship of mudflows from the MMV and BMV indicates that the BMV was triggered by the MMV eruptions. This may either be caused by loading-induced hydrofracturing within the BMV or due to a common feeder system for both mud volcanoes. This study shows that the mud volcanoes in the El Arraiche mud volcano field are long-lived features that erupt with intervals of several tens of thousands of years.

First sighting of active fluid venting in the Gulf of Cadiz

The Mercator mud volcano, located in the Gulf of Cadiz off the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (Figure 1), may provide an accessible field laboratory for studying local active venting and its possible internal and external controls. The recent discovery of the first active deep ocean ‘brown smoker’ chimney in this area can possibly be linked with the disintegration of a gas hydrate layer between the seafloor and a subsurface level that is dependent on pressure and temperature. For more than a decade, the international marine scientific community has deployed considerable efforts in exploring the Gulf of Cadiz. Since the discovery of the Gulfs first mud volcano in 1999, research cruises have steadily unveiled one mud volcano after another [Gardner, 2001; Pinheiro et al., 2003; Somoza et al., 2003]. These mud volcanoes are clustered in several fields on the Portuguese, Spanish, and Moroccan margins (Figure 1). Extensive geophysical evidence of shallow gas and subsurface fluid flow has been reported in the Gulf of Cadiz [Baraza and Ercilla 1996; Pinheiro et al., 2003].