ALBERT

Description: The breakup of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea 56 million years ago was associated with massive basaltic magmatism and a short-lived global warming episode, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Scientific drilling in 2021 targeted sediments and volcanic rocks on the mid-Norwegian margin to test hypotheses related to the formation of large igneous provinces as well as global warming associated potentially with the igneous activity. High-resolution 3D site survey data facilitated optimal borehole locations during the drilling; key reflections were targeted using the high-resolution 3D data, and PETM stratigraphic intervals were recognized during shipboard core descriptions. Igneous seismic geomorphological interpretation, furthermore, reveals distinct volcanic morphologies on the marginal high, related to different volcanic emplacement environments.

Description: Marine methane hydrate is an ice-like substance that is stable in sediment around marine continental margins where water depths are greater than ~450–700 m. The release of methane due to melting of hydrates is considered to be a mechanism for past global carbon-cycle perturbations and could exacerbate ongoing anthropogenic climate change. Increases in bottom-water temperature at the landward limit of marine hydrate around continental margins, where vulnerable hydrate exists at or below the seabed, cause methane to vent into the ocean. However, this setting represents only ~3.5% of the global hydrate reservoir. The potential for methane from hydrate in deeper water to reach the atmosphere was considered negligible. Here we use three-dimensional (3D) seismic imagery to show that, on the Mauritanian margin, methane migrated at least 40 km below the base of the hydrate stability zone and vented through 23 pockmarks at the shelf break, probably during warmer Quaternary interglacials. We demonstrate that, under suitable circumstances, some of the 96.5% of methane bound in deeper water distal hydrates can reach the seafloor and vent into the ocean beyond the landward limit of marine hydrate. This reservoir should therefore be considered for estimating climate change-induced methane release during a warming world.

Description: The seafloor morphology reflects both past and on‐going sedimentary, oceanographic and tectonic processes. Vertical movement is one of the drivers responsible for reshaping the seafloor through forming steep flanks that decrease slope stability, favour landslides, change current paths, form minibasins and control the sediment deposition, distribution and geometry. Here, we make use of these interactions to derive vertical movements and constrain the active tectonic processes at the western termination of the upper Calabrian accretionary wedge from the integrated analysis of bathymetric, backscatter, surface attributes and high‐resolution reflection seismic data. Within this area, we identify two types of deformational features and mechanisms that affect the depositional, erosional and tectonic processes at different scales. These include the deviation of channels, landslide scars, mass transport deposits (MTDs), separated drifts, sediment waves, lineaments and offset seafloor structures. The first type (long‐wavelength uplift) is an uplifted 22‐km‐wide region, in which seismic onlap relationships and the dip of deep reflectors suggest long‐lasting but slow tectonic uplift affecting sedimentation, and the second type (short‐wavelength uplift) includes three narrow elongated structures and one circular dome encircling the first region of uplift. We interpret that the first type of uplift feature was caused by tectonic deformation, while the second type is interpreted as formed by the fast uplift, tilting and faulting of modern sediments caused by diapirism due to rapid sedimentation in response to the first tectonically driven uplift. The study provides insight into the complex interaction of tectonic and sedimentary processes in the upper Calabrian accretionary wedge.

Description: The Storegga Slide is the largest known exposed submarine landslide in the world, which triggered a tsunami that inundated the coasts of northern Europe ~8,150 years ago. Previous studies suggested the removal of 50–70 m of sediment from the northern slide scar segment, contributing half of the total slide volume of up to 3200 km³. However, new sediment echosounder profiles and sedimentological constraints show that most material within the northern Storegga slide scar had already failed ~20,000 years ago, at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. We refer to this previously undetected slope failure as the Nyegga Slide. In our revised slope failure reconstruction, the Nyegga Slide removed more than 35 m of sediments that were previously attributed to the tsunamigenic Storegga Slide. This implies that large slope failures at the mid-Norwegian margin occur more frequently than previously thought, indicating a higher tsunami hazard for the North Atlantic.

Description: For millennia, humans have gravitated towards coastlines for their resource potential and as geopolitical centres for global trade. A basic requirement ensuring water security for coastal communities relies on a delicate balance between the supply and demand of potable water. The interaction between freshwater and saltwater in coastal settings is, therefore, complicated by both natural and human-driven environmental changes at the land-sea interface. In particular, ongoing sea level rise, warming and deoxygenation might exacerbate such perturbations. In this context, an improved understanding of the nature and variability of groundwater fluxes across the land-sea continuum is timely, yet remains out of reach. The flow of terrestrial groundwater across the coastal transition zone as well as the extent of freshened groundwater below the present-day seafloor are receiving increased attention in marine and coastal sciences because they likely represent a significant, yet highly uncertain component of (bio)geochemical budgets, and because of the emerging interest in the potential use of offshore freshened groundwater as a resource. At the same time, “reverse” groundwater flux from offshore to onshore is of prevalent socio-economic interest as terrestrial groundwater resources are continuously pressured by overpumping and seawater intrusion in many coastal regions worldwide. An accurate assessment of the land-ocean connectivity through groundwater and its potential responses to future anthropogenic activities and climate change will require a multidisciplinary approach combining the expertise of geophysicists, hydrogeologists, (bio)geochemists and modellers. Such joint activities will lay the scientific basis for better understanding the role of groundwater in societal-relevant issues such as climate change, pollution and the environmental status of the coastal oceans within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Here, we present our perspectives on future research directions to better understand land-ocean connectivity through groundwater, including the spatial distributions of the essential hydrogeological parameters, highlighting technical and scientific developments, and briefly discussing its societal relevance in rapidly changing coastal oceans.

Description: When interpreting geophysical models, we need to establish a link between the models’ physical parameters and geological units. To define these connections, it is crucial to consider and compare geophysical models with multiple, independent parameters. Particularly in complex geological scenarios, such as the rifted passive margin offshore Namibia, multi-parameter analysis and joint inversion are key techniques for comprehensive geological inferences. The models resulting from joint inversion enable the definition of specific parameter combinations, which can then be ascribed to geological units. Here we perform a user-unbiased clustering analysis of the parameters electrical resistivity and density from two models derived in a joint inversion along the Namibian passive margin. We link the resulting parameter combinations to break-up related lithology, and infer the history of margin formation. This analysis enables us to clearly differentiate two types of sediment cover. Namely, one of near-shore, thick, clastic sediments, and a second one of further offshore located, more biogenic, marine sediments. Furthermore, we clearly identify areas of interlayered massive, and weathered volcanic flows, which are usually only identified in reflection seismic studies as seaward dipping reflectors. Lastly, we find a distinct difference in the signature of the transitional crust south of- and along the supposed hot-spot track Walvis Ridge. We ascribe this contrast to an increase in magmatic activity above the volcanic centre along Walvis Ridge, and potentially a change in melt sources or depth of melting. This characterizes a rift-related southern complex, and a plume-driven Walvis Ridge regime. All of these observations demonstrate the importance of multi-parameter geophysical analysis for large-scale geological interpretations. Furthermore, our results may improve future joint inversions using direct parameter coupling, by providing a guideline for the complex passive margins parameter correlations.

Description: Hydroacoustic surveys at the accretionary wedge southwest of Taiwan reveal a confined active hydrocarbon seepage area of ~ 49,000 m 2 in ~ 1350 m water depth on the northern crest of the Four-Way Closure Ridge, which we call Yam Seep. In this study, multibeam and side-scan sonar data acquired during surveys with an autonomous underwater vehicle during an expedition with R/V Ocean Researcher I in 2017 showed that the area is characterized by rough topography and high seafloor backscatter. Seafloor observations with a video sled and sediment sampling with gravity corers and the MeBo seafloor drill rig during an expedition with R/V SONNE in 2018 revealed that the area is almost entirely covered by intensely fractured methane-derived carbonates, which indicate that seepage has been ongoing for thousands of years. Hydroacoustic anomalies (‘flares’) in the water column indicated the presence of several gas bubble emission sites mostly at the center and eastern flank of the area in 2019. Drilling through massive carbonates in the northwestern part of Yam Seep induced free gas escape from a depth of ~ 5.1 m. This suggests the presence of gas hydrates in the subsurface as the seep area is located well within the gas hydrate stability zone. The inter-disciplinary investigations of the Yam Seep demonstrate that upward migration of light hydrocarbons and seafloor discharge has a considerable influence on the seabed properties.

Description: The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global warming event of 5–6 °C around 56 million years ago caused by input of carbon into the ocean and atmosphere. Hydrothermal venting of greenhouse gases produced in contact aureoles surrounding magmatic intrusions in the North Atlantic Igneous Province have been proposed to play a key role in the PETM carbon-cycle perturbation, but the precise timing, magnitude and climatic impact of such venting remains uncertain. Here we present seismic data and the results of a five-borehole transect sampling the crater of a hydrothermal vent complex in the Northeast Atlantic. Stable carbon isotope stratigraphy and dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy reveal a negative carbon isotope excursion coincident with the appearance of the index taxon Apectodinium augustum in the vent crater, firmly tying the infill to the PETM. The shape of the crater and stratified sediments suggests large-scale explosive gas release during the initial phase of vent formation followed by rapid, but largely undisturbed, diatomite-rich infill. Moreover, we show that these vents erupted in very shallow water across the North Atlantic Igneous Province, such that volatile emissions would have entered the atmosphere almost directly without oxidation to CO 2 and at the onset of the PETM.