ALBERT

Beschreibung: Gas seepages along the Ionian coast of the northwestern Peloponnesus (Greece), at Killini, Katakolo, and Kaiafas reflect deep hydrocarbon-generation processes and represent a real hazard for humans and buildings. Methane microseepage, gas concentration in offshore and onshore vents, and gas dissolved in water springs, including the isotopic analysis of methane, have shown that the seeps are caused by thermogenic methane that had accumulated in Mesozoic limestone and had migrated upward through faults, or zones of weakness, induced by salt diapirism. A link between local seismicity and salt tectonics is suggested by the analyses of hypocenter distribution. Methane acts as a carrier gas for hydrogen sulfide produced by thermal sulfate reduction and/or thermal decomposition of sulfur compounds in kerogen or oil. Methane seeps in potentially explosive amounts, and hydrogen sulfide is over the levels necessary to induce toxicological diseases and lethal effects. Giuseppe Etiope received his degree (1991) and his Ph.D. (1995) in geology from the University of Rome La Sapienza. Currently, he is working on gas occurrence and migration in the geosphere, with particular reference to geogas microbubbles, methane flux from mud volcanoes, and microseepage. He has published global estimates of geological methane emissions and their function in the atmosphere. He is the coordinator of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization projects on methane fluxes and the environmental impact of petroleum exploitation. George Papatheodorou is an assistant professor of marine geology at the University of Patras, Greece, where he received his B.Sc. degree (1982) and his Ph.D. (1990) in geology. The former positions he held include a chair at the University of Thessaly and the rank of senior scientist for the Geology Department of the University of Patras. His research interests are gravitational mass movements, gas in marine sediments, marine pollution, and archeological oceanography. Dimitris P. Christodoulou received his B.Sc. degree (1999) in geology and his M.S. degree (2001) in environmental oceanography from University of Patras. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in marine geology. His scientific interests are in gas in marine sediments and gas seepages, marine geotechnics, and marine pollution. George Ferentinos is a professor of marine geology at the University of Patras. He has a B.Sc. degree in geology from the University of Athens (1967), a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Patras (1971), and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Wales (1976). His research includes coastal shelf and slope processes, sediment transport under currents and waves, and gravitative mass movement processes. Efthimios Sokos received a B.Sc. degree in geology (1992) and a Ph.D. in seismology (1999) from Patras University. From 2002 to 2005, he was researcher at the Geodynamical Institute of the National Observatory of Athens. Since August 2005, he has been lecturer at the Geology Department of the University of Patras. His research topics include seismic source studies, seismotectonics, and seismic hazard. Paolo Favali received his degree in geology (1976), specializing in geophysics, from the University of Rome La Sapienza. His research includes seismotectonics, applied geophysics, geologic hazards, and the interactions between solid earth and the environment. He has been coordinator of European projects since 1995 on submarine observatories for geophysical monitoring. He has taught solid earth physics and earth physics at Italian universities since 1994.