Abstract
During a recent cruise in the Porcupine Basin, off southwest Ireland, we discovered two extensive and hitherto largely unsuspected deep-water reef provinces, including a giant cluster of hundreds of buried mounds. The ring shapes of many reefs suggest that they are caused by an axial fluid expulsion at the sea bed, a transient flow well confined in space and time. We are exploring various hypotheses, but a stimulating avenue for research is opened by a glacially controlled growth pulse and subsequent decay of a shallow layer of gas hydrates as a methane buffer and probably indirectly as a ground for overlying biological communities.
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Henriet, J., De Mol, B., Pillen, S. et al. Gas hydrate crystals may help build reefs. Nature 391, 648–649 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/35530
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35530
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