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Active mud volcanoes on the upper slope of the western Nile deep-sea fan—first results from the P362/2 cruise of R/V Poseidon

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Abstract

In February 2008, cruise P362/2 was undertaken aboard R/V Poseidon to the Giza and North Alex mud volcanoes (MVs) on the upper slope of the western Nile deep-sea fan. Emitted fluids were strongly depleted in chloride and rich in hydrocarbons, predominantly of thermogenic origin. In-situ sediment temperature measurements indicate extremely high and moderate levels of activity for the North Alex MV and Giza MV, respectively, and suggest rapid changes from dormant to active stages. Both the physical properties of core sediments (e.g., color and magnetic susceptibility), and their assemblages of micro- and nannofossils point to different sources for the two mud volcanoes. Biostratigraphic dating suggests source depths of 2,100–2,450 mbsf for the Giza MV and 1,150–1,550 mbsf for the North Alex MV. Very high temperatures of up to 70°C in shallow sediments at the North Alex MV can be explained only if the fluid source were warmer and deeper than the sediment source.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Captain Michael Schneider and the crew of R/V Poseidon for their excellent work at sea, despite the severe weather conditions. Anke Bleyer, Regina Surberg, and Thorsten Schott helped to obtain, prepare, and analyze samples. Wiebke Nehmiz and Gero Wetzel conducted the in-situ temperature and thermal conductivity measurements. Shore-based support by Silke Schenck and Warner Brückmann is gratefully acknowledged. We are indebted to RWE Dea AG, BP Ltd., and Lt. Cdr. Ahmed Kamal Naguib of the Egyptian Hydrographic Office in Alexandria for their kind assistance. Two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the first version of this manuscript and we would like to thank Monique T. Delafontaine for meticulous copy-editing. This work was funded by RWE Dea within the framework of the West Nile Delta Project at IFM-GEOMAR.

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  1. Marine Biogeochemistry / Marine Geosystems, IFM-GEOMAR, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel University, Wischhofstr. 1–3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Tomas Feseker, Kevin R. Brown, Cecile Blanchet, Florian Scholz, Marianne Nuzzo, Anja Reitz, Mark Schmidt & Christian Hensen

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  1. Tomas Feseker
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Correspondence to Tomas Feseker.

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Feseker, T., Brown, K.R., Blanchet, C. et al. Active mud volcanoes on the upper slope of the western Nile deep-sea fan—first results from the P362/2 cruise of R/V Poseidon . Geo-Mar Lett 30, 169–186 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-010-0192-0

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