Thessaloniki Mud Volcano, the Shallowest Gas Hydrate-Bearing Mud Volcano in the Anaximander Mountains, Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

A detailed multibeam survey and the subsequent gravity coring carried out in the Anaximander Mountains, Eastern Mediterranean, detected a new active gas hydrate-bearing mud volcano (MV) that was named Thessaloniki. It is outlined by the 1315 m bathymetric contour, is 1.67 km 2 in area, and has a summit depth of 1260 m. The sea bottom water temperature is . The gas hydrate crystals generally have the form of flakes or rice, some larger aggregates of them are up to 2 cm across. A pressure core taken at the site contained 3.1 lt. of hydrocarbon gases composed of methane, nearly devoid of propane and butane. The sediment had a gas hydrate occupancy of 0.7% of the core volume. These characteristics place the gas hydrate field at Thessaloniki MV at the upper boundary of the gas hydrate stability zone, prone to dissociation with the slightest increase in sea water temperature, decrease in hydrostatic pressure, or change in the temperature of the advecting fluids.