Scientific Proof for Active Mud Volcanoes in the Gulf

Warning - long post !!

Volcanoes in the gulf DO exist and ARE active. Science backs this up. I am going to present some of what I've found so far and perhaps others of you here can dig into this a bit more so we can try and ascertain exactly where these volcanoes are and how this might connect to the oil catastophe and likely future scenarios because of that.

I'll start with a you tube vid which displayed the proof which I then looked up online and post below the vid. When watching the vid do not get distracted too much by the conspiracy theory he envelopes the science in. Although the conspiracy theory is interesting what is important for now is to focus on the science I think.

[yvid][/yvid]



FOUR ACTIVE MUD VOLCANOES IN THE GULF
source

(1) Department of Geology, Tulane University, 70118 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
(2) Coastal Studies Institute and Department of Geology and Geophysics, School of Geoscience, Louisiana State University, 70803 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Received: 26 October 1993 Revised: 6 July 1994

Abstract Samples were collected for foraminiferal studies by the Johnson Sea-Link I and II manned submersibles on the Louisiana continental slope. This paper documents that the mud, extruded onto the sea floor from depth by four mud volcanoes, ranges in age from Miocene to Pleistocene based on studies of the planktonic foraminiferal fauna. The vents are in water depths ranging from 300 to 690 m located in Garden Banks Block 382, Green Canyon Blocks 143 and 272, and Mississippi Canyon Block 929. Two mud volcanoes in GB 382 and MC 929 also have rich fossil foraminiferal microfaunas. We suggest that the extrusion of fossil sediments onto the sea floor during the Quaternary is a reasonable explanation for frequent occurrences of displaced fossil microfaunas encountered at depth in wells drilling on the flanks of salt diapirs in the slope environment. Results of this study have important implications for age dating subsurface sediments in bathyal locations.
(More at link)

what is a mud volcano ?

The term mud volcano or mud dome is used to refer to formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, although there are several different processes which may cause such activity. Temperatures are much cooler than igneous processes. The largest structures are 10 km in diameter and reach 700 metres in height.

About 20% of released gases are methane, with much less carbon dioxide and nitrogen emitted. Ejected materials often are a slurry of fine solids suspended in liquids which may include water (frequently acidic or salty) and hydrocarbon fluids.

(more at link)


what can happen if an underwater volcano erupts

Read about it at link

potential field evidence for a volcanic rifted margin in the gulf


Potential field data along the Texas portion of the Gulf of Mexico indicate a large-amplitude coast-parallel magnetic maximum and a smaller Bouguer gravity high. Models constrained by seismic-refraction data indicate that these maxima manifest a deeply buried volcanic rifted passive margin or other magnetic high in the outer transitional crust. Buried 12–15 km, the source is 220 km wide, similar to the Vøring Plateau in Norway and the U.S. East Coast. This margin, which formed during the opening of the Gulf of Mexico, differs in origin from the transform boundary of the northeast Mexico margin (Tehuantepec transform), and we infer a Jurassic triple junction related to the Borderland rift system, which is traceable as far as southeast California.

(This is buried deeper than they were drilling so am not sure if this will have relevance...I am merely a layperson so do not know)

what is a volcanic passive margin ?

Volcanic passive margins (VPM) and non-volcanic passive margins are the two forms of transitional crust that lie beneath passive continental margins that occur on Earth as the result of the formation of ocean basins via continental rifting. Initiation of igneous processes associated with volcanic passive margins occurs before and/or during the rifting process depending on the cause of rifting. There are two accepted models for VPM formation: hotspots/mantle plumes and slab pull. Both result in large, quick lava flows over a relatively short period of geologic time (i.e. a couple of million years). VPM’s progress further as cooling and subsidence begins as the margins give way to formation of normal oceanic crust from the widening rifts.[1]

PASSIVE MARGINS ARE IMPORTANT RESEVOIRS OF PETROLEUM

(more at link)

Asphalt volcanoes discovered in gulf of mexico

Underwater volcanoes that spew asphalt instead of lava: they were discovered in the Gulf of Mexico during an expedition of the research vessel SONNE, led by Prof. Gerhard Bohrmann of the DFG Research Center Ocean Margins. On these volcanoes the multinational team of scientists encountered a previously unknown highly diverse ecosystem at a water depth of 3,000 meters. The prominent scientific journal Science reports the spectacular discovery in its issue of 14 May 2004.
(more at link)

NOTE ASPHALT VOLCANOES ARE ALSO KNOWN AS TAR VOLCANOES.

Asphalt Volcanism Explained

While volcanism is common under the sea, nobody dreamed that in some places, vents erupt not lava but asphalt. That's what a 2003 research expedition found in the Gulf of Mexico on a seafloor hill the scientists named Chapopote, the Mexican Spanish name for tar. It's the world's first known asphalt volcano. There are more being found all the time.
The geologic setting at the site, west of the Yucatán in 3000 meters of water, is a field of salt domes called the Campeche Knolls. These tall, steep hills grow as ductile salt bodies rise into the overlying seafloor rocks; as is common around the Gulf, oil and gas leak upward with the salt.
(more at link)

Asphalt Volcanoes from Wiki

petroleum seeps linked to asphalt volcanoes

A petroleum seep is a place where liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the ground surface. The hydrocarbons may escape through fractures and fissures in the rock, between geological layers, or directly from an oil-bearing outcrop.

When a petroleum seep forms underwater it may form a peculiar type of volcano known as an asphalt volcano.

tar balls wash ashore on Dauphin Island after spill

Published : Saturday, 08 May 2010, 11:21 PM CDT
Renee Dials
Ryan Coleman
Photojournalist: Jason Caldwell
DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WALA) - Folks were on Dauphin Island beach Saturday hoping to enjoy the sun and water ahead of the threatening oil slick in the gulf, but they found something they weren't expecting, at least not so soon.

"He came across large amounts of tar and a dead bird. So he brought some back and showed it to the police, and within about a minute there were oil response people here," Molly Hunter said.

Hunter's father-in-law was one of the first to report the oily tar.

Lisa Turner was in the water when she stepped on some of the tar. It ended up on her feet and hands.

(So are these tar balls coming from an asphalt volcano or are they just big globs of oil ? If coming from an asphalt volcano would the tar not have hardened prior to reaching the shore ?)

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So anyway, we've got mud volcanoes, asphalt volcanoes and what looks like a passive volcanic rifted margin (good sources of petroleum remember) in the gulf coast. And don't forget The New Madrid Faultline
The New Madrid fault system, or the New Madrid seismic zone, is a series of faults beneath the continental crust in a weak spot known as the Reelfoot Rift. It cannot be seen on the surface. The fault system extends 150 miles southward from Cairo, Illinois through New Madrid and Caruthersville, Missouri, down through Blytheville, Arkansas to Marked Tree, Arkansas. It dips into Kentucky near Fulton and into Tennessee near Reelfoot Lake, and extends southeast to Dyersburg, Tennessee. It crosses five state lines, and crosses the Mississippi River in at least three places.

So an awful lot is down under the sea in this area. Until I have time to look into this more maybe some of you on here can do some research into where exactly the mud/asphalt volcanoes are located and compare to the region of the oil spill ? And scour for any scientific evidence that might support the theory going around that a volcano has been upset. We can't discount the theory until the information surrounding it is thoroughly researched. Cheers everyone.









[edit on 15/6/10 by cosmicpixie] - lost all my thread while editing and had to redo everything !

[edit on 15/6/10 by cosmicpixie]

Bump
Bump
Have a read guys, this is potentially significant in light of the oil spill

Cosmic great work!! I had stumbled upon some of this to support what i was saying but had not posted! Looks like you really did your research and I think it will pay off.

I don't have time right now to dig into this but I will very soon. Why don't you post your link in the other oil threads to get more opinions and facts.

Thank you for this! S&F!! My biggest fear through what I was saying is that a massive volcano will explode or erupt beneath the Gulf floor and cause huge tsunami.

It happens all the time.

Pax

reply to post by paxnatus


Yeah there's some more to post too when I have more time....15 billion barrels of oil sit in the reservoirs of the lower tertiary trend area which is where they are drilling...a wide area of multiple reservoirs. If the area where the spill is collpased then I was wondering if this might set of a chain reaction of seabed fractures which would sea oil starting to come out of this whole area.....then with the mounting pressure you could be talking of a massive sea bed collapse and/or earthquakes, never mind volcanoes....I think even without a volcano or eathquake a tsunami could hit ?

If the lower tertiary area spilled forth all it has then it would be an ELE no doubt...what would it take to set this multiple reservoir leak off though ? would the one well be enought to begin it all ?

I cannot believe that there is no interest in this subject! I have been trying to get people to have an interest in it to no avail as well! I have seen what I think are volcanic eruptions at least several times a week on the feeds. What looks like fire "rain" chunks of stuff that looks like lava (leaving steams trails behind it) being forcefully thrown up, then falling down....huge explosions....etc. No one takes it seriously. Have you ever seen these huge explosions with what looks like fire or glowing red "rocks" falling down? I live near the coast, so I follow this closely....I am not a "doomer" or anything like that, but I watch the cams every day and report on the "up to the minute" thread. I have been doing this for months....and I feel without a doubt that there is a volcano erupting down there. Whether it is related to something BP has done, or a natural occurrence that just happened at the same time by chance, I don't know.....but I am CONVINCED that this is going on. Thank You for the research....you did an excellent job! I hope people will take more of an interest in this!

We have asphalt volcanoes off the California coast and likely there are many more around the world.
news.nationalgeographic.com...

We also have mud volcanoes off the Calif coast.

An unnamed mud volcano 30 metres (98 ft) high and with a top about 100 metres (328 ft) wide, 24 kilometres (15 mi) off Redondo Beach, California, and 800 metres (2,620 ft) under the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
Smooth Ridge mud volcano in 1,000 metres (3,280 ft) of water near Monterey Canyon, California.

en.wikipedia.org...