DANGEROUS GAS-SATURATED OBJECTS IN THE WORLD OCEAN: THE BEAUFORT SEA, ALASKA NORTH SLOPE SHELF

The article is devoted to the study of gas saturation of the upper part of the sedimentary cover in the western sector of the Beaufort Sea adjacent to Alaska. For the first time, the interpretation of the upper part of the seismic sections of CDP (common depth point) seismic survey was performed for 52 seismic lines of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) with a total length of 4050 km. 184 anomalous objects were found in near-bottom sediments, potentially associated with shallow gas accumulations (gas pockets). The average distance between these objects along the seismic lines was 22 km, which is 80% more than in the Chukchi Sea. This is apparently due to less tectonic activity in the Beaufort Sea. The statistically established similarity of anomalous objects in these seas in terms of depths and lengths is due to similar geological conditions for the formation of sedimentary deposits. In addition, 60 seismic lines with a total length of 4390 km show a wide distribution of potential gas hydrate deposits on the continental slope of the Beaufort Sea, which is consistent with the earlier conclusions of the US and Norwegian scientists (K. Andreassen, P. E. Hart, A. Grantz and others).

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