Near-surface sediment structures at cold seeps and their physical control on seepage

Abstract

The major objective of the study is to investigate how near-surface sediment structures and other geological aspects control the nature and occurrence of cold fluid seepage. Mainly high resolution multichannel seismic data and swatch bathymetry data were used to study nearsurface seismostratigraphy, structure and seismic fluid-indicating features in two different fluid seepage provinces: Campeche Knolls, southern Gulf of Mexico and the frontal Makran, offshore Pakistan. The two areas have fundamentally different tectonic settings: The Campeche Knolls, southern Gulf of Mexico represents a passive margin influenced by salt tectonism, while the frontal Makran is the most basinward part of the Makran accretionary prism, characterized by plate subduction, sediment accretion, thrust faulting and development of sediment imbricate slices. However, they share quite a few similarities in shallow sediment structures and fluid seepage patterns...