Modern carbonate mound systems

Carbonate mounds are prominent features throughout the geological record. In many hydrocarbon provinces, they form prime reservoir structures. But recent investigations have increasingly reported occurrences of large mound clusters at the surface of the seabed, or buried at shallow depth on modern ocean margins, and in particular in basins rich in hydrocarbons. Such exciting new observations along the West-European margin are promising for elucidating the setting and environment of modern carbonate mounds, but at the same time they confront us with puzzling or sometimes contradictory observations in the quest for their genesis.Spectacular cold-water coral communities have colonized such mounds, but convincing arguments for recognizing them as prime builders are still lacking. The geological record provides ample evidence of microbial mediation in mound build-up and stabilisation, but as long as mound drilling is lacking, we have no opportunity to verify the role of such processes and identify the key actors in the earliest stage of onset and development of modern mounds. Some evidence from the past record and from present very-high resolution observations in the shallow seabed suggest an initial control by fluid venting, and fluid migration pathways have been imaged or are tentatively reconstructed by modelling in the concerned basins, but the ultimate link in the shallow subsurface seems still to elude a large part of our efforts. Surface sampling and analyses of both corals and surface sediments have largely failed in giving any conclusive evidence of present-day or recent venting in the considered basins. But on the other hand, applying rigourously the interpretational keys derived from e.g. Porcupine Seabight settings off NW Ireland on brand new prospective settings e.g. on the Moroccan margin have resulted in the discovery of totally new mound settings, in the middle of a field of giant, active mud volcanoes. Keys are apparently working, but we still do not understand how or why. We are no doubt facing complex systems at the interface between the Biosphere and the Geosphere, owing their genesis and spectacular growth to a complex woven of internal and external controls, feedback and process relay processes

Seismic sequence stratigraphy of the Palaeogene offshore of Belgium, southern North Sea

A fine-scale seismic stratigraphic model has been developed for the Palaeogene of the southern North Sea on the basis of interpretation of a dense high-resolution reflection seismic grid, covering the Belgian sector of the continental shelf and the adjacent parts of the Dutch, French and UK sectors. Classical seismic stratigraphic criteria have allowed up to 13 major units to be defined; the geometry and seismic facies characteristics of each have been analysed in detail. The seismic stratigraphy has been compared with the results of four offshore boreholes. 'Events and trends' identified on seismic sections and in outcrops in northern Belgium have been correlated, and offshore seismic facies have been tentatively matched with onshore lithofacies. The geological history of the study area is discussed in terms of eustatic sea level changes and regional tectonic events, and the main characteristics of the offshore Palaeogene deposits are evaluated in a sequence stratigraphic context

A high-resolution magnetic record of drift sediments in the neighbourhood of mound provinces in the Porcupine Seabight

The Porcupine Seabight forms a deep embayment in the Atlantic margin, off the south-western coast of Ireland. Very-high resolution seismic profiling, acquired since 1997, revealed the presence of large (carbonate) mounds.In general, the mounds are surrounded by bottom-current related deposits. The changes of seismic characteristics within the uppermost unit are interpreted as phases in a slope parallel drift under changing oceanographic conditions.The magnetic susceptibility records of two giant piston cores (MD01-2450 and MD01-2452), taken respectively in the drift sediments at the SE-flank of a Belgica mound (eastern flank of the basin) and above a Magellan mound (northern flank of the basin), were analysed in order to provide a relative time frame and to investigate possible changes in paleoceanography and paleoclimatology.Core MD01-2450 enabled us to propose a relative dating of over 74 ka, which has been confirmed by comparing the intensity of the NRM (Natural Remanent Magnetization) to ARM (Anhysteretic Remanent Magnetization) ratio with known intensity data. Another very remarkable observation in this core is the presence of iron sulfides between 630 and 1080 cm depth. This local iron sulfide enrichment could be the result of an anaerobic process with sulfate reduction during a period of non-steady-state diagenesis.Core MD01-2452, located in the sediments on top of the buried Magellan mounds, shows more pronounced paleoclimatological changes than the core located at the SE-flank of the Belgica mound. Moreover, typical HL can be recognized very clearly from magnetic susceptibility and P-wave velocity data during the latest glacial. The influence of European HE in the northern part of the basin could be less than on the eastern flank. However, we should be bear in mind that currents seem to be much weaker in the Magellan province than in the Belgica province. These weaker currents can be responsible for better preserved and thus more pronounced paleoclimatological and paleoceanographic changes in the uppermost quaternary sediment layers