Black Sea mud volcanoes and their relation to the search for methane gas hydrates and environmental security

Abstract

As of today, the number of known offshore mud volcanoes in the Black Sea is 68. The areas possessing the greatest abundance include the northern part of the Black Sea (Sorokin trough, Tuapsinskaya trough, Shatskiy arch) and the Kerch downfold (the area south of the Kerch peninsula). An intensive study of mud volcanoes has been performed in the course of on-shore and off-shore expeditions carried out by Ukrainian scientists since 1990. They brought to light new geological, geophysical, and geochemical data on the properties of mud volcanoes by (1) high resolution hydro-acoustic, seismic-acoustic, and gravity methods, (2) geothermal observations of the thermal regime of the water and uppermost sediments, (3) gravity core sampling of bottom deposits, (4) dredges and buckets, and (5) study of these samples by lithological, geochemical, paleontological, and biological methods.