Shallow gas features and distribution in the Patos Lagoon: a coastal trap for gas-generator sediments

Abstract

Gas-charged sediments are very common in coastal environments worldwide, and their occurrence is usually clearly revealed as acoustic anomalies by a number of different seismic tools at differing scales and resolutions. This paper presents examples of gas-related acoustic anomalies in high resolution sub-bottom profiles (SBP) from the Patos Lagoon, Southern Brazil. The echograms show acoustic gas-related anomalies, which can present distinctive morphology for sediment-trapped gas, leaking or free gas in the water column. The paleo-topographic depressions filled with gas-charged sediments are related to former drainage systems developed in the coast in response to Quaternary sea level up and down events. Hence, such shallow gas occurrences seem to be controlled by the previous environmental configuration, the transgressive infilling arrangement of the basin, and the hydrodynamic conditions. Since the establishment of the present configuration, following sea level highstand of the Holocene, the Patos Lagoon interior seems to behave as a coastal trap for fine-grained, organic-rich gas-generator sediments, bordered by coarser gas-free sediments.