Bornholm Basin, Belt Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak

This area covers a broad range of sites ideal for the study of

typical sub-surface methane barriers,

gas-charged sediments without apparent methane escape, and

migrating bubbles and a near-surface methane front.

In connection with detailed acoustic sea floor mapping in the region by the METROL partner GEUS, extensive information is already available on the distribution of gas in the sediments. Deep and shallow seismic data as well as deep drillings have provided an exellent background information on subsurface geology including faults and shallow gas reservoirs. In METROL, optimisation of acoustic methods for the mapping of gas concentrations and sub-bottom depth of gas bubbles will be performed in northern Kattegat, which offers a wide range of gas occurrencies in different types of sediments. Slope instability may be reponsible for many of the gas-escape phenomena on the southern slope of Skagerrak. These have been partly mapped during earlier studies.