Outcropping or near
sea-floor gas hydrates have
been identified in the Carolina Rise and
Blake Ridge
intersection, Gulf of Mexico
(MacDonald et al., 1994), the Barbados accretionary complex (Olu et
al., 1996),
the Barents Sea (Egorov et al., 1999), and the Cascadia margin off
Oregon
(Suess et al., 1999; Sahling et al., 2002). These
areas are represented on the map below in red. Deeper gas hydrate
deposits are much more extensive, but locations highlighted are
where there is an expression of the hydrate on the seafloor. The
depth of these sights can vary depending on the depth of the hydrate
stability zone at that location. The area off of the Bahamas
sampled was at a depth of 2154 m (Van Dover et al. 2003) whereas the deposits in the Gulf of
Mexico were at 540 m (Fisher et al. 2000).
