Resource Potential and Impact for Environment and Disaster of Gas Hydrates on Continental Slope off Abashiri, the Okhotsk Sea

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25289142
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Geotechnical engineering
• Research Institution: Kitami Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: YAMASHITA Satoshi 北見工業大学, 工学部, 教授 (00174673)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SHOJI Hithoshi 北見工業大学, 工学部, 特任教授 (50201562) ; TAKAHASHI Nobuo 北見工業大学, 学長 (20108187) ; MINAMI Hirotsugu 北見工業大学, 工学部, 教授 (40241426) ; HACHIKUBO Akihiro 北見工業大学, 工学部, 教授 (50312450) ; KAWAGUCHI Takayuki 北見工業大学, 工学部, 准教授 (20310964) ; SAKAGAMI Hirotoshi 北見工業大学, 工学部, 助教 (70271757) ; KATAOKA Satsuki 神戸大学, 大学院・工学研究科, 助教 (50552080) ; YAMASAKI Shintaro 北見工業大学, 工学部, 助教 (40584602)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: メタンハイドレート / 海洋資源 / 海洋探査 / 地盤工学 / 物性試験

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, to clarify the distribution of gas-hydrate and its formative environment of seabed methane, and to evaluate the potential as resource of gas-hydrate, the geologic surveys were conducted by some cruises covering a wide area of continental slope off Abashiri, the Okhotsk Sea. The conducted investigations are the seismic geologic survey, the bathymetry and the gas plume observation by an echo sounder, and core sampling of sea-bottom sediments. Moreover, to examine the soil properties of sea bottom sediments, some kinds of shipboard tests and physical properties tests were performed for the samples.
A survey of the Okhotsk Sea offshore of Abashiri found more than 250 locations of gas plume from the seabed, and gas-hydrates were successfully sampled. The presence of BSR was confirmed in a stretch of sea where seismic survey was performed, thus indicating the widespread presence of gas hydrates offshore of Abashiri in the Okhotsk Sea.

Free Research Field

地盤工学