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Clathrate eustasy: Methane hydrate melting as a mechanism for geologically rapid sea-level fall Clathrate eustasy: Methane hydrate melting as a mechanism for geologically rapid sea-level fall

Although submarine methane hydrates or clathrates have been highlighted as potential amplifiers of modern global climate change and associated glacio-eustatic sea-level rise, their potential role in sea-level fall has not been appreciated. Recent estimates of the total volume occupied by gas hydrates in marine sediments vary 20-fold, from 1.2 × 1014 to 2.4 × 1015 m3. Using a specific...
Authors
J.F. Bratton

Plate deformation at depth under northern California: Slab gap or stretched slab? Plate deformation at depth under northern California: Slab gap or stretched slab?

Plate kinematic interpretations for northern California predict a gap in the underlying subducted slab caused by the northward migration of the Pacific-North America-Juan de Fuca triple junction. However, large-scale decompression melting and asthenospheric upwelling to the base of the overlying plate within the postulated gap are not supported by geophysical and geochemical observations...
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, N. Shimizu, P.C. Molzer
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