"Methane exploded from Arctic sea-floor as Ice Age ended" Topic

"Huge craters in the floor of the Arctic Ocean are the collapsed remains of methane domes which exploded after the last Ice Age as the glaciers above them retreated, research suggests. Even now, some 11,600 years after the last gas domes burst, methane is still seeping out of the sea floor.

The methane explosions, which created craters up to 1 kilometre wide in an area that was once solid ice, but is now the northern Barents Sea off the coast of Norway, are not merely a geological curiosity. "These are processes that could take place in front of contemporary ice sheets," says Karin Andreassen, a marine geologist and geophysicist at the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate in Tromsų, Norway, who led the study, published in Science1. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, so it is tempting to speculate that large seafloor explosions might contribute to global warming. But so far there is little evidence for this, as it is not clear if the gas reaches the atmosphere…."
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Amicalement
Armand

An Earth toot?

Dan

Dan, I was thinking the same as you. Should I be worried?

It appears that these domes were in place for some time before the explosions totally rectum.

Bowman, you should be "terrified, mortified, petrified, stupefied"! :)

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Dan
PS. I kinda like this side of you. Wait, should I be worried I just said that? Man, I need some sleep.

Zone,

Lol. I can tell I'm not awake yet, because I didn't catch that until now. You are baaaad.

Dan

So… at the end… you two…? (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I just returned from a trip to Bermuda. Most of the island is volcanic rock with raised limestone formations. In such volcanic areas we have methane and other noxious gases trapped just under the bedrock. The locals and some others say that methane "burps" from the ocean floor may be one of the causes of the high incidence of lost and sunken ships in the area. As the bubbles begin to surface they expand in volume, due to Boyle's Law. Once they reach the surface they can be truly huge. Big enough to swallow a small boat, or at least kill the sailors through hypoxia.

I have no idea if this is a valid theory (my baloney detector is going off), but this thread reminded me of the stories I heard on my trip.

As an aside, the waters around the island itself are very shallow, with enormous limestone and volcanic rock formations just under the surface of the water. I would expect that caused a LOT of the nautical misadventures attributed to the Bermuda triangle.

I think Mythbusters put that bubbles vs buoyancy question to the test a few years ago.

Dan

Ya too bad the "Earth Farts sink Ships" doesn't make sense.

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That would make for an awesome propaganda poster slogan!

Dan