Investigating a Potential Link between Seafloor Pockmarks, Gas Hydrates and Offshore Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand

Numerous large pockmark structures found on the slope of the Chatham Rise and Canterbury Bight off the east coast of New Zealand have been examined. Using a variety of techniques, we test a hypothesis of pockmark formation that involves the dissociation of hydrates on a glacial timescale (Davy et al. 2010), estimate the timing of pockmark formation, and investigate the possible link between gas hydrates and hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Canterbury and Great South basins.