Seismic Evidence for Sustained Gas Migration in a Serpentinizing Aquifer

Seismic Evidence for Sustained Gas Migration in a Serpentinizing Aquifer | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Seismic Evidence for Sustained Gas Migration in a Serpentinizing Aquifer Tianze Liu, Chao Liang, John Aiken, Wenbo Wu, Peter Kelemen, Robert Sohn This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7217354/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract The production and transport of hydrogen during low-temperature peridotite alteration are essential for topics ranging from the origin of life to alternative energies, but are challenging to detect and monitor in situ . We present evidence from an ultra-dense geophone and borehole-hydrophone array at the Oman Drilling Program Multi-Borehole Observatory that gas fluxes from low-temperature alteration generated harmonic tremors that persisted for nine months of observation. The tremors consist of twelve harmonic modes with time-varying frequencies up to ~ 191 Hz, including a robust diurnal frequency variation of ~ 0.1%. The tremors are most likely generated by the resonance of a two-phase (gas and water) fluid in a meter-scale fracture in the aquifer. The fluid needs to contain at least 70% gas by volume (~ 10 − 4 –10 − 3 by mass) to generate the observed quality factors and frequencies of the tremor signals. Our results indicate that low-temperature peridotite alteration generates sustained free-gas transport through well-established flow paths within the fracture network, while suggesting that seismological techniques may be promising tools for characterizing these processes. Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Seismology Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Geophysics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files geologysupplementv15clean.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7217354","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":499660595,"identity":"122a49f2-d596-402f-8577-845dcfc415e1","order_by":0,"name":"Tianze 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We present evidence from an ultra-dense geophone and borehole-hydrophone array at the Oman Drilling Program Multi-Borehole Observatory that gas fluxes from low-temperature alteration generated harmonic tremors that persisted for nine months of observation. The tremors consist of twelve harmonic modes with time-varying frequencies up to ~\u0026thinsp;191 Hz, including a robust diurnal frequency variation of ~\u0026thinsp;0.1%. The tremors are most likely generated by the resonance of a two-phase (gas and water) fluid in a meter-scale fracture in the aquifer. The fluid needs to contain at least 70% gas by volume (~\u0026thinsp;10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;4\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026ndash;10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e by mass) to generate the observed quality factors and frequencies of the tremor signals. 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