Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872

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Marine and Petroleum Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpetgeo

Mud volcanoes and gas hydrates in the Anaximander mountains

(Eastern Mediterranean Sea)
V. Lykousis a, *, S. Alexandri a, J. Woodside b, G. de Lange c, A. Dählmann c, C. Perissoratis d, K. Heeschen f,
Chr. Ioakim d, D. Sakellariou a, P. Nomikou a, G. Rousakis a, D. Casas e, D. Ballas a, G. Ercilla e
a
Marine Geology, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 47km, Athens-Sounio Avenue, Anavyssos, 19013 Athens, Attiki, Greece
b
Centre for Marine Earth Sciences, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
c
Faculty of Geosciences, Department of Earth Sciences – Geochemistry, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
d
Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Athens, Greece
e
Institute of Marine Sciences, Department of Marine Geology, Barcelona, Spain
f
NOCS, Southampton, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Detailed multibeam, sedimentological, and geophysical surveys provide ample new data to confirm that
Received 15 October 2007 the Anaximander Mountains (Eastern Mediterranean) are an important area for active mud volcanism
Received in revised form 30 April 2008 and gas hydrate formation. More than 3000 km of multibeam track length was acquired during two
Accepted 29 May 2008
recent missions and 80 gravity and box cores were recovered. Morphology and backscatter data of the
Available online 6 June 2008
study area have better resolution than previous surveys, and very detailed morphology maps have been
made of the known targeted mud volcanoes (Amsterdam, Kazan and Kula), especially the Amsterdam
Keywords:
‘‘crater’’ and the related mud breccia flows. Gas hydrates collected repeatedly from a large area of Am-
Eastern Mediterranean
Anaximander Mountains
sterdam mud volcano at a sub-bottom depth of around 0.3–1.5 m resemble compacted snow and have
Mud volcanoes a rather flaky form. New gas hydrate sites were found at Amsterdam mud volcano, including the mud
Gas hydrates flow sloping off to the south. Gas hydrates sampled for the first time at Kazan mud volcano are dispersed
throughout the core samples deeper than 0.3 m and display a ‘rice’-like appearance. Relative chronology
and AMS dating of interbedded pelagic sediments (Late Holocene hemipelagic, sapropel layer S1 and ash
layers) within the mud flows indicate that successive eruptions of Kula mud volcano have a periodicity of
about 5–10 kyrs. New mud volcanoes identified on the basis of multibeam backscatter intensity were
sampled, documented as active and named ‘‘Athina’’ and ‘‘Thessaloniki’’. Gas hydrates were sampled also
in Thessaloniki mud volcano, the shallowest (1264 m) among all the active Mediterranean sites, at the
boundary of the gas hydrate stability zone. Biostratigraphical analyses of mud breccia clasts indicated
that the source of the subsurface sedimentary sequences consists of Late Cretaceous limestones, Pa-
leocene siliciclastic rocks, Eocene biogenic limestones and Miocene mudstones. Rough estimations of the
total capacity of the Anaximander mud volcanoes in methane gas are 2.56–6.40 km3.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Mud volcanoes (MVs) are the most important pathway for
degassing of deeply buried sediments and are mainly found around
subduction zones and orogenic belts where lateral tectonic com-
pressional stress is dominant (Milkov, 2000; Kopf, 2002). Recent
estimations of methane flux from shallow offshore mud volcanoes
range from 0.42 to 0.96 Mt/yr, which is almost the 10% of the total
global CH4 flux from the onshore–offshore mud volcanoes (6–9 Mt/
yr after Etiope and Milkov, 2004). High seafloor methane fluxes
are associated with the mud volcanoes as well as with the ac-
companying cold vents and seeps (Charlou et al., 2003). The
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ30 22910 76380; fax: þ30 22910 76347.
E-mail address: vlikou@ath.hcmr.gr (V. Lykousis).
available gas provides energy for a rich benthic ecology, which
includes chemosynthetic symbiotic fauna (Olu-Le Roy et al., 2004).
Carbonate crusts are also formed by anaerobic oxidation of meth-
ane in these environments (Aloisi et al., 2002).
Mud volcanoes are widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean
and may host large masses of solid gas hydrates of potentially high
economical interest or/and may represent significant sources of
natural pollutants (e.g. hydrocarbons) (Woodside et al., 1998;
Mascle et al., 1999). Mud volcanism associated with the Mediter-
ranean Ridge is initiated when overpressured fluid muds origi-
nating within the décollement zone, rise through the deformed
sediments of the Ridge and reach the seafloor (Robertson et al.,
1996; Robertson and Kopf, 1998). Brine lakes have also been ob-
served mainly in association with mud volcanoes or along fault
lineaments where Messinian evaporites are present in the

0264-8172/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.05.002
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
subsurface (Woodside et al., 1999; MEDINAUT/MEDINETH Ship-
board Scientific Parties, 2000; Woodside and Volgin, 1996). The
faults can serve as channels for seawater to circulate through the
upper sediments to the Messinian salt and back, or for hypersaline
water to flow to the seafloor.
Since the initial discovery of mud volcanoes in the Eastern
Mediterranean during the late 1970s (Cita et al., 1981), mud
volcanoes, mud diapirism and fluid seeps have been found in
a number of different environments in the area. Most have been
found on the accretionary prism of the Hellenic arc (Mediterra-
nean Ridge) and within the Anaximander Mountains (Woodside
et al., 1998); but they have also been found from offshore Sicily
(Holland et al., 2003) to the Nile deep sea fan (Loncke, 2002;
Loncke et al., 2004), as well as along the Florence Rise (Zitter
et al., 2003) and in the SE Aegean sea (Perissoratis et al., 1998).
International interest resulted in ODP drilling on the Napoli and
Milano mud volcanoes in the Olimpi Field on the central Medi-
terranean Ridge in 1995 (Cita et al., 1996; Robertson et al., 1998).
To some degree the increased interest was fuelled by the inferred
presence of gas hydrates based on chlorinity decrease and d18O
increase in pore waters from Milano mud volcano (De Lange and
Brumsack, 1998), whereas only a recent isotopic study showed
that the fresher pore water originates from clay mineral dia-
genesis rather than gas hydrate dissociation (Dählmann and de
Lange, 2003). However, gas hydrates were sampled in 1996 at
Kula mud volcano in the Anaximander Mountains (Woodside
et al., 1997, 1998). The discovery of mud volcanoes in the Anax-
imander Mountains was a result of a multibeam survey con-
ducted as part of the Dutch ANAXIPROBE project in 1995 and
from a follow-up survey in 1996 with seafloor sampling and
deep-tow side-scans imagery (Woodside et al., 1997, 1998).
Following these investigations the latest European effort re-
garding the gas hydrate research in the Eastern Mediterranean was
Fig. 1. Generalized geotectonic and bathymetric map of the Eastern Mediterranean. Relative location of the Anaximander Mountains is indicated (modified after MEDINAUT/
MEDINETH Shipboard Scientific Parties, 2000; Ten Veen et al., 2004).
855
the EU funded project ‘ANAXIMANDER’ (EVK3-2001-0001233000)
(Perissoratis et al., 2003). This paper presents the major results of
the two ANAXIMANDER project cruises in 2003 and 2004, based on
the interpretation of the detailed multibeam mapping, the exten-
sive seabed sampling and the site survey seismic profiling. The
paper demonstrates that active mud volcanism and the presence of
gas hydrates in this sector of Eastern Mediterranean are consider-
ably more extensive than previously thought, with several new
sites where gas hydrates were sampled.
2. Geological setting
The Anaximander Mountains comprise a group of three main
seamounts located between the Cyprus and Hellenic arcs (Fig. 1).
They are currently undergoing a neotectonic deformation charac-
terized by strike slip faulting (Zitter et al., 2003, 2006; Ten Veen
et al., 2004) between the westerly moving Anatolian Plate and the
African Plate (McClusky et al., 2002). The Anaximander Mountains
are described as large faulted and tilted blocks that originally were
geologically continuous with SW Turkey. They are composed of
three distinct seamounts (SMs): Anaximander in the west, Anax-
imenes in the south and Anaxagoras in the east (Fig. 2). Anax-
imander and Anaximenes SMs can be correlated with the neritic
limestones of the Bey Dağları Unit of SW Turkey (Poisson, 1977;
Gutnic et al., 1979), whereas the Anaxagoras SM is a continuation of
the ophiolitic Antalya Nappes Complex (Gutnic et al., 1979; Rob-
ertson and Woodcock, 1980; Woodside et al., 1997; Ten Veen et al.,
2004; Zitter et al., 2005). The whole area has been undergoing
complex multiphase deformation in its neotectonic development
(Ten Veen et al., 2004). A kinematic change in the latest Miocene,
related to the onset of the westward motion of Anatolia, marked
the start of differential subsidence that resulted in the formation
of the Anaximander Mountains (Ten Veen et al., 2004). These
856 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 2. Bathymetric map and major morphological features of the Anaximander Mountains and the surrounding basins that was acquired during the 1995 multibeam survey by R/V
L’Atalante (Woodside et al., 1997, 1998). The area enclosed by the red frame was surveyed in detail by multibeam of R/V AEGAEO during the Anaximander cruises. Contour interval
100 m.
post-Miocene horizontal and vertical movements are a response
both to their southeastward rifting and to compression between
the African and Anatolian Plates along the Florence Rise (Woodside
et al., 2002). Pliocene–Quaternary deformation raised transten-
sional stresses in the western Anaximander Mountains (N70 E
sinistral shear in combination with N20 E normal faulting that
generated long crosscutting graben-like depressions), but more
transpressional tectonics in the eastern Anaximander Mountains
(N150 E striking normal and/or oblique normal fault zones, which
lack significant evidence of strike slip deformation) (Ten Veen et al.,
2004; Zitter et al., 2006). The present-day structure of the Anax-
imander region reflects major rifting, but their neotectonic style
resulted from plate convergence (Woodside, 1996). Thus, the
Anaximander area is affected by a complex array of crosscutting
faults, inferred to indicate the interference of wide wrench zones
accommodating the relative plate motions between Africa and
Eurasia (Ten Veen et al., 2004; Zitter et al., 2003).
3. Previous surveys
The mud volcanoes of Anaximander Mountains were un-
expectedly discovered in 1995 during a detailed multibeam
bathymetric survey with the swath system Simrad EM-12 aboard
French research vessel ‘L’Atalante’ in the framework of the Dutch
ANAXIPROBE project. Fig. 2 shows the area surveyed in 1995 as
color-coded bathymetry, with a 100 m grid interval and 100 m
contouring. This map depicts the whole Anaximander complex in
its surrounding environment that is, the Turkish Continental Mar-
gin and the Finike Basin in the north, the Mediterranean Ridge
Province and the Florence Rise in the south, the eastern part of the
Rhodos Basin in the west and the western part of Antalya Basin in
the southeast. In the Anaximander complex, the three individual
SM can be clearly seen: the Anaximander SM, within a sharply
asymmetrical high with an elongated summit with a shallowest
depth of around 1250 m along its southern margin, Anaximenes
SM, with a slightly northwestward concave form occupying the
smallest area but presenting the largest relief, rising up to 680 m
depth, and the Anaxagoras SM with a rather flat summit area in the
north central part and a shallowest depth of 930 m. Between the
Anaximander and Anaximenes SMs an extensive (w2200 km2)
multilobe, north and southwestward-flowing debris flow unit ‘‘the
Great Slide’’ (Woodside et al., 1998; Ten Veen et al., 2004) is clearly
distinguished.
In 1996, the combined expedition of the ANAXIPROBE project
and the International Training Through Research programme (TTR-
6), aboard the Russian research vessel R/V ‘Gelendzhik’, used the
MAK-1 deep-tow side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profiling and de-
tailed dredging and sampling, to verify the presence of the mud
volcanoes, and sampled the first gas hydrates in the Mediterranean,
from the Kula mud volcano (Woodside et al., 1997, 1998). Further-
more in 1998, the French–Dutch MEDINAUT programme using the
submersible Nautile, deployed by the French research ship ‘Nadir’,
performed a closer examination and took site-specific samples
(Foucher et al., 1999; MEDINAUT/MEDINETH Shipboard Scientific
Parties, 2000; Olu-Le Roy et al., 2004; Charlou et al., 2003). The
following year, 1999, the Dutch–French MEDINETH and Dutch
SMILABLE cruises with the Russian R/V ‘Professor Logachev’, in-
vestigated mud volcanism through high resolution side-scan sonar
(O.R.E. Tech), sediment coring and specific measurements of
methane in the water column above the mud volcanoes (MEDI-
NAUT/MEDINETH Shipboard Scientific Parties, 2000). Several
mound-like features, expressed as high reflectivity patches on
Simrad EM-12D backscatter intensity maps, were examined, but
only a few were proven by sampling to be mud volcanoes at that
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
time (Amsterdam, Kula, Kazan, Tuzlukush, San Remo, etc., Wood-
side et al., 1998); and two of them were identified as bearing gas
hydrates – the Amsterdam and Kula mud volcanoes. Gas hydrates,
first sampled from Kula mud volcano during the 1996 ANAXIP-
ROBE/TTR-6, were sampled again at Kula during the 1999 MEDI-
NAUT/MEDINETH expedition (MEDINAUT/MEDINETH Shipboard
Scientific Parties, 2000), as well as at Amsterdam mud volcano.
4. Data and methods
The data presented in this study were acquired during the two
cruises of the European ANAXIMANDER project in the Anax-
imander Mountains, in May 2003 and October–November 2004.
The first expedition (May 2003) provided detailed swath bathym-
etry and backscattering over the central and eastern parts of the
Anaximander Mountains, focusing specifically on the sites of pre-
viously identified mud volcanism (Amsterdam, Kazan, Kula)
(Lykousis et al., 2003). On these mud volcanoes, selected seismic
reflection profiles and sediment sampling were carried out in order
to better evaluate the most active sites bearing gas hydrates. During
the second cruise (27 October–12 November 2004) the mapping of
the whole eastern area of the Anaximander Mountains was com-
pleted prior to specific sampling at the sites of gas hydrate occur-
rence, as well as to explore new active mud volcanoes.
The seafloor bathymetry/backscatter survey was carried out
using a SEABEAM 2120 swath system installed aboard the Greek
research vessel ‘‘AEGAEO’’ of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Re-
search. The SEABEAM 2120 is a hull-mounted system operating at
20 kHz to work at water depths not exceeding 6000 m, for which the
swath width varies from about 7.5 to 1.15 times the water depth for
depths of 1000–5000 m, respectively. It has an angular coverage
sector of 150 with 149 beams of 1.8  1.8 spaced 1 apart, thus
giving about 50% overlap. A total track length of more than 3000 km
was acquired during the two cruises, at an averaged vessel speed of
10 knots. Taking into account variable swath coverage from less than
3 km for depths less than 1000 m to more than 6 km for depths over
2000 m, a total area of 7500 km2 was mapped. In order to best ex-
ploit the morphology of mud volcanoes and construct more detailed
bathymetric maps for the specific areas, additional intense swath
data were obtained at 5 knots, simultaneously with the high reso-
lution seismic reflection profiling.
The source for the high resolution seismic profiling system used
during the first expedition was a 10 in3 air gun system (PAR BOLT
US) with a dominant frequency of 300–400 Hz, triggered at 2 s
intervals; and as receiver a single channel streamer towed at 50 m
was used with an analog recorder. For the second mission, the same
system was used with a 40 in3 air gun firing every 4 s, but with
digital data acquisition, using a Delph (Triton Ellics) system. The
seismic data were filtered with a band pass filter of 50–600 Hz via
a Krohn-Hite analog filter and were further processed and dis-
played using the software of the Triton Ellics system.
In both expeditions, a total of 64 sediment gravity cores and 17
box cores were recovered at ‘‘targeted’’ sites, selected primarily on
the assessment of their backscattering intensity map. Cores were
recovered with high winch speed and the core liners used were
pre-split in order to reduce core recovery time and to maximise gas
hydrate preservation. The total time from the start of coring until
the split core was open on deck was about 35–45 min.
5. Data interpretation and results
5.1. Bathymetry-seabed morphology and backscatter imagery
The first detailed bathymetric and associated seafloor back-
scatter imagery maps of the study area that were made in 1995
with the swath data of Simrad EM-12D (Fig. 2), offered a more
857
accurate morphology, and provided also, for the first time, a way of
determining the distribution of soft sediment and bedrock expo-
sures on the seafloor by means of backscatter intensity (Woodside,
1996).
The recently obtained bathymetry/backscattering data with
a higher resolution reveal not only a more detailed seafloor mor-
phology and seabed acoustic signature, but were also used for
partial reinterpretation of previously obtained data. As a result new
previously unknown mound-shaped targets were identified, some
without a very high intensity values on the backscatter imagery
map. The mound-shaped bathymetric features with a high back-
scatter signature became targets for further exploration (detailed
bathymetry, sediment core sampling). From these sites, two high
backscatter targets were identified on the SEABEAM 2120 back-
scattering map and subsequently were confirmed by sampling
(ANAXIMANDER cruises, 2003, 2004) to be previously unknown
active mud volcanoes subsequently named Athina (Lykousis et al.,
2004) and Thessaloniki MVs (Fig. 3).
The bathymetric map of the overall area (Fig. 3) was created
with 100 m grid interval while the mud volcano site-specific maps
are of 50 m or 20 m grid resolution. Anaximenes SM, in the central
part, demonstrates a simple SW–NE trending morphostructural
line as an elongated curved mountain range. It displays strong relief
of more than 1300 m, with steep flanks towards both the northwest
and the southeast. In contrast, Anaxagoras SM (eastwards), exhibits
a rectangular form in plan view (roughly 30 km wide and over
55 km long) oriented N–NW to S–SE, with an overall relief of less
than 1000 m, and a rough irregular topography. Woodside et al.
(2000) and Zitter et al. (2003) inferred that this mountain is an
elevated part of the Florence Rise, defined by NW–SE and NE–SW
striking faults. Anaxagoras SM exhibits three principal morpho-
logical structures that are distinguished in the north, the south and
the southeastern parts (Fig. 3). The large northern structure is an
arcuate-like ridge extending upward to water depths less than
1000 m with a plateau at the shallowest part. The Kula mud volcano
has developed on a small plateau midway down the northern flank
of this ridge (Fig. 12) (Woodside et al., 1997). Downslope move-
ments along the northwestern slope of the ridge are shown by
slumps and by narrow erosional channels terminating northwest-
wards in a deep flat depression. The southern structure appears as
an elongated SW–NE ridge with moderate slopes, referred to by
Zitter et al. (2006) as Faulted Ridge. It is arranged along a major-
fault zone that transects the southern part of Anaxagoras SM ter-
minating at the eastern side after crossing the eastern ridge. In the
southern part of Anaxagoras SM, the Kazan, Tuzlukush, and Saint
Ouen l’Aumône MVs are located (Ten Veen et al., 2004). According
to Ten Veen et al. (2004), Kazan is transected by at least six fault
orientations, suggesting complex deformation at the junction of
major N70 E and N120 E striking fault zones.
Northwestwards of Anaxagoras and northwards of Anaximenes
SMs, a sinuous linear depression is formed (Fig. 2). It starts from the
steep northwestern face of Anaximenes SM with a width of 300 m
follows a meandering northeastwards course broadening to almost
10 km and discharges northwards between the Antalya and Finike
basins. This depression separates the large debris flow known as
the ‘‘Great Slide’’ (Woodside et al., 1998) from Anaximenes and
Anaxagoras SMs (Fig. 2). It is postulated that some extension has
occurred along this boundary, and that the meandering is partially
a result of cross-faulting, similar to major SE–NW faults separating
Anaxagoras and Anaximenes SMs (Ten Veen et al., 2004). A system
of deep canyons and slumps, possibly caused by mass failure,
originated on the NW cliffs of Anaxagoras, is developed at the
eastern side of the channel over a distance of about 30 km.
The termination of the Mediterranean ridge can be detected
south of the Anaximenes–Anaxagoras SMs complex in the form of
a relatively flat, slightly wavy (folded) area lying at about 2800 m
858 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 3. Detailed 3-D multibeam image of the investigated area (100 m grid interval). The relative location of three known (Amsterdam, Kazan, Kula) and newly discovered (Athina,
Thessaloniki) mud volcanoes is shown (20–50 m grid interval). For regional location see Fig. 2.
water depth. It is clearly separated from the southern boundary of
the Anaximenes SM by a deep trough oriented across the NE
striking fault zone. The Amsterdam MV is situated in the vicinity of
this fault zone (Ten Veen et al., 2004) (Fig. 3). Further northwards,
at the base of the eastern steep slopes of Anaximenes and alongside
a NE–SW lineament the newly discovered Athina and Thessaloniki
MVs are located (Fig. 3).
The seabed backscatter intensity field of the whole Anax-
imander Mountains in general reveals a series of circular, semi-
circular, linear or curvilinear features. The circular features with
high backscatter correspond either to already known mud vol-
canoes (Amsterdam and Kazan), to the mud volcanoes discovered
during the R/V Aegaeo missions (Athina and Thessaloniki) or to
potential mud volcanoes yet to be checked and confirmed by
sampling. Circular features with a moderately high backscatter
but presenting a gentle doming of the seafloor were identified in
two main areas. One in the north corresponds to the Kula–San
Remo mud volcanic field, while the other lies in the vicinity of
the Amsterdam MV field (Fig. 4). In this area several small
domelike features can be distinguished, but not all of them have
a pronounced acoustic signal (Fig. 4, 5). Widespread areas of
mottled backscatter in the Anaximander Mountains are generally
found to represent debris flows associated with slumps. Linear or
curvilinear features with intermediate to high backscatter rec-
ognized across the whole surveyed area can usually be inter-
preted as fault escarpments exposed at the seafloor and could
therefore be considered recent and probably currently active.
Furthermore, texture analysis of the processed backscatter sea-
floor images, based on the construction of gray level co-occur-
rence matrices (GLCM) with the derivation of texture-dependent
measures, and a subsequent classification approach, was applied
for the area around several of the Anaximander MVs to provide
a qualitative discrimination and classification of the seabed cover
(Alexandri, 2007).
5.2. Amsterdam mud volcano
The Amsterdam MV, the most prominent mud volcano in the
Anaximander Mountains, is located on the southern flanks of the
Anaximenes SM (Fig. 2). It appears as a flat-topped circular-shaped
mound, extending over an area of about 6 km2, at a water depth on
its summit of 2025 m (Fig. 4). At the periphery of the mound, a ring-
shaped seafloor depression is formed, creating a relatively deep
(50 m) moat northwards. Detailed morphological analysis of the
Amsterdam MV indicated that there are two discrete craters the
‘‘external’’ and the ‘‘internal’’ that merge to the southeast (Fig. 4, 6).
Both are sub-circular with dimensions of 6  5 km and 4  3.3 km,
respectively, slightly elongated in an N–S direction. One common
morphological characteristic is that the craters are open in the
southernmost part and directly connected to the slope with
a 400 m wide canyon extending down to a depth if 2250 m. The
internal part of the ‘‘inner’’ crater displays less than 40 m of relief
(Fig. 6).
The backscatter intensity map of the Amsterdam area (Fig. 5)
shows the high backscatter associated with the central active part
of Amsterdam MV, and the presence of extensive mud breccia
flows. The major flow spread southwards over a distance of more
than 7 km (down to 2400 m) with an aerial extend of about 20 km2.
It is clearly shown (Fig. 5) that the mud breccia, extruded from the
Amsterdam mud volcano and formed the most recent gravity flow
that moved downslope through the canyon-like southern outlet of
the Amsterdam MV. An area of slightly lower backscatter to the
northeast of this mud flow is interpreted as an ‘‘older’’ mud breccia
flow. This event, buried now under a thin hemipelagic sediment
drape (as verified by our core sampling), probably resulted from
earlier eruptions occurring in the ‘‘external’’ (older) crater.
Westwards of Amsterdam MV, at the edge of the NE–SW
trending slope (and along trend with the inferred fault described
earlier), a vaguely circular edifice was revealed, with remarkable
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872 859

Fig. 4. Regional and focused 3-D map of the Amsterdam MV showing topographic details of the actual mud volcano and the greater area like the ‘‘Collapse structure’’ W–SW from
Amsterdam MV.

small-scale seafloor roughness, and a semi-circular seafloor de- appears in the mud volcanoes of Gulf of Cadiz and also has been
pression. It looks like a twin feature of Amsterdam, but its inner attributed to slumping (Somoza et al., 2003). Alternatively, the
wall appears to be steeper and more complicated, resembling whole structure suggests the presence of an older more mature
slump-induced topography. Similar slump scar-like topography (inactive or dormant), mud volcano that may have collapsed during

Fig. 5. Backscatter 3-D image showing the active areas of the Amsterdam MV (orange) and the downslope dispersion of the mud breccia flows. The ‘‘older’’ mud flow to the E–NE is
indicated by yellow color.
860 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 6. Microtopographic shaded relief map of the Amsterdam ‘‘crater’’ and central dome with the sediment core locations. The yellow stars indicate new sites of gas hydrate
recovery. Contour interval is 5 m.
or after earlier eruptions. Later it would have been buried by pelagic
sediments and slump deposits. Nevertheless, the detailed 3-D view
of the backscatter image, draped on the bathymetry, gives the
impression that the rough textured part of this feature has been cut
out from the upper part of the slope (about 30 m above) and has
crept southward, creating a semi-crescent front of a submarine
slide. The presence of the major NE–SW oriented fault suggests that
the slope is probably unstable here. Downslope sedimentary
movements might be expected to disrupt the pathways for mud
volcanic eruptions, leading to episodic eruptions large enough to
penetrate the overlying sediment.
A series of 27 box and gravity sediment cores were recovered
from the greater area of Amsterdam MV (Fig. 6). Most of the sedi-
ment cores (24) were retrieved from the central mound which
appears to be the most recent expression of the activity of the mud
volcano. All the cores display typical dark gray/olive gray mud
breccias without evidence of pelagic sedimentation, thus con-
firming the recent activity of the Amsterdam MV. The mud breccia
is rich in mud and rock clasts, of 0.2–15 cm in diameter, and is
characterized by a high content of clay and silt ranging between
67–56% and 19–30%, respectively, with a percentage (of about 14%)
of sand and gravel. The fauna sampled from the box cores consist
mostly of Bivalves (Mytilidae, Vesicomyidae, Lucinidae and Thya-
siridae), Gastropods and Polychaetes that are similar to those
identified previously in the Eastern Mediterranean (Olu-Le Roy
et al., 2004).
After the first sampling of gas hydrates at Kula MV in 1996, two
sites with gas hydrates were repeatedly sampled since 1999, during
the MEDINETH and SMILABLE cruises with R/V Professor Logachev
and during the two cruises of R/V Aegaeo. During the Aegaeo ex-
peditions, seven cores containing gas hydrates from five new sites
were recovered from Amsterdam MV (Fig. 6). One of these sites was
from the major mud breccia flow south of the mud volcano, which
emphasizes the broad extent of subsurface gas hydrates in the
Anaximander MV. This probably implies that a methane gas supply
from deeper formations is located not only within the central active
part of mud volcano but occurs also below the southern slope of the
Anaximander MV. The gas hydrates appeared as compacted crys-
tals, at relatively shallow depths below the seabed (0.3–1.5 m down
core) with diameters ranging from 0.3 to 8 cm (Fig. 7). These crystal
aggregates display a flaky or lump-like nodular external configu-
ration and are randomly dispersed within the sediment core. The
typical gas-release structure (empty pore space) that is visible in all
the sediment cores deeper than 0.1–0.2 m below the mud line is
indicative of the high amounts of methane gas in the subsurface
mud breccia sediments.
Air gun seismic profiles across the Amsterdam MV reveal the
high amplitude hyperbolic reflection character of the central crater
region while the seismic character of mud flow structure appears
rather chaotic or structureless (Fig. 8). The most important sub-
bottom feature is a Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR) that is rec-
ognized about 55 ms (about 40 m) below the sea bottom. Image
processing and analysis of the acoustic signal indicate that the
seismic wave probably has the same polarity as the seafloor re-
flector. Lack of polarity reversal at the BSR means that the reflec-
tivity coefficient is positive, and that the BSR is therefore the result
of a downward increase of the acoustic impedance. The sea bottom
water temperature is 13.75  C and the regional geothermal gradient
is 26–38  C/km (mean about 30  C/km) (Erickson et al., 1977;
Camerlenghi et al., 1995) while laboratory analyses indicated
a methane component of about 97% (Dählmann et al., 2005). Also
taking into account that the base of the gas hydrate (GH) stability
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872 861

Fig. 7. Gas hydrate lump (8  5  4 cm) (center) and broken into pieces (lower) that was recovered from one of the cores from Amsterdam mud volcano. Successive measurements
upon recovery of sediment cores bearing gas hydrates provided minimum temperatures around 3–4  C.

zone is expected around 200 m below the seabed at this depth
(about 2250 m) in the Eastern Mediterranean (Praeg et al., 2007),
this BSR cannot be a record of the base of the GH stability zone, but
could correspond to the upper limit of a potentially discrete GH
layer (as noted, for example, by Woodside et al., 2003 in the Black
Sea). It seems unlikely at this stage of analysis that the BSR could
have a different cause, and sampling of gas hydrates in the mud
flow where it occurs, strengthens the suggestion for a gas hydrate
related origin; however, it is possible that pressure and tempera-
ture dependent diagenesis could promote processes that might be
responsible for such a BSR appearance (Berndt et al., 2004).
The sub-bottom spatial extension of the GH in the ‘‘crater’’ re-
gion and the mud flow is approximately 26–28 km2 based on the
multibeam high backscatter and the sediment core sampling.

Fig. 8. Almost N–S air gun profile crossing the Amsterdam MV and the mud breccia flow to the south (left in figure). Note the potential Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR) about
50 ms below the seabed along the mud flow in the analog and digital (processed) recording.
862 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
5.3. Kazan mud volcano
Kazan MV is an isolated hill with a height of 50 m, lying on the
edge of a relatively flat plateau of 1750 m average depth (Fig. 9). The
plateau lies on the southern flanks of the eastern Anaximander
Mountains, (Anaxagoras SM), and eastwards from a major NW–SE
trending fault zone separating Anaximenes from Anaxagoras SM. It
is an oval 0.6  0.9 km dome aligned in an N–S direction. In the
detailed morphological images the sub-circular structure is rim-
med by a collapse depression.
The backscattered multibeam signal from the mud volcano is
distinctly stronger than from the surrounding area (Fig. 10), but
only within a very limited area around the summit of the mud
volcano, while no extensive flows can be detected on the slopes
beyond. However, a closer view at the backscattering intensity map
of the Kazan mud flow reveals a nice clear tail-like structure, which
is strongly distinguished to the south, suggesting the presence of
a small mud flow. The highest backscatter values correspond to the
summit of the mound which is expected to be more active, while
concentric to this the backscatter variations seem to correspond
with the variations of the morphological slopes. The northern
margin clearly displays two lobate structures, signifying mud flows
from the central dome towards the north.
Twenty sediment cores (17 gravity and three box cores) were
recovered from the Kazan MV during the two surveys (Fig. 11). Gas
hydrates were recovered for the first time at Kazan MV during the
first cruise. Overall, during both missions, gas hydrates were sam-
pled in six gravity and one box corers from four different sites on the
summit. The gas hydrate crystals appeared as small rice-like lumps
and were rather regularly dispersed throughout the sediment ma-
trix at core depths greater than about 0.3 m (inset photo in Fig. 11).
Fig. 9. Regional bathymetric and detailed 3-D map of the Kazan MV.
5.4. Kula mud volcano
The Kula and San Remo mud volcano cluster lies on a small
triangular plateau bounded to the east and south by seamounts at
the northern tip of the Anaxagoras SM range (Fig. 12). Four mound-
type edifices have been defined on the bathymetry map. The
eastern one, closer to the Anaxagoras slope, is an irregular feature
with a summit depth of 1650 m and which continues northeast-
wards as a low elevation ridge. West of it, Kula MV is a larger cir-
cular dome-shaped mount, with a diameter of 1 km and a height of
100 m (Woodside et al., 1998). Northwestwards, a cone-shaped
mound of 50 m height and about 1 km in diameter corresponds to
the San Remo MV (Woodside et al., 1997). The fourth structure, just
northwest of San Remo MV, seems rather like a collapsed mud
volcano where only the crescent western side of the crater wall is
now preserved. Kula and San Remo MVs were originally targeted as
mud volcanoes from their high backscatter signature in Simrad
EM-12 backscatter imagery, and both were confirmed by sampling
to be mud volcanoes (Woodside et al., 1997). The first core from
Kula MV contained small centimeter sized nodules of gas hydrates,
the first gas hydrates to be recovered from the Mediterranean Basin
(Woodside et al., 1997, 1998). Seabeam backscatter is not as strong
over Kula except on the northwest side of the summit of the mud
volcano, and this is where the only recent mud flows were found on
an otherwise smooth dome covered in pelagic sediments (MEDI-
NAUT/MEDINETH Shipboard Scientific Parties, 2000; Charlou et al.,
2003). The San Remo MV which does not exhibit the expected
characteristic high backscatter in the seabeam data seems to be
dormant. In a core retrieved from the San Remo MV (Core TTR-6-
239C), a reddish-brown, poorly sorted, matrix-supported mud
breccia is overlain by a normal pelagic section containing the
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 10. Processed backscatter intensity map and 3-D reflectivity map of the Kazan MV showing the extension of the active field (white and orange, respectively).
sapropels S1, S3 and tephra layers (Woodside et al., 1997) indicating
that the San Remo MV was last active about 80 kyrs BP.
The 27 sediment cores (23 gravity and four box cores) taken
from the Kula MV display both ‘‘pelagic’’ and typical mud volcano
breccia texture (Figs. 13 and 14). The sediment cores recovered from
the summit of the Kula MV show mud breccia to be exposed at the
sea bottom only at the very top of the mud volcano. Cores taken
from the upper sides of the Kula mud volcano have a typical Eastern
Mediterranean hemipelagic vertical sedimentary sequence (Early
Holocene mud, sapropel S1, Late Holocene hemipelagic mud, sur-
face oxidized layer). Both findings indicate that the recent activity is
limited to the very top of the Kula MV as also found by direct
seafloor observation (Zitter et al., 2005). A couple of pelagic cores
also taken from the summit sides display a Late Pleistocene pelagic
sequence (late 21 kyrs) interrupted by 2–4 mud breccia flows, 10–
30 cm thick, that are interbedded in the vertical pelagic sequence
(Fig. 14). AMS dates and the relative position of the mud breccia just
above and below the sapropelic layer S1 (deposited 6.5–9 kyrs BP)
and the Cape Riva (Y-5) ash layer (21 kyrs BP) (Vougioukalakis et al.,
2004) imply reactivation of the Kula MV every 5–10 kyrs.
The mound-like conical external configuration of Kula MV is
illustrated also in the air gun profiles crossing the Kula MV (Fig. 15).
Probably the most interesting feature is the 3–4 conical sub-bottom
reflectors near the summit which resemble buried mud volcanoes
or eruption centers (Fig. 15, arrows).
5.5. Athina mud volcano
The newly discovered Athina MV (Lykousis et al., 2004) is lo-
cated on the southeastern slope of the Anaximenes SM. The whole
topography is rather complicated with steep slopes, two isolated
863
deep basins and two mound-like topographic features along the
top of the rise that separate the two basins (Fig. 16). Both mounds
display at least two distinct summits at water depths of about
1800 m, with a relative height of 10–100 m. Four sediment cores
were recovered from both summits of the northward-located
mound. Typical mud breccia from gravity cores on the southwest-
ern and the northeastern summit confirmed mud volcanism and
active methane seepage. The core from the southwestern summit
(water depth 1798 m) recovered 1 m of mud breccia with a greyish
matrix supporting angular–sub-angular clasts of mudstone of dif-
ferent lithologies and size (0.5–2.5 cm). Porous gas-release struc-
tures appeared towards the middle-lower part of the sediment core
(inset photo in Fig. 16). The soupy structure with high amounts of
water that appeared locally in the middle of the core may be in-
dicative of hydrate dissociation. However, gas hydrates were not
recovered in the Athina MV, possibly due to the limited sampling
efforts. A thin veneer (2–3 cm) of oxidized pelagic sediments covers
the mud breccia in the core taken from the northeastern summit.
This core, taken from the water depth of 1783 m, consisted mostly
of fragments of authigenic carbonate crust, bivalves (Lucinoma
kazani), and worm tubes characteristic of active venting sites (Salas
and Woodside, 2002). Probably this implies that the northeastern
summit is dormant in terms of mud breccia eruption for the past
0.5–1 kyrs. Nevertheless more sediment cores and geochemical
data are needed to identify the activity of the Athina MV.
5.6. Thessaloniki mud volcano
Northeastwards of Athina MV, at a distance of 9 km along the
southeastern slope of the Anaximenes mountain, and at a depth of
1260 m, a small circular dome with a radius of 1.5 km, defines the
864 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872

Fig. 11. Microtopographic map of the Kazan MV summit with sediment core locations and sites of gas hydrate recovery (yellow stars). Snapshot of active gas hydrate dissociation
along core AN07-GC1 (inset photo). Contour interval is 5 m. The split core is 7 cm in diameter.

Fig. 12. Bathymetric map of the Kula–San Remo MVs area and perspective backscatter 3-D view of the Kula MV. Contour interval 20 m.
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 13. Microtopographic shaded relief map of the Kula MV with sediment core sampling locations. Contour interval 5 m.
Thessaloniki mud volcano. It was considered as a potential mud
volcano due to its high backscatter character during the first cruise
(Lykousis et al., 2004) (Fig. 17), and it was surveyed in detail and
identified as an active mud volcano during the second cruise
(Fig. 18).
Four sediment cores were recovered from the Thessaloniki MV,
all with textures of active mud volcanism (mud breccia, gas hy-
drate, dissociation features, etc.). From two of the sediment cores
gas hydrates were collected identifying Thessaloniki as the fourth
mud volcano bearing gas hydrates in the Mediterranean. These
cores contained totally ‘‘soupy’’ sediment with very high water
content and negligible amounts of mud or rock clasts. The gas hy-
drate dissociation features (dewatering, methane gas bubbling)
were visible along the entire core even in the mud that was stuck to
the outer part of the core barrel. Small gas hydrate lumps or flakes
were dispersed in the fluidised mud. This fluidised muddy struc-
ture rich in free methane and small gas hydrate crystals was not
observed previously, at least among the mud volcanoes of the Eu-
ropean margins, indicating freshly emitted mud during very recent
activity.
5.7. Litho-biostratigraphic analyses of mud and rock clasts matrix
The mud volcanoes in the Anaximander Mountains eject
a poorly sorted matrix-supported breccia, containing rock clasts
plucked from formations lying beneath the seafloor; the study of
these clasts can provide ample information for the rock sequences
that underlie the seamounts. The morphology, petrography and
biostratigraphy of the mud breccia clasts from Amsterdam, Kazan
and Kula MVs thus helped in determining the deep stratigraphy
and hence provided a better understanding of the formation and
geological evolution of the mud volcanoes and the greater region of
the Anaximander Mountains. Furthermore, microfacies analyses
(using forams) carried out in thin sections through microscope
865
and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, resulted in a more precise
estimation of the relative age of the source rock formations and
a subsequent determination of the depositional environment dur-
ing rock formation. Although in general, the rock fragments dis-
played similar source rocks among the mud volcanoes (mainly
limestones, sand, silt and claystones), it seems that different rocks
like mudstones and volcanic rock fragments (i.e. ophiolites, ser-
pentinized peridotite, etc) are present mostly in the Kula and partly
in the Kazan mud volcanoes. The planktonic and benthic forami-
nifera assemblages found in the mud breccia matrix are charac-
teristic of Upper Cretaceous, Lower–Middle /Upper Eocene and
Miocene age sequences.
The mud breccia clasts that were described from each mud
volcano include fossiliferous micrite and detrital biomicrite, silt-
stone and siltstone enriched in organic detritus, biocalcarenite,
sedimentary quartzite, mudstone and calcareous mudstone. The
age-dating of these rock fragments indicates Late Cretaceous
limestones, Paleocene siliciclastic rocks, Eocene biogenic lime-
stones and Miocene mudstones. The oldest clasts found in the box
and gravity cores are the foraminiferal wackestones consisting of
planktonic foraminifera of Upper Cretaceous age. These were
sampled in Amsterdam mud volcano (Fig. 19), along with bioclastic
neritic limestones of typical Lower–Middle/Upper Eocene age,
where rich communities of benthic foraminifera were present
(Nummulites gr. laevigatus, N.discorbinus, Gyroidinella magna,
Sphaerogypsina sp., Discocyclina sp., Operculina sp., Amphistegina
sp., Rotaliidae, Globigerinidae) also with Algae of Melobesoideae.
Debris of Lamellibranchs and Echinoderms observed in the fora-
miniferal pack/wackestone containing a rich association of Globi-
gerinidae of Lower/Middle Miocene age were sampled particularly
in Kula mud volcano. The preliminary results of the micro-
palaeontological data from the analyzed clasts of the Anaximander
MVs indicate similarities to those recorded in outcrops of Kaste-
lorizo and Ro Islands, northeast of the Anaximander Mountains
866 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 14. Selected sediment cores from the Kula mud volcano summit indicating dif-
ferent mud flows interbeded with normal Late Pleistocene (postglacial) pelagic sedi-
ments. Relative ages are deduced from the sapropel S1 and tephra Y2 and AMS dating.
For location see Fig. 13.
(Galeos, 1986), dated as Upper Cretaceous to Miocene age. The
above noted fauna is also similar to that presented in the Bey
Dağları and Susu Dağ outcrops of southern Turkey (Bernoulli et al.,
1974; Collins and Robertson, 1997; Woodside et al., 1997, 1998,
2000; Robertson and Woodcock, 1982; Ten Veen et al., 2004).
5.8. Methane volume estimations
The volume of methane within the mud volcanoes of the
Anaximander Mountains was estimated using (1) direct measure-
ments on methane concentrations during on-board slow de-
pressurization procedures of six autoclave piston cores (Heeschen
et al., in press), (2) more than 60 sediment gravity cores and (3) the
multibeam backscatter images (spatial extension) assuming that
high acoustic backscatter from the mud volcanoes indicates recent
activity with the presence of shallow methane gas bubbles, gas
hydrates and mud clasts within the erupted muddy sediments.
The volume of methane collected after the depressurization
process (Heeschen et al., in press) was about 50 l of methane in
1.5 m of sediment core from Amsterdam MV (w1 l CH4/l bulk
sediment), 23 l and 5 l in Kazan MV (w0.2–0.5 l CH4/l bulk sedi-
ment) and 3 l in the Thessaloniki MV (w0.2 l CH4/l bulk sediment).
Based on these measurements the total volume of methane trapped
(free or as GH) in the upper 2 m (sub-bottom sediments) is about
0.052 km3 in the Amsterdam MV (area 26 km2) and about
0.012 km3 in the smaller MVs of the Anaximander Mountains
(overall area about 20 km2). It is likely that the methane occurs in
similar concentrations at least to the base of the gas hydrate sta-
bility zone. Thus this estimate is a conservative one based directly
on our measurements.
6. Discussion
Most of the five major mud volcanoes that were studied in the
Anaximander Mountains are located along the NE–SW major strike
slip fault zone (Amsterdam, Kazan, Athina and Thessaloniki MVs).
The northern located Kula and San Remo MVs and other high
backscatter circular seabed features (inferred MVs) appear to be
rather randomly distributed but according to Zitter et al. (2003,
2006) are also related to faulting. The external morphology, the
variable shape and size of the mud volcanoes are similar to those
occurring elsewhere along the European active margins like the
Central and Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Alboran
Sea, the Gulf of Cadiz, and on passive margins to the north like
Haakon Mosby MV on the Norwegian margin (Ivanov et al., 1996;
Limonov et al., 1997; Huguen et al., 2004; Pinheiro et al., 2003;
Sautkin et al., 2003; Somoza et al., 2003; Van Rensbergen et al.,
2005; Ceramicola et al., 2006).
The general structure of the Amsterdam MV, with a central
mound and a moat surrounding it, is typical of a number of mud
volcanoes on the Mediterranean Ridge, e.g. the Napoli and Maid-
stone domes in the Olimpi field (Huguen et al., 2004). The forma-
tion of the moats is probably due to subsidence, following the
eruption of mud from some depth (1–2 km) below the mud volcano
according to Zitter (2004), and may therefore be similar to the
process of caldera formation. The circular shape of the mound and
the flat topography of the summit also suggest some similarity with
the flat-top mud volcanoes of ‘‘mud pie’’ type recognized in the
Barbados accretionary complex (Le Pichon et al., 1990; Henry et al.,
1990). This type exhibits central ‘mud lakes’ and elongated, radial
mud flow tongues, showing a concentric zonation of activity, be-
lieved to be generated from more fluidised mud than the conical
mud volcanoes (Limonov et al., 1997).
The external morphological structure of the Kazan MV (a sub-
circular structure, rimmed by a collapse depression) is also similar
to those in the Olimpi field (e.g. Huguen et al., 2004) or the GRD
field of the Cadiz mud volcano area (Somoza et al., 2003). This
structure suggests alternations of intense activity and ‘passive’
periods, with degassing during mud expulsion and production of
a sub-circular (rimmed) collapse structure.
The seismic profiles indicate that major mud flows have built up
the conical shape of Kula mud volcano during 3–4 periods of in-
tense (explosive) and prolonged activity. The presence of 3–4
conical sub-bottom reflectors in the Kula MV should be interpreted
as buried eruption centers from earlier stages of activity and Kula
MV growth. According to Limonov et al. (1997) and Lance et al.
(1998), the conical shape may be a result of the expulsion of plastic
mud breccia in concentric radial flows. Consequently, it is assumed
that they represent successive episodic growth of the Kula MV
during periods of intense activity, implying high amounts of mud
breccia emission and extensive mud flows. Thus the Late Pleisto-
cene activity of the Kula MV seems to be concentrated only at the
mound peak, meaning that this structure is a rather young edifice
over a low productivity source, and that the erupted material
cannot be transported downhill. The periodicity of these major and
intense reactivities cannot be estimated, although it is expected to
be in the order of at least, tens to hundreds of thousands of years.
The preliminary micropalaeontological analysis of the rock
clasts of the mud breccia, indicates that the geological structure of
the Anaximander MVs could be correlated with the neritic lime-
stones of the Bey Dağları unit (SW Turkey) and Kastelorizo and
Dodecanese Islands (SE Greece), while the Kula and Kazan
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872 867

Fig. 15. Air gun profile crossing the Kula MV field (Kula and San Remo MVs). Conical sub-bottom reflectors near the summit which resemble buried mud volcanoes or eruption
centers are indicated by arrows.

Fig. 16. Regional 3-D map of the Athina MV with section of sediment core sampling indicating local dewatering from potential gas hydrate dissociation (inset photo).
868 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872

Fig. 17. Multibeam bathymetric and backscattering maps N–NW of Amsterdam MV indicating numerous mound-like structures with high reflectivity that were initially regarded as
potential mud volcanoes. This map provided the basic background information for the Athina and Thessaloniki MVs discovery. Contour interval 20 m.

Fig. 18. Regional 3-D and microtopographic map of the Thessaloniki MV summit (contour interval 5 m) with sediment core sampling and the sites of gas hydrate recovery. Snapshot
of active gas hydrate dissociation is shown in the inset photo of small gas hydrates on a hand.
 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
Fig. 19. Macro and microscopic photos from the representative clasts indicating the major biofacies recognized in the Anaximander MV breccias.
structures are different and can be related to the ophiolitic Antalya
Nappes complex. This implies that an initial ‘‘Anaximander proto-
basin’’ (deeper substrate) already existed, at least during the Late
Cretaceous, when carbonate pelagic sediments were deposited.
Regional compressional conditions during the Paleocene changed
the palaeorelief and led to the deposition of thick terrigenous sili-
ciclastic series followed by a large amount of thick continental
margin series of Lower–Middle/Upper Eocene age. Pelagic sedi-
mentation was re-established during Miocene with the accumu-
lation of the clayey succession and the pelagic carbonates.
The oldest rock clasts found in the cores from the Anaximander
MVs are of Late Cretaceous age, relatively similar in age to the mud
breccia clasts from the western sector of the Mediterranean Sea
MVs (Napoli and Milano MVs). This probably indicates that the
roots of the Mediterranean and Gulf of Cadiz MVs are in basement
rocks of similar age although the overpressured gas-rich mud layers
in the eastern Mediterranean should be probably younger (Mio-
cene) as suggested also by Kopf (2002). The mud clasts recovered
from the Gulf of Cadiz mud volcano fields and the Alboran Sea MVs
are of similar age (Somoza et al., 2003; Pinheiro et al., 2003; Sautkin
et al., 2003). According to the same authors these clasts could
probably be derived from the olistostrome (Unit VI) and does not
necessary imply that the methane source mud layer is older than
Late Cretaceaous. In the Black Sea the feeder channels of the mud
volcanoes can be traced at least 7–9 km below the seafloor to the
Oligo-Miocene Maikopian Clay Formation (Limonov et al., 1997)
869
implying a relatively similar age of the initiation of mud volcanism
in the Black Sea with respect to mud volcanism in the Mediterra-
nean and Gulf of Cadiz.
The gas hydrates found in the Anaximander Mountains were
restricted to active mud volcanoes and the associated mud flows
(Anaximander MV) but there was no associated Bottom Simulating
Reflector (BSR) observed in the sediment layers of the surrounding
slopes. The absence of a BSR, or difficulty in observing one is rather
common in compressive settings like the Eastern Mediterranean,
Gulf of Cadiz (except locally below the ‘‘crater’’ of Mercator MV),
Alboran Sea, and the Calabrian and Cyprus arcs where the MVs are
the ‘‘seabed windows’’ of the deeply overpressured methane-rich
fluids that ascend through major-fault systems. Widespread gas
fields were found in the Black Sea and gas hydrates were sampled
from the MVs in the central basin, the Sorokin trough, and along the
south (Turkish), southwestern (Bulgarian) and southeastern
(Ukranian) margins, where prolonged BSRs were also detected in
seismic profiles (Limonov et al., 1997; Klaucke et al., 2005). The
existence of extensive BSRs and GHs in the mid-Norwegian margin
(e.g. Bouriak et al., 2000) is related to Plio-/Pleistocene glacial–
interglacial debris flow deposits and hemipelagic sediments, while
the gas that is involved in the formation of gas hydrates most likely
originates from deep-seated Tertiary domes (Bunz et al., 2003). The
Storegga Slide event must have played an important role in dis-
turbing the Storegga gas hydrate system through pressure release
by removal of overlying sediments.
870 V. Lykousis et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 854–872
The unexpected discovery of gas hydrates in the Thessaloniki
MV is of great importance because, as a fairly shallow and presently
active MV (1260 m), it just falls near the boundary between the
stability and instability of gas hydrates (about 1100  100 m in the
Eastern Mediterranean) (Praeg et al., 2007). The gas hydrates at
Thessaloniki MV are thus sensitive to temperature/pressure varia-
tions like long term sea level changes and bottom temperature
fluctuations. Bottom water changes in decadal scale have been
observed in the Eastern Mediterranean (Theocharis and Kon-
toyiannis, 1999; Theocharis et al., 1999; Klein et al., 1999). There-
fore, Thessaloniki MV could be regarded as an ideal site for studies
regarding mud volcano periodic activity and their environmental
impact, and gas hydrate stability in the Mediterranean Sea.
The methane gas measurements in the upper 2 m of bottom
sediments enable us to provide some rough estimates of the total
capacity of methane gas in the Anaximander MVs. The volume was
estimated to be 1.28–6.40 km3 (2.56–6.40  109 m3 of free methane
gas), if the base of GH/BSR is located at 40 m or 200 m, respectively,
and assuming uniform density of GH with burial depth. The
methane gas concentrations and volume estimations in the Anax-
imander MVs are comparable with the relative estimations for the
Gulf of Cadiz MVs (in the order of 109 m3 according to Ginsburg and
Soloviev, 1998 and Matveeva et al., 2007). In comparison with the
Black Sea there are about 103 times lower than the 0.1–1 1012 m3
of total methane gas reservoir calculated for mud volcanoes of the
central Black Sea (Sorokin trough, South of Crimea peninsula)
(Vassiliev and Dimitrov, 2002).
7. Conclusions
During the two research cruises of R/V Aegaeo in May 2003 and
October–November 2004, a large part of the Anaximander Moun-
tains was surveyed by seabeam bathymetry and detailed seabed
backscatter imagery, extensive seabed sampling, and (locally over
the mud volcanoes) by high resolution seismic profiling. The mul-
tibeam topography/imagery accurately delineated not only new
morphological features of the Anaximander Mountains but also
detailed morphological and acoustic characteristics of each in-
dividual mud volcano studied. The analysis of the seabed back-
scattering indicated potential new mud volcanoes that were
confirmed by sediment gravity coring (Athina and Thessaloniki
MVs). The Amsterdam mud volcano displays a well-developed al-
most flat-topped central dome while the Kazan, Kula, Thessaloniki
and Athina MVs are rather mound-like conical mud volcanoes,
probably indicating lower intensities of activity, and lower reac-
tivation periods, narrower feeder channels, or extrusion of mud
with higher shear strength, in comparison with Amsterdam mud
volcano.
The large number of the sediment cores recovered helped us to
define the extent of active mud volcanism, and to delimit the gas
hydrate field and verify new gas hydrate sites like the Kazan and
Thessaloniki MVs. The Amsterdam MV is the most active mud
volcano in the Anaximander Mountains in terms of the volume and
extent both of erupted mud breccias and of gas hydrate occur-
rences. A prominent characteristic is the voluminous mud flow
towards the south that bears gas hydrates. This probably implies
that a predominantly methane gas supply from deeper formations
is located not only within the central active part, but also in the
slope south of the Amsterdam MV. On the basis of systematic
sampling it appears that gas hydrates occur mostly towards the
central and northeastern parts of the central dome of Amsterdam
MV. Gas hydrates were also sampled, for first time, at Kazan and
Thessaloniki MVs, while gas hydrate dissociation structures were
found within the sediment cores from Kula and Athina MVs. Gas
hydrates were observed and sampled at various depths within the
sediment cores but were present usually deeper than 0.4 m from
the seabed surface. The texture resembles compacted snow and the
external morphology is like flakes, lumps (nodular aggregates), or
big rice crystals (Kazan MV).
The sediment cores from the Thessaloniki MV contained gas
hydrates and implied recent activity. This is the shallowest mud
volcano bearing gas hydrates in the Mediterranean (1260 m) and is
at the edge of the stability zone determined by the depth and the
seafloor temperature (w14  C). The gas hydrates at Thessaloniki
MV are thus sensitive to temperature and sea level fluctuation; and
therefore this could be regarded as an ideal site for studies of mud
volcano activity, and their environmental impact, and gas hydrate
stability.
The potential aerial extent of the gas hydrates on the Anax-
imander MVs based on the core sampling and the multibeam
backscatter imaging is estimated to be up to 46 km2, most of which
is located in the ‘‘crater’’ and mud flows of Amsterdam MV. The
total methane volume in the upper 2 m of Anaximander MVs is
about 0.064 km3 in the Amsterdam MV, while rough estimations of
the total volume of methane gas in the Anaximander MVs are about
2.56–6.40 km3.
Litho-biostratigraphical analyses of mud and rock clasts in-
dicated that they are derived from the substrate sedimentary se-
quences (Late Cretaceous limestones, Paleocene siliciclastic rocks,
Eocene biogenic limestones, and Miocene mudstones).
Acknowledgements
This work is a part of the EC ANAXIMANDER project (EVK-CT-
2002-00068). The European Commission is acknowledged for their
financial contribution to the project. The officers and the crew of
the R/V AEGAEO are gratefully acknowledged for their important
and effective contribution to the field work and sampling. The
Dutch Council for scientific research NWO is thanked for their
support during Medineth and Smilable cruises. The reviewers T.
Alves and anonymous are acknowledged for their useful and con-
structive comments. We also thank D. Praeg for his comments and
suggestions regarding the gas hydrate stability zone in the Eastern
Mediterranean.
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