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Estimating the amount of gas-hydrate and free-gas is difficult in deep seas even with scientific coring and downhole measurements. Well data may be incompatible between holes of a site as well as with depth in the same hole. In this paper, we demonstrate an approach to estimate saturation of gas-hydrate from seismic velocities at any site where data set is limited. The study is carried out in the outer Blake Ridge, which is one of the most intensively studied regions of natural gas-hydrate occurrences and a very distinctive example of studying geophysical signatures of gas-hydrate and free-gas in deep marine sediments. Although, downhole measurements from both vertical seismic profiles (VSPs) and sonic logs provide the most accurate and direct measurements of velocity, only VSP velocities at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 994, 995, and 997 on the Blake Ridge are used to estimate the saturation of gas-hydrate and free-gas as sonic logs at ODP sites are not reliable. Here we derive a general trend of the background velocity with depth using the porosity and mineralogy from coring at discrete depth intervals. Saturations of gas-hydrate and free-gas are then estimated from this background velocity using the effective medium modeling. The porosity and mineralogical compositions are taken from four different depths at Site 995, as data quality is the best in this hole. Average saturations of gas-hydrate and free-gas at three holes are estimated as 10-14 and 2-3%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the estimation of gas hydrate and free gas concentration using various rock physics models in the Cascadia accretionary prism, which is one of the most intensively studied regions of natural gas hydrate occurrences. Surface seismic reflection data is the most useful and cost-effective in deriving seismic velocity, and hence estimating gas hydrate and free gas across a BSR with depth, if a proper background (without gas hydrate and free gas) velocity is chosen. We have used effective medium theory of Helgerud et al. (EMTH) and, a combination of self-consistent approximation and differential effective medium (SCA-DEM) theory coupled with smoothing approximation for crystalline aggregate. Using the SCA-DEM (non-load-bearing) and EMTH (load-bearing) modeling, we calculate the average saturations of gas hydrate as 17 and 19%, respectively within ~100 m thick sedimentary column using velocity, derived from the surface seismic data. The saturations of gas hydrate are estimated as 15 and 18% using the SCA-DEM, and 20 and 25% using EMTH from the logging-while-drilling and wire-line sonic velocities, respectively. Estimations of gas hydrate from Poisson's ratio are in average 50% for EMTH and 10% for SCA-DEM theory. We obtain the maximum saturation of free gas as 1-2% by employing the SCA-DEM theory either to seismic or sonic velocities, whereas the free-gas saturation varies between 0.1 and 0.4% for EMTH model. The gas hydrate saturation estimated from the sonic velocity and the free gas saturation derived from both the seismic and sonic velocities using the SCA-DEM modeling match quite well with those determined from the pressure core data in the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]