| Summary: | Occurrences of carbonate-cemented nodules and concretions exposed on the seafloor that contain
cements with light carbon isotopes, indicating a contribution of methane-derived carbon, are
commonly interpreted to be indicators of seafloor fluid venting. Thus, their presence is commonly
used as an indicator of the possible occurrence of methane gas hydrate within the near subsurface.
While some of these carbonates exhibit facies that require formation on the seafloor, the dominant
fine-grained lithology associated with these carbonates indicates they were formed as sedimenthosted
nodules within the subsurface and are similar to nodules that are obtained from the
subsurface in Deep Sea Drilling Project, Ocean Drilling Project, and Integrated Ocean Drilling
Project boreholes. Here we present the hypothesis that the occurrence of these carbonates on the
seafloor may instead indicate areas of persistent seafloor erosion.
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