Workshop – Seafloor Pockmarks and Their Role in Modulating the Release of Geologic Carbon Through Glacial Cycles – Chatham Rise, New Zealand

Date: June 9-10, 2026

Location: Corpus Christi, TX, USA

Workshop Contacts:  Ingo Pecher (Texas A&M University Corpus Christi), Lowell Stott (University of Southern California), Lorna Strachan (University of Auckland), and Ewa Burwicz-Galerne (MARUM)

Deadline to Apply: March 8, 2026

A vast area of the seafloor on the Chatham Rise east of New Zealand is covered by crater-like pockmarks. Sub-bottom profiler data show clear evidence that these pockmarks formed repeatedly around glacial-stage maxima. Large radiocarbon excursions observed in sediment cores suggest pockmarks formed by release of geologic carbon-rich fluids at the end of the last glacial period.

These observations support a novel hypothesis that pockmark formation modulated the release of geologic carbon to the ocean and thereby contributed to increased atmospheric CO₂ concentrations during deglaciations. Validation of this hypothesis would be a paradigm shift from the prevailing hypothesis that does not incorporate geologic processes to explain atmospheric CO₂ variations.

This workshop will bring together a diverse community of scientists to develop proposal for ocean drilling and accompanying site surveys. With this workshop, we intend to kick-start a comprehensive science program that will illuminate the role of geologic mechanisms in affecting atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on glacial/interglacial timescales.