Estimation of the geogenic carbon degassing of Greece

Abstract

Greece belongs to the most geodynamically active regions of the world and as such it has to be considered an area of intense geogenic degassing. Here we review all the papers already published in the scientific literature on both the geochemistry of gas manifestations and the CO2 and CH4 release, in an attempt to obtain the first nationwide inventory of the natural output of these carbon gases in Greece. The best studied and most exhaling area is the South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc (SAAVA), which releases more than 1.3×105 tons of CO2 per year. Continental Greece, on the contrary, is much less studied but may release CO2 in the same order of magnitude in its eastern-central and northern parts. The western and south-western parts of Greece are conversely the main areas in which methane and higher hydrocarbons degas. Methane output of Greece is much less constrained, but the presence of one of the biggest thermogenic gas seepages of Europe, which releases about 200 tons of CH4 per year to the atmosphere, underscores its potentially high contribution.