Since 1998, geoscientists at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) have identified and mapped over 31,000 water bottom (seafloor) acoustic amplitude anomalies in the deep water northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) using 3-D time-migrated seismic surveys. The purpose of this mapping program is to understand the distribution of natural hydrocarbon seeps and related benthic fauna (chemosynthetic and coral communities) in the GOM, and to characterize other seafloor features related to the geological framework of the seafloor. These areas show anomalously high or low acoustic amplitude response relative to typical background, with most areas having overlapping seismic coverage by two or more surveys. These results cover over 230,000 square kilometers of seismic data interpretation. The purpose of this mapping program is to understand the distribution of natural hydrocarbon seeps and related benthic fauna (chemosynthetic and coral communities) in the GOM, and to characterize other seafloor features related to the geological framework of the seafloor. -96.96009236153348 -81.53864425216443 29.29383917990923 23.99831212470857 None boem bureau of ocean energy management conventional energy gas gulf of mexico ocs oil ngda geology theme None None Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Gulf of Mexico Region 20240710 FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998 local time