Woods Hole Science Center
Gas Hydrate is an ice-like crystalline solid formed from a mixture of water and natural gas, usually methane. They occur in the pore spaces of sediments, and may form cements, nodes or layers.
Gas Hydrate is found in sub-oceanic sediments in the polar regions (shallow water) and in continental slope sediments (deep water), where pressure and temperature conditions combine to make it stable.
Natural Gas Hydrate contains highly concentrated methane, which is important both as an energy resource and as a factor in global climate change.
Gas Hydrate can be studied in the laboratory, where a machine is used to create the proper pressure and temperature conditions for hydrate formation, or it can be studied in situ using seismic data collected aboard ships and geophysical models.
Currently, groups of scientists in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Great Britain and Japan are working to try to understand gas hydrate and the role it plays in the global climate and the future of fuels.
Does loss of gas from gas hydrate account for extensive ship-sinkings in the "Bermuda Triangle"
Research and publications of the USGS
Research and publications of other groups participating in gas hydrate research
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/index.html
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Page Last Modified: Monday, 25-Sep-2006 13:51:30 EDT
