The USGS Gas Hydrates Project has been making contributions to advance understanding of US and international gas hydrates science for at least three decades. The research group working on gas hydrates at the USGS is among the largest in the US and has expertise in all the major geoscience disciplines, as well as in the physics and chemistry of gas hydrates, the geotechnical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments, and the biogeochemistry of marine and permafrost gas hydrate systems. The group includes field-based scientists, numerical modelers, laboratory scientists, and supporting technical personnel for marine, permafrost, and laboratory operations. Much of the research is carried out in collaboration with other federal agencies (especially the U.S. Department of Energy) or academic partners, and there are frequently opportunities to collaborate on international programs that jointly serve the Project's mission and the goals of the international partners.
Gas Hydrates Research
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. The primary goals are:
- Evaluate methane hydrates as a potential energy source
- Investigate the interaction between methane hydrate destabilization and climate change at short and long time scales
- Study the spatial and temporal connections between submarine slope failures and gas hydrate dynamics
The Gas Hydrate Project conducts multidisciplinary field studies, participates in national and international deep drilling expeditions, and maintains several laboratories focused on hydrate-bearing sediments.
Scientific research associated with the Gas Hydrates Project.
The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)
Delineating the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf
USGS Law of the Sea
IMMeRSS-- Interagency Mission for Methane Research on Seafloor Seeps
Gas Hydrates- Atlantic Margin Methane Seeps
Gas Hydrates- Submarine Slope Destabilization
Environmental Compliance
Gas Hydrates- Climate and Hydrate Interactions
Gas Hydrates- Energy
Gas Hydrates - Primer
Data Releases associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Dataset of diatom controls on the compressibility and permeability of fine-grained sediment collected offshore of South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
Dataset of diatom controls on the sedimentation behavior of fine-grained sediment collected offshore of South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
Water column physical and chemical properties of Cenote Bang, a component of the Ox Bel Ha cave network within the subterranean estuary coastal aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, from December 2013 to January 2016
Comparison of methane concentration and stable carbon isotope data for natural samples analyzed by discrete sample introduction module - cavity ring down spectroscopy (DSIM-CRDS) and traditional methods
Split-beam Echo Sounder and Navigation Data Collected Using a Simrad EK80 Wide Band Tranceiver and ES38-10 Transducer During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA.
Multichannel Seismic-Reflection and Navigation Data Collected Using Sercel GI Guns and Geometrics GeoEel Digital Streamers During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA
Dependence of sedimentation behavior on pore-fluid chemistry for sediment collected offshore South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
Marine Geophysical Data Collected to Support Methane Seep Research Along the U.S. Atlantic Continental Shelf Break and Upper Continental Slope Between the Baltimore and Keller Canyons During U.S. Geological Survey Field Activities 2017-001-FA and 2017-002
Thermal Data and Navigation for T-3 (Fletcher's) Ice Island Arctic Ocean Heat Flow Studies, 1963-73 (ver. 1.1 December 2022)
Post-expedition report for USGS T-3 Ice Island heat flow measurements in the High Arctic Ocean, 1963-1973
Pressure Core Characterization Tool Measurements of Compressibility, Permeability, and Shear Strength of Fine-Grained Sediment Collected from Area C, Krishna-Godavari Basin, during India's National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition NGHP-02
Two-dimensional micromodel study of pore-throat clogging by pure fine-grained sediments and natural sediments from the 2015 National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 2 (NGHP-02), offshore India
Mulitmedia items associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Publications associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Gas Hydrates on Alaskan Marine Margins

Gas hydrate distributions on the marine margins of the U.S. state of Alaska are more poorly known than those on other U.S. margins, where bottom simulating reflections have been systematically mapped on marine seismic data to support modern, quantitative assessments of gas-in-place in gas hydrates.
Categorizing active marine acoustic sources based on their potential to affect marine animals
Diatom influence on the production characteristics of hydrate-bearing sediments: Examples from Ulleung Basin, offshore South Korea
Comprehensive pressure core analysis for hydrate-bearing sediments from Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Block 955, including assessments of geomechanical viscous behavior and nuclear magnetic resonance permeability
Comprehensive pressure core analysis for hydrate-bearing sediments from Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Block 955, including assessments of geomechanical viscous behavior and nuclear magnetic resonance permeability
Integrated geochemical approach to determine the source of methane in gas hydrate from Green Canyon Block 955 in the Gulf of Mexico
Permeability of methane hydrate-bearing sandy silts in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico (Green Canyon Block 955)
Compression behavior of hydrate-bearing sediments
Barkley Canyon gas hydrates: A synthesis based on two decades of seafloor observation and remote sensing
Comparison of sediment composition by smear slides to quantitative shipboard data: A case study on the utility of smear slide percent estimates, IODP Expedition 353, northern Indian Ocean
Primary deposition and early diagenetic effects on the high saturation accumulation of gas hydrate in a silt dominated reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico
U.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates
Gas hydrates on Alaskan marine margins
Geonarratives associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Gas Hydrate in Nature
This geonarrative combines the text and imagery of USGS Fact Sheet 3080 with additional supporting imagery. Except for headings used to organize the text in the geonarrative and an updated name for the coastal and marine program at the USGS, the text is exactly the same as USGS Fact Sheet 3080, with an updated timeline diagram.
USGS Gas Hydrates Project
This geonarrative combines the text and imagery of USGS Fact Sheet 3079 with additional supporting imagery. Except for (a) headings used to organize the text in the geonarrative, (b) an additional reference to support an image included in the geonarrative, and (c) the updated program name for the coastal and marine component of the USGS, the text is the same as that of USGS Fact Sheet 3079.
News stories associated with the Gas Hydrates project.
USGS scientists contribute to new gas hydrates monograph
The recently-published monograph entitled World Atlas of Submarine Gas Hydrates on Continental Margins compiles findings about gas hydrates offshore all of Earth’s continents and also onshore in selected permafrost regions.
Gas Hydrates FAQs
What are gas hydrates?
Gas hydrates are a crystalline solid formed of water and gas. It looks and acts much like ice, but it contains huge amounts of methane; it is known to occur on every continent; and it exists in huge quantities in marine sediments in a layer several hundred meters thick directly below the sea floor and in association with permafrost in the Arctic. It is not stable at normal sea-level pressures and...
Where are gas hydrates found?
Gas hydrates are 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 them stable.
How are gas hydrates studied?
Gas hydrates 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. Learn more: USGS Gas Hydrates Lab
Who studies gas hydrates?
Currently, groups of scientists in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Great Britain, and Japan are working to try to understand gas hydrates and the role it plays in the global climate and the future of fuels. The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. The primary goals are: Evaluate methane hydrates as a potential energy...
Gas Hydrates Project Partners
- Overview
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project has been making contributions to advance understanding of US and international gas hydrates science for at least three decades. The research group working on gas hydrates at the USGS is among the largest in the US and has expertise in all the major geoscience disciplines, as well as in the physics and chemistry of gas hydrates, the geotechnical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments, and the biogeochemistry of marine and permafrost gas hydrate systems. The group includes field-based scientists, numerical modelers, laboratory scientists, and supporting technical personnel for marine, permafrost, and laboratory operations. Much of the research is carried out in collaboration with other federal agencies (especially the U.S. Department of Energy) or academic partners, and there are frequently opportunities to collaborate on international programs that jointly serve the Project's mission and the goals of the international partners.
Gas Hydrates ResearchThe USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. The primary goals are:
- Evaluate methane hydrates as a potential energy source
- Investigate the interaction between methane hydrate destabilization and climate change at short and long time scales
- Study the spatial and temporal connections between submarine slope failures and gas hydrate dynamics
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project integrates across USGS mission areas, programs, regions, and centers. The circles indicate the locations of scientists involved in the Gas Hydrates Project. Within the US, much of the research focuses on the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, which represent deepwater marine and permafrost-associated settings for gas hydrates, respectively. The Gas Hydrate Project conducts multidisciplinary field studies, participates in national and international deep drilling expeditions, and maintains several laboratories focused on hydrate-bearing sediments.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project analyzes the sediments that make up gas hydrate reservoirs in the Physical Properties Laboratory and manages the standalone Hydrate Pressure Core Analysis Laboratory (HyPrCAL) at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC) to study hydrate-bearing sediments in support of energy resources and geohazards research. The Biogeochemistry Laboratory analyzes solid, liquid, and gaseous samples to determine their chemical composition, stable carbon isotopic signatures, and radiocarbon age. - Science
Scientific research associated with the Gas Hydrates Project.
The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)
In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. The seismic program was led by the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and was sponsored by the USGS, the U.S...Delineating the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf
The United States has an interest in knowing the full extent of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from shore (called the extended continental shelf, or ECS) so that it can better protect, manage and use the resources of the seabed and subsoil contained therein. The USGS contributes to the ECS effort through membership and leadership on the interagency U.S. ECS Task Force, a group...USGS Law of the Sea
The USGS Law of the Sea project helps to determine the outer limits of the extended continental shelf (ECS) of the United States. The ECS is that portion of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. It is an important maritime zone that holds many resources and vital habitats for marine life. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic...IMMeRSS-- Interagency Mission for Methane Research on Seafloor Seeps
From May 3 to May 11, 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the British Geological Survey and with support from these two agencies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, and the U.S. Department of Energy, will lead an expedition aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp to explore seafloor methane seeps on the northern U.S...Gas Hydrates- Atlantic Margin Methane Seeps
Analysis of 94,000 square kilometers of multibeam water column backscatter data collected by the NOAA Okeanos Explorer mostly seaward of the shelf-break on the northern US Atlantic margin reveals more than 570 gas plumes that correspond to seafloor methane seeps. This discovery is documented in an August 2014 Nature Geoscience paper entitled, "Widespread methane leakage from the seafloor on the...Gas Hydrates- Submarine Slope Destabilization
Gas Hydrates and Marine Geohazards. Scientists have long postulated a connection between seafloor failures and dissociation of gas hydrate. In deepwater marine settings where warm fluids are pumped from great depths below the seafloor for extraction of conventional oil and gas, heating of sediments near a well could lead to breakdown of gas hydrate and release of gas and water. Intact gas hydrate...Environmental Compliance
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is the cornerstone of our Nation's environmental laws and was enacted to ensure that information on the environmental impacts of any Federal, or federally funded, action is available to public officials and citizens before decisions are made and before actions are takenGas Hydrates- Climate and Hydrate Interactions
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. Breakdown of gas hydrates due to short- or long-term climate change may release methane to the ocean-atmosphere system. As a potent greenhouse gas, methane that reaches the atmosphere from degrading gas hydrate deposits could in turn exacerbate climate warming.Gas Hydrates- Energy
Natural gas production from methane hydrates may someday prove viable. The USGS Gas Hydrate Project takes part in US and international programs to investigate the potential of deepwater marine and permafrost gas hydrates as an energy resource. Long-term production tests are the next step in this research.Gas Hydrates - Primer
What is Gas Hydrate? Gas hydrate is an ice-like crystalline form of water and low molecular weight gas (e.g., methane, ethane, carbon dioxide). On Earth, gas hydrates occur naturally in some marine sediments and within and beneath permafrost. Gas hydrates have also been inferred on other planets or their moons. - Data
Data Releases associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Filter Total Items: 16Dataset of diatom controls on the compressibility and permeability of fine-grained sediment collected offshore of South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
One of the primary goals of South Korea's second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition (UBGH2) was to examine the geotechnical properties of the marine sediment associated with methane gas hydrate occurrences found off the shore of eastern Korea in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea. Methane gas hydrate is a naturally occurring crystalline solid that sequesters methane in individual molecular cages formedDataset of diatom controls on the sedimentation behavior of fine-grained sediment collected offshore of South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
One of the primary goals of South Korea's second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition (UBGH2) was to examine the geotechnical properties of the marine sediment associated with methane gas hydrate occurrences found offshore of eastern Korea in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea. Methane gas hydrate is a naturally occurring crystalline solid that sequesters methane in individual molecular cages formed by aWater column physical and chemical properties of Cenote Bang, a component of the Ox Bel Ha cave network within the subterranean estuary coastal aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, from December 2013 to January 2016
Subterranean estuaries extend inland into density-stratified coastal carbonate aquifers that contain a surprising diversity of endemic animals (mostly crustaceans) within a highly oligotrophic environment. How complex ecosystems thrive in this globally-distributed, cryptic habitat (termed anchialine) is poorly understood. The northeastern margin of the Yucatan Peninsula contains over 250 km of mapComparison of methane concentration and stable carbon isotope data for natural samples analyzed by discrete sample introduction module - cavity ring down spectroscopy (DSIM-CRDS) and traditional methods
A discrete sample introduction module (DSIM) was developed and interfaced to a cavity ring-down spectrometer to enable measurements of methane and CO2 concentrations and 13C values with a commercially available cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS). The DSIM-CRDS system permits the analysis of limited volume (5 - 100-ml) samples ranging six orders-of-magnitude from 100% analyte to the lower limit oSplit-beam Echo Sounder and Navigation Data Collected Using a Simrad EK80 Wide Band Tranceiver and ES38-10 Transducer During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA.
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder data alongMultichannel Seismic-Reflection and Navigation Data Collected Using Sercel GI Guns and Geometrics GeoEel Digital Streamers During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder data alongDependence of sedimentation behavior on pore-fluid chemistry for sediment collected offshore South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
One goal of Korea?s second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2, is to examine geotechnical properties of the marine sediment associated with methane gas hydrate occurrences found offshore eastern Korea in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea. Methane gas hydrate is a naturally occurring crystalline solid that sequesters methane in individual molecular cages formed by a lattice of water molecules. OMarine Geophysical Data Collected to Support Methane Seep Research Along the U.S. Atlantic Continental Shelf Break and Upper Continental Slope Between the Baltimore and Keller Canyons During U.S. Geological Survey Field Activities 2017-001-FA and 2017-002
In spring and summer 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey's Gas Hydrates Project conducted two cruises aboard the research vessel Hugh R. Sharp to explore the geology, chemistry, ecology, physics, and oceanography of sea-floor methane seeps and water column gas plumes on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin between the Baltimore and Keller Canyons. Split-beam and multibeam echo sounders and a chirp subboThermal Data and Navigation for T-3 (Fletcher's) Ice Island Arctic Ocean Heat Flow Studies, 1963-73 (ver. 1.1 December 2022)
The T-3 (Fletcher's) Ice Island in the Arctic Ocean was the site of a scientific research station re-established by the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory starting in 1962. Starting in 1963, the USGS acquired marine heat flow data and coincident sediment cores at sites in Canada Basin, Nautilus Basin, Mendeleev Ridge, and Alpha Ridge as the ice island drifted in the Amerasian Basin. At least 584 heaPost-expedition report for USGS T-3 Ice Island heat flow measurements in the High Arctic Ocean, 1963-1973
In February 1963, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of heat flow in the Arctic Ocean Basin and acquired data at 356 sites in Canada Basin and Nautilus Basin and on Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge by the end of the project in 1973. The USGS heat flow and associated piston coring operations were conducted from a scientific station on the freely drifting T-3 Ice island (also known as Fletcher'sPressure Core Characterization Tool Measurements of Compressibility, Permeability, and Shear Strength of Fine-Grained Sediment Collected from Area C, Krishna-Godavari Basin, during India's National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition NGHP-02
Understanding how effectively methane can be extracted from a gas hydrate reservoir requires knowing how compressible, permeable, and strong the overlying seal sediment is. This data release provides results for flow-through permeability, consolidation, and direct shear measurements made on fine-grained seal sediment from Site NGHP-02-08 offshore eastern India. The sediment was collected in a presTwo-dimensional micromodel study of pore-throat clogging by pure fine-grained sediments and natural sediments from the 2015 National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 2 (NGHP-02), offshore India
Fine-grained sediments, or "fines," are nearly ubiquitous in natural sediments, even in the predominantly coarse-grained sediments that host gas hydrates. Fines within these sandy sediments can be mobilized and subsequently clog flow pathways while methane is being extracted from gas hydrate as an energy resource. Using two-dimensional (2D) micromodels to test the conditions in which clogging occu - Multimedia
Mulitmedia items associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Filter Total Items: 28 - Publications
Publications associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Gas Hydrates on Alaskan Marine MarginsGas hydrate distributions on the marine margins of the U.S. state of Alaska are more poorly known than those on other U.S. margins, where bottom simulating reflections have been systematically mapped on marine seismic data to support modern, quantitative assessments of gas-in-place in gas hydrates.
Filter Total Items: 46Categorizing active marine acoustic sources based on their potential to affect marine animals
Marine acoustic sources are widely used for geophysical imaging, oceanographic sensing, and communicating with and tracking objects or robotic vehicles in the water column. Under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act and similar regulations in several other countries, the impact of controlled acoustic sources is assessed based on whether the sound levels received by marine mammals meet the criteriAuthorsCarolyn D. Ruppel, T.S. Weber, Erica Staaterman, Stanley Labak, Patrick E. HartDiatom influence on the production characteristics of hydrate-bearing sediments: Examples from Ulleung Basin, offshore South Korea
The Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate field expeditions in 2007 (UBGH1) and 2010 (UBGH2) sought to assess the Basin's gas hydrate resource potential. Coring operations in both expeditions recovered evidence of gas hydrate, primarily as fracture-filling (or vein type) morphologies in mainly silt-sized, fine-grained sediment, but also as pore-occupying hydrate in the coarser-grained layers of interbedded saAuthorsJunbong Jang, William F. Waite, Laura A. Stern, Joo Yong LeeComprehensive pressure core analysis for hydrate-bearing sediments from Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Block 955, including assessments of geomechanical viscous behavior and nuclear magnetic resonance permeability
Quantifying the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of gas hydrate reservoirs is essential for understanding the natural hydrate system and predicting gas production behavior for future resource development. Pressure-core analysis tools were used to characterize methane hydrate–bearing sediments recovered from the Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Block 955, under an international collaboration wAuthorsJun Yoneda, Yusuke Jin, Michihiro Muraoka, Motoi Oshima, Kiyofumi Suzuki, William F. Waite, Peter FlemingsComprehensive pressure core analysis for hydrate-bearing sediments from Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Block 955, including assessments of geomechanical viscous behavior and nuclear magnetic resonance permeability
Quantifying the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of gas hydrate reservoirs is essential for understanding the natural hydrate system and predicting gas production behavior for future resource development. Pressure-core analysis tools were used to characterize methane hydrate–bearing sediments recovered from the Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Block 955, under an international collaboration wAuthorsJun Yoneda, Yusuke Jin, Michihiro Muraoka, Motoi Oshima, Kiyofumi Suzuki, William F. Waite, Peter FlemingsIntegrated geochemical approach to determine the source of methane in gas hydrate from Green Canyon Block 955 in the Gulf of Mexico
Massive volumes of gas are sequestered within gas hydrate in subsurface marine sediments in the Gulf of Mexico. Methane associated with gas hydrate is a potentially important economic resource and a significant reservoir of carbon within the global carbon cycle. Nevertheless, uncertainties remain about the genetic source (e.g., microbial, thermogenic) and possible migration history of natural gasAuthorsMyles T. Moore, Stephen C. Phillips, Ann Cook, Thomas H. DarrahPermeability of methane hydrate-bearing sandy silts in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico (Green Canyon Block 955)
Permeability is one of the most crucial properties governing fluid flow in methane hydrate reservoirs. This paper presents a comprehensive permeability analysis of hydrate-bearing sandy silt pressure-cored from Green Canyon Block 955 (GC 955) in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. We developed an experimental protocol to systematically characterize the transport and petrophysical properties in pressureAuthorsYi Fang, Peter Flemings, Hugh Daigle, Stephen C. Phillips, Joshua O'ConnellCompression behavior of hydrate-bearing sediments
This work experimentally explores porosity, compressibility, and the ratio of horizontal to vertical effective stress (K0) in hydrate-bearing sandy silts from Green Canyon Block 955 in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. The samples have an in situ porosity of 0.38 to 0.40 and a hydrate saturation of more than 80%. The hydrate-bearing sediments are stiffer than the equivalent hydrate-free sediments; thAuthorsYi Fang, Peter Flemings, John Germaine, Hugh Daigle, Stephen C. Phillips, Joshua O'ConnellBarkley Canyon gas hydrates: A synthesis based on two decades of seafloor observation and remote sensing
Barkley Canyon is one of the few known sites worldwide with the occurrence of thermogenic gas seepage and formation of structure-II and structure-H gas hydrate mounds on the seafloor. This site is the location of continuous seafloor monitoring as part of the Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) cabled observatory off the west coast off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We combine repeat remotelyAuthorsM. Reidel, M. Scherwath, M. Romer, C. K. Paull, E. Lundsten, D. W. Caress, P. Brewer, John Pohlman, L. L. Lapham, N. R. Chapman, M. Whiticar, G. D. Spence, R. Enkin, K. DouglasComparison of sediment composition by smear slides to quantitative shipboard data: A case study on the utility of smear slide percent estimates, IODP Expedition 353, northern Indian Ocean
Smear slide petrography has been a standard technique during scientific ocean drilling expeditions to characterize sediment composition and classify sediment types, but presentation of these percent estimates to track downcore trends in sediment composition has become less frequent over the past 2 decades. We compare semi-quantitative smear slide composition estimates to physical property (naturalAuthorsStephen C. Phillips, Kate LittlerPrimary deposition and early diagenetic effects on the high saturation accumulation of gas hydrate in a silt dominated reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico
On continental margins, high saturation gas hydrate systems (>60% pore volume) are common in canyon and channel environments within the gas hydrate stability zone, where reservoirs are dominated by coarse-grained, high porosity sand deposits. Recent studies, including the results presented here, suggest that rapidly deposited, silt-dominated channel-levee environments can also host high saturationAuthorsJoel E. Johnson, Douglas R. MacLeod, Stephen C. Phillips, Marcie Phillips Purkey, David L. DivinsU.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates
The minimum distribution of gas hydrates on the U.S. Atlantic margin is from offshore South Carolina northward to the longitude of Shallop Canyon on the southern New England margin. Few wells have logged or sampled the gas hydrate zone on this margin, meaning that the presence of gas hydrates is inferred primarily based on seismic data that reveal bottom simulating reflections, mostly at water depAuthorsCarolyn D. Ruppel, William Shedd, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Matthew Frye, Deborah HutchinsonGas hydrates on Alaskan marine margins
Gas hydrate distributions on the marine margins of the U.S. state of Alaska are more poorly known than those on other U.S. margins, where bottom simulating reflections have been systematically mapped on marine seismic data to support modern, quantitative assessments of gas-in-place in gas hydrates. The extent of bottom simulating reflections in the U.S. Beaufort Sea has been known since the late 1AuthorsCarolyn D. Ruppel, Patrick E. Hart - Web Tools
Geonarratives associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Gas Hydrate in Nature
This geonarrative combines the text and imagery of USGS Fact Sheet 3080 with additional supporting imagery. Except for headings used to organize the text in the geonarrative and an updated name for the coastal and marine program at the USGS, the text is exactly the same as USGS Fact Sheet 3080, with an updated timeline diagram.
USGS Gas Hydrates Project
This geonarrative combines the text and imagery of USGS Fact Sheet 3079 with additional supporting imagery. Except for (a) headings used to organize the text in the geonarrative, (b) an additional reference to support an image included in the geonarrative, and (c) the updated program name for the coastal and marine component of the USGS, the text is the same as that of USGS Fact Sheet 3079.
- News
News stories associated with the Gas Hydrates project.
USGS scientists contribute to new gas hydrates monograph
The recently-published monograph entitled World Atlas of Submarine Gas Hydrates on Continental Margins compiles findings about gas hydrates offshore all of Earth’s continents and also onshore in selected permafrost regions.
- FAQ
Gas Hydrates FAQs
What are gas hydrates?
Gas hydrates are a crystalline solid formed of water and gas. It looks and acts much like ice, but it contains huge amounts of methane; it is known to occur on every continent; and it exists in huge quantities in marine sediments in a layer several hundred meters thick directly below the sea floor and in association with permafrost in the Arctic. It is not stable at normal sea-level pressures and...
Where are gas hydrates found?
Gas hydrates are 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 them stable.
How are gas hydrates studied?
Gas hydrates 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. Learn more: USGS Gas Hydrates Lab
Who studies gas hydrates?
Currently, groups of scientists in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Great Britain, and Japan are working to try to understand gas hydrates and the role it plays in the global climate and the future of fuels. The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. The primary goals are: Evaluate methane hydrates as a potential energy...
- Partners
Gas Hydrates Project Partners