U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project
MATRIX Research Cruise
USGS Coastal/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.
Learn moreIMMerSS Research Cruise
USGS Gas Hydrates Project led an expedition aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp to explore seafloor methane seeps on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin between Baltimore Canyon and Cape Hatteras.
Learn moreResearch Themes
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas.
Science Center Objects
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, particularly in the Arctic
- 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 a laboratory program focused on hydrate-bearing sediments.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on gas hydrates in the natural environment and seeks to advance understanding of (a) the potential of gas hydrates as an energy resource; (b) the role of gas hydrates in climate change, as well as their susceptibility to climate change; and (c) gas hydrates and the stability of submarine slopes. The Gas Hydrates Project maintains an extensive laboratory program to support research in these core areas.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project has been making contributions to advance understanding of US and international gas hydrates science for over two 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 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.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project integrates across USGS mission areas, programs, and regions. The stars indicate the locations of personnel involved in the Gas Hydrates Project. Within the US, much of the research focuses on the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, which represent marine and permafrost-associated settings for gas hydrates, respectively.
The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)
In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal/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...
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Year Published: 2018The U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project
The Gas Hydrates Project at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) focuses on the study of methane hydrates in natural environments. The project is a collaboration between the USGS Energy Resources and the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Programs and works closely with other U.S. Federal agencies, some State governments, outside research organizations...
Ruppel, Carolyn D.View CitationRuppel, C.D., 2018, The U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3079, 4 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173079.
Widespread methane leakage from the sea floor on the northern US Atlantic margin
Methane emissions from the sea floor affect methane inputs into the atmosphere, ocean acidification and de-oxygenation, the distribution of chemosynthetic communities and energy resources. Global methane flux from seabed cold seeps has only been estimated for continental shelves, at 8 to 65 Tg CH4 yr−1, yet other parts of marine continental...
Skarke, Adam; Ruppel, Carolyn; Kodis, Mali'o; Brothers, Daniel S.; Lobecker, Elizabeth A. Methane hydrates and contemporary climate change
As the evidence for warming climate became better established in the latter part of the 20th century (IPCC 2001), some scientists raised the alarm that large quantities of methane (CH4) might be liberated by widespread destabilization of climate-sensitive gas hydrate deposits trapped in marine and permafrost-associated sediments (Bohannon 2008,...
Ruppel, Carolyn D. Methane hydrate-bearing seeps as a source of aged dissolved organic carbon to the oceans
Marine sediments contain about 500–10,000 Gt of methane carbon1, 2, 3, primarily in gas hydrate. This reservoir is comparable in size to the amount of organic carbon in land biota, terrestrial soils, the atmosphere and sea water combined1, 4, but it releases relatively little methane to the ocean and atmosphere5. Sedimentary microbes convert most...
Pohlman, John; Waite, William F.; Bauer, James E.; Osburn, Christopher L.; Chapman, N. Ross Inter-laboratory comparison of wave velocity measures.
This paper presents an eight-laboratory comparison of compressional and shear wave velocities measured in F110 Ottawa sand. The study was run to quantify the physical property variations one should expect in heterogeneous, multiphase porous materials by separately quantifying the variability inherent in the measurement techniques themselves...
Waite, William F.; Santamarina, J.C.; Rydzy, M.; Chong, S.H.; Grozic, J.L.H.; Hester, K.; Howard, J.; Kneafsey, T.J.; Lee, J.Y.; Nakagawa, S.; Priest, J.; Reese, E.; Koh, H.; Sloan, E.D.; Sultaniya, A.- « first
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Preliminary global database of known and inferred gas hydrate locations
This data release provides a text description of the region, geographic coordinates, and the citation for the published reference for known and inferred gas hydrate locations. Where the existence of gas hydrate was inferred, the description of the criteria used to make the inference was also included.
Bottom simulating reflector
Bottom simulating reflector imaged in 2014 by the USGS along a seismic line acquired south of Hudson Canyon during the Extended Continental Shelf cruise. Image provided by D. Hutchinson and reproduced from USGS Fact Sheet 3080.
Gas Hydrates Drilling Activities
Timeline of past drilling activities conducted by countries, private sector firms, government agencies, and academe that have helped to refine global gas hydrate estimates and possible future drilling and production testing
U.S. Atlantic Margin Seeps
Schematic showing the general setting of seeps on the US Atlantic margin and related processes, such as gas hydrate degradation, groundwater seepage, leakage through fractured rocks, or emissions from the seafloor overlying salt diapirs. Pockmarks shown in white, and the nominal updip limit of gas hydrate stability is represented by the dashed black line. Analyses
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Methane gas bubbles rise from the U.S. Atlantic Margin seafloor.
Methane gas bubbles rise from the seafloor – this type of activity, originally noticed by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in 2012 on a multibeam sonar survey, is what led scientists to the area.
Worldwide distribution of observed and inferred gas hydrates
Worldwide distribution of observed and inferred gas hydrates in marine and permafrost-associated settings that have been the subject of drilling programs. The color coding refers to the primary sediment type in each location and therefore designates the likely type of gas hydrate reservoir at each site.
Schematic depicting onshore to deepwater ocean basin
On this cross-section from onshore to deepwater ocean basin, gas hydrates occur in and beneath permafrost onshore and on continental shelves flooded over the past 15,000 years of sea level rise. For the deepwater system, the gas hydrate zone vanishes on upper continental slopes before thickening seaward in the shallow sediments with increasing water depth. On contemporary
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Hydrate Molecule
Water molecules (1 red oxygen and 2 white hydrogens) form a pentagonal dodecahedron around a methane molecule (1 gray carbon and 4 green hydrogens). This represents 2 of the 8 parts of the typical Structure I gas hydrate molecule.
Schematic depicting possible synergy among climate warming
Schematic depicting the possible synergy among climate warming and increased methane emissions (including from gas hydrate dissociation) in the Arctic
Seafloor and shallow subseafloor imagery
Seafloor and shallow subseafloor imagery collected on the US Beaufort Shelf in the area of subsea permafrost in 2010
Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber (IPTC)
The Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber (IPTC). A device for measuring the physical properties of naturally-occurring, hydrate-bearing sediment at nearly in situ pressure conditions
Methane plume
A methane plume imaged by a fishfinder operated at 200 kHz in Upper Mystic Lake near Boston.
Photograph of methane seep
A methane seep in shallow Lake Qalluuraq on the Alaskan North Slope near the Native Village of Atqasuk breaks the water's surface during 2009 geophysical surveys
Special Issue Highlights One of the Most Extensive Gas Hydrate Datasets Ever Collected
The USGS and its research partners in India and Japan have reported on one of the most extensive data sets ever collected on the occurrence of natural gas hydrate.
