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.
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Date published: September 18, 2018Status: ActiveThe 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.Attribution: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science CenterView 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.
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Date published: July 12, 2019Thermal Data and Navigation for T-3 (Fletcher's) Ice Island Arctic Ocean Heat Flow Studies, 1963-73
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. This dataset is the enhanced version of the original data table from Lachenbruch and others incorporating additional information such as the probable dates of measurement, physiographic province.
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
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Date published: September 20, 2018Seismic Research Cruise Provides New Data on U.S. Atlantic Margin Gas Hydrates
Data acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey on the U.S. Atlantic Margin in August 2018 reveal new information about the distribution of gas hydrates in the sector stretching from the upper continental slope to deep water areas offshore New Jersey to North Carolina.
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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...