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...
-
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.
India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition-02: Operational and technical summary
The India National Gas Hydrate Program is being steered by the government of India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) with participation of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), and the National Oil Companies and Research Institutes of India. The India National Gas Hydrate Program...
Pushpendra Kumar; Collett, Timothy S.; K. M. Shukla; U. S. Yadav; M. V. Lall; Krishna Vishwanath India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 Summary of Scientific Results: Gas hydrate systems along the eastern continental margin of India
The primary objectives of the India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 (NGHP-02) were to obtain new data on the occurrence of gas hydrate systems and to advance the understanding of the controls on the formation of gas hydrate accumulations in the offshore of India. In accordance with the ultimate overall goal of the NGHP effort to assess...
Collett, Timothy S.; Ray Boswell; Waite, William F.; Pushpendra Kumar; Sandip Kumar Roy; Krishan Chopra; Sunil Kumar Singh; Yasuhiro Yamada; Tenma, Norio; Pohlman, John; Zyrianova, Margarita National Gas Hydrate Program expedition 02: Identification of gas hydrate prospects in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, offshore India
After completing the first expedition of India's National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP-01) in 2006, it was concluded that for the next expedition (National Gas Hydrate Program 02; NGHP-02), a new drill site review effort should focus on identifying potential deep-water offshore gas hydrate accumulations in sand dominated depositional environments....
K.M. Shukla; U.S. Yadav; Pushpendra Kumar; Collett, Timothy; Boswell, R.; Frye, M.; M. Riedel; I. Kaurf; K. Vishwanathf India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 summary of scientific results: Numerical simulation of reservoir response to depressurization
The India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 (NGHP-02) discovered gas hydrate at high saturation in sand reservoirs at several sites in the deepwater Bay of Bengal. To assess the potential response of those deposits to scientific depressurization experiments, comprehensive geologic models were constructed to enable numerical simulation...
Boswell, Ray; Myshakin, Evgeniy; Moridis, George; Konno, Yoshihiro; Collett, Timothy S.; Matthew Reagan; Ajayi, Taiwo; Seol, Yongkoo India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 summary of scientific results: Evaluation of natural gas hydrate-bearing pressure cores
India’s National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP) Expedition-02 was conducted in 2015 with the goal of investigating numerous locations that had been determined to be prospective for gas hydrate at high saturation in sand-rich reservoirs. Initial logging while drilling data revealed extensive sand-rich gas hydrate occurrences at multiple drill sites in...
Boswell, R.; Yoneda, J.; Waite, William F. Pressure core analysis of geomechanical and fluid flow properties of seals associated with gas hydrate-bearing reservoirs in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, offshore India
Physical properties of the sediment directly overlying a gas hydrate reservoir provide important controls on the effectiveness of depressurizing that reservoir to extract methane from gas hydrate as an energy resource. The permeability of overlying sediment determines if a gas hydrate reservoir’s upper contact will provide an effective seal that...
Jang, Junbong; Dai, Sheng; Yoneda, J.; Waite, William F.; Stern, Laura A.; Boze, Lee-Gray; Collett, Timothy S.; Kumar, Pushpendra Downhole physical property-based description of a gas hydrate petroleum system in NGHP-02 Area C: A channel, levee, fan complex in the Krishna-Godavari Basin offshore eastern India
India’s second National Gas Hydrate Program expedition, NGHP-02, collected logging while drilling and sediment core data in Area C offshore eastern India, to investigate controls on the distribution and peak saturations of methane gas hydrate occurrences in buried channel, levee and fan deposits. Physical property results are presented here for...
Waite, William F.; Jang, Junbong; Collett, Timothy S.; Kumar, Ronish
Gas hydrate in nature
Gas hydrate is a naturally occurring, ice-like substance that forms when water and gas combine under high pressure and at moderate temperatures. Methane is the most common gas present in gas hydrate, although other gases may also be included in hydrate structures, particularly in areas close to conventional oil and gas reservoirs. Gas hydrate is...
Ruppel, Carolyn D. The interaction of climate change and methane hydrates
Gas hydrate, a frozen, naturally-occurring, and highly-concentrated form of methane, sequesters significant carbon in the global system and is stable only over a range of low-temperature and moderate-pressure conditions. Gas hydrate is widespread in the sediments of marine continental margins and permafrost areas, locations where ocean and...
Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Kessler, John D. Subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the U.S. Beaufort Margin: 1. Minimum seaward extent defined from multichannel seismic reflection data
Subsea ice-bearing permafrost (IBPF) and associated gas hydrate in the Arctic have been subject to a warming climate and saline intrusion since the last transgression at the end of the Pleistocene. The consequent degradation of IBPF is potentially associated with significant degassing of dissociating gas hydrate deposits. Previous studies...
Brothers, Laura L.; Herman, Bruce M.; Hart, Patrick E.; Ruppel, Carolyn D. Subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the U.S. Beaufort Margin: 2. Borehole constraints
Borehole logging data from legacy wells directly constrain the contemporary distribution of subsea permafrost in the sedimentary section at discrete locations on the U.S. Beaufort Margin and complement recent regional analyses of exploration seismic data to delineate the permafrost's offshore extent. Most usable borehole data were acquired on a ∼...
Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Herman, Bruce M.; Brothers, Laura L.; Hart, Patrick E. Determining the flux of methane into Hudson Canyon at the edge of methane clathrate hydrate stability
Methane seeps were investigated in Hudson Canyon, the largest shelf-break canyon on the northern US Atlantic Margin. The seeps investigated are located at or updip of the nominal limit of methane clathrate hydrate stability. The acoustic identification of bubble streams was used to guide water column sampling in a 32 km2 region within the canyon's...
Weinsten, A.; Navarrete, L; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Weber, T.C.; Leonte, M.; Kellermann, M.; Arrington, E.; Valentine, D.L.; Scranton, M.L; Kessler, John D.
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.
-
Date published: July 24, 2018Effect of pore fluid chemistry on the sedimentation and compression behavior of pure, endmember fines
The data in this release support the correlation effort by providing: 1) sedimentation results that provide insight into micro-scale sediment fabric and void ratio dependence on sediment/fluid interactions, and 2) consolidation results that quantify the macro-scale compressibility and recompressibility parameters for a suite of fine-grained sediments and differing pore fluids.
-
Date published: February 15, 2018Data and calculations to support the study of the sea-air flux of methane and carbon dioxide on the West Spitsbergen margin in June 2014
This dataset collected on the West Spitsbergen margin during U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program Field Activity 2014-013-FA, which was carried out in conjunction with the University of Tromso and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel on the R/V Helmer Hanssen.
Core Storage Facility in Daejeon, South Korea
Core storage facility at the the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources in Daejeon, South Korea
Gas Hydrate from offshore Korea
Gas hydrate from offshore Korea courtesy of the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources. Learn more about gas hydrates at https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/
USGS research geologist, Tim Collett
Tim Collett, research geologist in gas hydrates, is chief for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy Resources Program gas hydrate research efforts offering a presentation on unconventional oil and gas resources at KIGAM, the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources in Daejeon, South Korea
Gas Hydrate and Sediment Pressure Chamber
Seth Haines, USGS research geophysicist, on a Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources laboratory tour, which included stops at their gas hydrate and sediment pressure chamber - it's a whopping 320 gallons, dwarfing even Seth, a 6-footer. The chamber is the silvery ring and the black cylinder beneath it. It's so big and heavy that it gets wheeled out of that
...
Bubblegum coral
Authigenic carbonate supplies the foundation for deep-sea corals, including colonies of bubblegum corals (Paragorgia) seen here.
Mussels!
Dense beds of large and small Bathymodiulus mussels are characteristic of cold seeps in the U.S. Atlantic margin.
Methane-derived authigenic carbonate (MDAC) rocks on the seafloor
Methane-derived authigenic carbonate (MDAC) rocks on the seafloor on the U.S. Atlantic margin
Methane Plumes
(Top) Methane plumes at the Norfolk Canyon seeps (~1600 meters or 5250 feet) were detected using the EK60 sonar. The water column plumes are shown above the sub-seafloor structure as imaged by high-resolution multichannel seismic data acquired by the USGS and processed by J. Kluesner. (Bottom) Close-up view showing that the bubbles in the largest methane plume is
...
IMMeRSS Cruise expedition area
Map of the general expedition area on the northern U.S. Atlantic Margin between Baltimore Canyon and Cape Hatteras
R/V Sharp
Photographs taken on the UD Sharp, ship scientists, interiors and equipment. RAW Files exist on a DVD
Methane-derived authigenic carbonate
Methane-derived authigenic carbonate (MDAC) features from a sample obtained at Baltimore Canyon
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.
