U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project Active
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)
Data Releases associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
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.
Permeability anisotropy and relative permeability in sediments from the National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02, offshore India
Physical property characteristics of gas hydrate-bearing reservoir and associated seal sediments collected during NGHP-02 in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, in the offshore of India
Preface: Marine gas hydrate reservoir systems along the eastern continental margin of India: Results of the National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02
National Gas Hydrate Program expedition 02: Identification of gas hydrate prospects in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, offshore India
India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 summary of scientific results: Numerical simulation of reservoir response to depressurization
India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition-02: Operational and technical summary
India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 Summary of Scientific Results: Gas hydrate systems along the eastern continental margin of India
India National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 summary of scientific results: Evaluation of natural gas hydrate-bearing pressure cores
Pressure core analysis of geomechanical and fluid flow properties of seals associated with gas hydrate-bearing reservoirs in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, offshore India
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
Gas hydrate in nature
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project
Geonarratives associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
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...
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 Gas Hydrate Project conducts multidisciplinary field studies, participates in national and international deep drilling expeditions, and maintains several laboratories focused on hydrate-bearing sediments.
- 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... - Data
Data Releases associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Filter Total Items: 16No Result Found - Multimedia
Mulitmedia items associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
Filter Total Items: 28No results found. - 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: 45Permeability anisotropy and relative permeability in sediments from the National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02, offshore India
Gas and water permeability through hydrate-bearing sediments essentially governs the economic feasibility of gas production from gas hydrate deposits. Characterizing a reservoir’s permeability can be difficult because even collocated permeability measurements can vary by 4-5 orders of magnitude, due partly to differences between how various testing methods inherently measure permeability in differAuthorsSheng Dai, J. Kim, Yue Xu, William F. Waite, Junbong Jang, J. Yoneda, Timothy S. Collett, Pushpendra KumarPhysical property characteristics of gas hydrate-bearing reservoir and associated seal sediments collected during NGHP-02 in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, in the offshore of India
India’s National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 (NGHP-02), was conducted to better understand geologic controls on gas hydrate occurrence and morphology, targeting potentially coarse-grained sediments near the base of the continental slope offshore eastern India. This study combines seismic, logging-while-drilling data, and a petroleum systems approach to provide a regional geologic context foAuthorsJunbong Jang, William F. Waite, Laura A. Stern, Timothy S. Collett, Pushpendra KumarPreface: Marine gas hydrate reservoir systems along the eastern continental margin of India: Results of the National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02
The 2015 India National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP) Expedition 02 was conducted to obtain new information on the occurrence of gas hydrate systems and to advance the understanding of geologic controls on the formation of gas hydrate accumulations in the offshore of India. The ultimate goal of the NGHP effort is to assess the energy resource potential of marine gas hydrates in India. The Guest EditoAuthorsTimothy S. Collett, Pushpendra Kumar, Ray Boswell, William WaiteNational 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. Therefore, geological and geophysical data analysis aAuthorsK.M. Shukla, U.S. Yadav, Pushpendra Kumar, Timothy Collett, R. Boswell, M. Frye, M. Riedel, I. Kaurf, K. VishwanathfIndia 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 for two sites. Both sites (NGHP-02-09 and NGHP-02-16AuthorsRay Boswell, Evgeniy Myshakin, George Moridis, Yoshihiro Konno, Timothy S. Collett, Matthew Reagan, Taiwo Ajayi, Yongkoo SeolIndia 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 Expedition 01 (NGHP-01) established the presence ofAuthorsPushpendra Kumar, Timothy S. Collett, K. M. Shukla, U. S. Yadav, M. V. Lall, Krishna VishwanathIndia 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 the energy resource potential of marine gas hydratAuthorsTimothy S. Collett, Ray Boswell, William F. Waite, Pushpendra Kumar, Sandip Kumar Roy, Krishan Chopra, Sunil Kumar Singh, Yasuhiro Yamada, Norio Tenma, John Pohlman, Margarita ZyrianovaIndia 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 two broad areas. These sites were further investigAuthorsR. Boswell, J. Yoneda, William F. WaitePressure 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 enables efficient reservoir depressurization. CompAuthorsJunbong Jang, Sheng Dai, J. Yoneda, William F. Waite, Laura A. Stern, Lee-Gray Boze, Timothy S. Collett, Pushpendra KumarDownhole 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 the four Area C coring sites: NGHP-02-07, targetingAuthorsWilliam F. Waite, Junbong Jang, Timothy S. Collett, Ronish KumarGas 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 widespread in ocean-bottom sediments at water depthsAuthorsCarolyn D. RuppelThe 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, and international partners. The USGS studies the fAuthorsCarolyn D. Ruppel - Web Tools
Geonarratives associated with the Gas Hydrates Project
- 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...
- Partners
Gas Hydrates Project Partners