William F Waite, PhD
Bill Waite (he/him/his), has spent his career being thrilled, confused, inspired and exasperated by gas hydrates, an educational relationship he began as a Stanford post-doc before shifting to the USGS in 1999. He has moved from laboratory studies of physical properties of pure gas hydrates, to laboratory and field measurements of the physical properties of gas hydrate in sediment.
Gas Hydrates Project
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.
Research Interest
Gas hydrates are crystalline compounds formed when light “guest” molecules (such as methane) stabilizes cage-like structures in which water molecules enclose individual guest molecules. Gas hydrates are stable at reduced temperatures and elevated pressures that can be found on Earth in a variety of environments (primarily in marine continental slope sediment, and in sediments associated with permafrost). Their global distribution has helped create an international, multidisciplinary research community studying gas hydrate systems from biological, chemical, geological and geophysical perspectives. A wonderful consequence of the international interest has been in providing a rich, collaborative research experience that has significantly shaped and advanced my understanding of gas hydrate over the years.
Thanks to the U.S. Geological Survey’s long-term commitment to gas hydrate research , I have been able to spend 20+ years growing from my initial interest in pure gas hydrate physical properties to laboratory studies of gas hydrate in sediment, and now to ongoing field-based studies of naturally-occurring gas hydrate collected in pressure cores. Most of the USGS gas hydrate fieldwork I have been, and continue to be associated with, is focused on gas hydrate as an energy resource (additional information on those projects are accessible through the USGS Energy Program’s gas hydrate page.
I look forward to opportunities for connecting physical property investigations with interdisciplinary studies of microbiology and geochemistry as we continue to advance our natural-systems level appreciation of gas hydrate’s role not just as a potential energy resource, but as a dynamic element in natural processes.
Professional Experience
Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA: 1999-Present
Leader of the Gas Hydrate Project’s Laboratory Program. I coordinate research between the Woods Hole, MA and Menlo Park, CA laboratories in support of Gas Hydrate Project studies. I lead or co-lead fundamental, applied and synthesis-level studies of gas hydrate, with a focus on physical property measurements.
Education and Certifications
Doctor of Philosophy and Masters of Science, Physics, University of Colorado: 1992-1998 Dissertation: A restricted meniscus motion model for wave attenuation in partially fluid-saturated porous rock,
Bachelor of Arts, Physics (magna cum laude), Oberlin College: 1988-1992 Senior Thesis: Prediction and Measurement of Total Nuclear Reaction Cross Sections, supervised by Prof. Robert Warner.
Science and Products
Multi-measurement approach for establishing the base of gas hydrate occurrence in the Krishna-Godavari Basin for sites cored during Expedition NGHP-02 in the offshore of India
Impact of pore fluid chemistry on fine-grained sediment fabric and compressibility
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
Archie’s saturation exponent for natural gas hydrate in coarse-grained reservoirs
Geomechanical analysis of initial stage of gas production from interbedded hydrate-bearing sediment
What has been learned from pressure cores
Hydro-bio-geomechanical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments from Nankai Trough
Gas hydrate formation rates from dissolved-phase methane in porous laboratory specimens
Hydrate morphology: Physical properties of sands with patchy hydrate saturation
Methane hydrate-bearing seeps as a source of aged dissolved organic carbon to the oceans
Physical properties of sediment from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope
Inter-laboratory comparison of wave velocity measures.
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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.
Science and Products
- Science
- Data
- Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 58
Multi-measurement approach for establishing the base of gas hydrate occurrence in the Krishna-Godavari Basin for sites cored during Expedition NGHP-02 in the offshore of India
The 2015 National Gas Hydrate Program of India's second expedition, NGHP-02, acquired logging and coring datasets for constraining the base of the gas hydrate occurrence zone (deepest GH) and the theoretical base of gas hydrate stability zone (BGHS). These data are used here for two primary goals: to constrain the deepest occurrence of gas hydrate relative to predicted stability limits and the obsAuthorsWilliam F. Waite, Carolyn D. Ruppel, Timothy S. Collett, P. Schultheiss, M. Holland, K.M. Shukla, P. KumarImpact of pore fluid chemistry on fine-grained sediment fabric and compressibility
Fines, defined here as grains or particles, less than 75 μm in diameter, exist nearly ubiquitously in natural sediment, even those classified as coarse. Macroscopic sediment properties, such as compressibility, which relates applied effective stress to the resulting sediment deformation, depend on the fabric of fines. Unlike coarse grains, fines have sizes and masses small enough to be more strongAuthorsJunbong Jang, Shuang C. Cao, Laura A. Stern, Jongwon Jung, William F. WaiteDownhole 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 KumarArchie’s saturation exponent for natural gas hydrate in coarse-grained reservoirs
Accurately quantifying the amount of naturally occurring gas hydrate in marine and permafrost environments is important for assessing its resource potential and understanding the role of gas hydrate in the global carbon cycle. Electrical resistivity well logs are often used to calculate gas hydrate saturations, Sh, using Archie's equation. Archie's equation, in turn, relies on an empirical saturatAuthorsAnn E. Cook, William F. WaiteGeomechanical analysis of initial stage of gas production from interbedded hydrate-bearing sediment
Geomechanical stability of marine hydrate reservoirs during gas production by depressurization is the focus of this study. The reservoir considered here consists of thin hydrate rich sandy layers interbedded with mud layers. Because of the input parameter uncertainties involved, it is prudent from a geomechanical perspective to estimate the likely bounds of potential responses. A decoupled approacAuthorsJeen-Shang Lin, Shun Uchida, Evgeniy Myshakin, Yongkoo Seol, Jonny Rutqvist, Ray Boswell, William F. Waite, Junbong Jang, Timothy S. CollettWhat has been learned from pressure cores
The advancement of pressure core acquisition and analysis technology in recent decades has enabled detailed imaging and direct measurement of naturally occurring hydrate-bearing sediments and has shed light onto hydrate habits, formation processes, fundamental physical properties, and hydrate deposit responses during gas production. This paper reviews the development and capabilities of the pressuAuthorsSheng Dai, Ray Boswell, William F. Waite, Junbong Jang, J. Y. Lee, Y SeolHydro-bio-geomechanical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments from Nankai Trough
Natural hydrate-bearing sediments from the Nankai Trough, offshore Japan, were studied using the Pressure Core Characterization Tools (PCCTs) to obtain geomechanical, hydrological, electrical, and biological properties under in situ pressure, temperature, and restored effective stress conditions. Measurement results, combined with index-property data and analytical physics-based models, provide unAuthorsJ.C. Santamarina, Shifeng Dai, M. Terzariol, Jeonghwan Jang, William F. Waite, William J. Winters, J. Nagao, J. Yoneda, Y. Konno, T. Fujii, K. SuzukiGas hydrate formation rates from dissolved-phase methane in porous laboratory specimens
Marine sands highly saturated with gas hydrates are potential energy resources, likely forming from methane dissolved in pore water. Laboratory fabrication of gas hydrate-bearing sands formed from dissolved-phase methane usually requires 1–2 months to attain the high hydrate saturations characteristic of naturally occurring energy resource targets. A series of gas hydrate formation tests, in whichAuthorsWilliam F. Waite, E.K. SpangenbergHydrate morphology: Physical properties of sands with patchy hydrate saturation
The physical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments depend on the volume fraction and spatial distribution of the hydrate phase. The host sediment grain size and the state of effective stress determine the hydrate morphology in sediments; this information can be used to significantly constrain estimates of the physical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments, including the coarse-grained sandAuthorsS. Dai, J.C. Santamarina, William F. Waite, T.J. KneafseyMethane 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 of the dissolved methane to carbon dioxide6, 7. HerAuthorsJohn W. Pohlman, William F. Waite, James E. Bauer, Christopher L. Osburn, N. Ross ChapmanPhysical properties of sediment from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope
This study characterizes cored and logged sedimentary strata from the February 2007 BP Exploration Alaska, Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey (BPXA-DOE-USGS) Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well on the Alaska North Slope (ANS). The physical-properties program analyzed core samples recovered from the well, and in conjunction with downhole geophysical logs, produced an extensivAuthorsWilliam J. Winters, Michael Walker, Robert Hunter, Timothy S. Collett, Ray M. Boswell, Kelly K. Rose, William F. Waite, Marta Torres, Shirish Patil, Abhijit DandekarInter-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. Comparative tests were run in which the sand was dry, wAuthorsWilliam F. Waite, J.C. Santamarina, M. Rydzy, S.H. Chong, J.L.H. Grozic, K. Hester, J. Howard, T.J. Kneafsey, J.Y. Lee, S. Nakagawa, J. Priest, E. Reese, H. Koh, E. D. Sloan, A. SultaniyaNon-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
- News
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.