Natural Gas Hydrate: In Oceanic and Permafrost Environments (Coastal Systems and Continental Margins, 5)

1. THE BEGINNINGS OF HYDRATE RESEARCH Until very recently, our understanding of hydrate in the natural environment and its impact on seafloor stability, its importance as a sequester of methane, and its potential as an important mechanism in the Earth's climate change system, was masked by our lack of appreciation of the vastness of the hydrate resource. Only a few publications on naturally occurring hydrate existed prior to 1975. The first published reference to oceanic gas hydrate (Bryan and Markl, 1966) and the first publication in the scientific literature (Stoll, et a1., 1971) show how recently it has been since the topic of naturally occurring hydrate has been raised. Recently, however, the number of hydrate publications has increased substantially, reflecting increased research into hydrate topics and the initiation of funding to support the researchers. Awareness of the existence of naturally occurring gas hydrate now has spread beyond the few scientific enthusiasts who pursued knowledge about the elusive hydrate because of simple interest and lurking suspicions that hydrate would prove to be an important topic. The first national conference on gas hydrate in the U.S. was held as recently as April, 1991 at the U.S. National Center of the U.s. Geological Survey in Reston Virginia (Max et al., 1991). The meeting was co-hosted by the U.s. Geological Survey, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the U.S. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction, Physical Properties, and Natural Occurrences of Hydrate....Pages 1-8 Natural Gas Hydrate: Background and History of Discovery....Pages 9-16 Practical Physical Chemistry and Empirical Predictions of Methane Hydrate Stability....Pages 17-28 Thermal State of the Gas Hydrate Reservoir....Pages 29-42 Permafrost-Associated Gas Hydrate....Pages 43-60 Oceanic Gas Hydrate....Pages 61-76 The Role of Methane Hydrate in Ocean Carbon Chemistry and Biogeochemical Cycling....Pages 77-90 Deep Biosphere: Source of Methane for Oceanic Hydrate....Pages 91-104 Movement and Accumulation of Methane in Marine Sediments: Relation to Gas Hydrate Systems....Pages 105-122 Natural Gas Hydrate as a Potential Energy Resource....Pages 123-136 Climatic Impact of Natural Gas Hydrate....Pages 137-148 Potential Role of Gas Hydrate Decomposition in Generating Submarine Slope Failures....Pages 149-156 The U.S. Atlantic Continental Margin; the Best-Known Gas Hydrate Locality....Pages 157-170 Gas Hydrate in the Arctic and Northern North Atlantic Oceans....Pages 171-182 Cascadia Margin, Northeast Pacific Ocean: Hydrate Distribution from Geophysical Investigations....Pages 183-198 The Occurrence of BSRs on the Antarctic Margin....Pages 199-212 Gas Hydrate Potential of the Indian Sector of the NE Arabian Sea and Northern Indian Ocean....Pages 213-224 Hydrate as a Future Energy Resource for Japan....Pages 225-238 A Note on Gas Hydrate in the Northern Sector of the South China Sea....Pages 239-244 Introduction to Physical Properties and Elasticity Models....Pages 245-260 Geophysical Sensing and Hydrate....Pages 261-274 Seismic Methods for Detecting and Quantifying Marine Methane Hydrate/Free Gas Reservoirs....Pages 275-294 Ground Truth: In-Situ Properties of Hydrate....Pages 295-310 GHASTLI — Determining Physical Properties of Sediment Containing Natural and Laboratory-Formed Gas Hydrate....Pages 311-322 Laboratory synthesis of pure methane hydrate suitable for measurement of physical properties and decomposition behavior....Pages 323-348 Economic Perspective of Methane from Hydrate....Pages 349-360 Hydrate Resource, Methane Fuel, and a Gas-Based Economy?....Pages 361-370 Sea Floor Venting and Gas Hydrate Accumulation....Pages 371-378 Back Matter....Pages 379-415

This is the first book published on the emerging research field of naturally occurring gas hydrates (focusing on methane hydrate) that is not primarily a physical chemistry textbook. This book is designed as a broad introduction to the field of hydrate science, demonstrating the significance of the hydrate cycle to energy resource potential, seafloor stability, and global climate and climate change, along with other issues. The best known hydrate localities are described, as are research and laboratory methods and results. The book consists of chapters grouped in related themes that present up-to-date information on methane hydrate. Each of the contributing authors is expert in hydrate science and most have been carrying out research in hydrate for a considerable time.
Audience: This book will be an important source of information for marine geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, and petroleum geologists and regulators. It is also intended as a graduate-level textbook.

Annotation This is the first book published on the emerging research field of naturally occurring gas hydrates (focusing on methane hydrate) that is not primarily a physical chemistry textbook. This book is designed as a broad introduction to the field of hydrate science, demonstrating the significance of the hydrate cycle to energy resource potential, seafloor stability, and global climate and climate change, along with other issues. The best known hydrate localities are described, as are research and laboratory methods and results. The book consists of chapters grouped in related themes that present up-to-date information on methane hydrate. Each of the contributing authors is expert in hydrate science and most have been carrying out research in hydrate for a considerable time. Audience: This book will be an important source of information for marine geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, and petroleum geologists and regulators. It is also intended as a graduate-level textbook Focusing on the field of naturally occurring gas hydrates, this book is designed as an introduction to the field of hydrate science, demonstrating the significance of the hydrate cycle to energy resource potential, seafloor stability, and global climate and climate change, along with other issues.