Gas Hydrates

Marine gas hydrates are a crystalline solid formed of water and gas which are found across continental margins around the world. They are primarily composed of methane and estimated to occur in huge quantities below the sea floor and in the permafrost of the Arctic.

Gas hydrates could have a strong influence on the environment and climate, because methane is a significant greenhouse gas. The dissociation of marine hydrate that surrounds continental margins is thought to be an agent for past and future climate change. They have also been considered as a major energy resource and can present a hazard where slope instabilities have been attributed gas hydrate systems.