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.

Klappentext
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.

Zusammenfassung
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.

Inhalt

Hydrate as a Material and its Discovery.- 1. Introduction, Physical Properties, and Natural Occurrences of Hydrate.- 2. Natural Gas Hydrate: Introduction and History of Discovery..- 2. Physical Character of Natural Gas Hydrate.- 3. Practical Physical Chemistry and Emperical Predictions of Methane Hydrate Stability.- 4. Thermal State of the Gas Hydrate Reservoir.- 3. Oceanic and Permafrost-Related Natural Gas Hydrate.- 5. Permafrost-Associated Gas Hydrate.- 6. Oceanic Gas Hydrate.- 4. Source of Methane and its Migration.- 7. The Role of Methane Hydrate in Ocean Carbon Chemistry and Biochemical Cycling.- 8. Deep Biosphere: Source of Methane for Oceanic Hydrate.- 9. Movement and Accumulation of Methane in Marine Sediments: Relation to Gas Hydrate Systems.- 5. Major Hydrate-related Issues.- 10. Natural Gas Hydrate as a Potential Energy Resource.- 11. Climate Impact of Natural Gas Hydrate.- 12. Potential Role of Gas Hydrate Decomposition in Generating Submarine Slope Failures.- 6. Distribution of Natural Gas Hydrate.- 13. U.S. Atlantic Continental Margin; the Best-Known Gas Hydrate Locality.- 14. Gas Hydrate in the Arctic and Northern North Atlantic Oceans.- 15. Cascadia Margin, Northeast Pacific Ocean: Hydrate. Distribution from Geophysical Investigations.- 16. The Occurrence of BSRs on the Antarctic Margin.- 17. Gas Hydrate Potential of the Indian Sector of the NE Arabian Sea and Northern Indian Ocean.- 18. Hydrate as a Future Energy Resource for Japan.- 19. A Note on Gas Hydrate in the Northern Sector of the South China Sea.- 7. How we see Hydrate.- 20. Introduction to Physical Properties and Elasticity Models.- 21. Geophysical Sensing and Hydrate.- 22. Seismic Methods for Detecting and Quantifying Marine Methane Hydrate/Free Gas Reservoirs.- 23. Ground truth: In-SituProperties of Hydrate.- 8. Laboratory Studies of Gas Hydrates.- 24. GHASTLI Determining Physical Properties of Sediment Containing Natural and Laboratory-Formed Gas Hydrate.- 25. Laboratory synthesis of pure methane hydrate suitable for measurement of physical properties and decomposition behavior.- 9. The Promise of Hydrate.- 26. Economic Perspective of Methane from Hydrate.- 27. Hydrate Resource, Methane Fuel, and a Gas-Based Economy?.- Additional Chapter Added for Second Printing.- 28. Sea Floor Venting and Gas Hydrate Accumulation A1-A.- Glossary of Terms.- Selected References.- List of Contributors.