A reserve of natural gas bubbling from a cage of ice discovered on the ocean floor to the west of Greenland may be the deepest gas hydrate cold seep on record, and it happens to be teeming with animal life.
About Gas Hydrates:
Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline structures that form when a low-density gas, like methane, ethane, or carbon dioxide, combines but does not chemically bond with water and freezes into a solid under low temperature and moderate pressure.
Most gas hydrates are formed from methane (CH4), which has led to the terms “gas hydrate” and “methane hydrate” often being used interchangeably.
They are classified as clathrates, compounds formed by the inclusion of one molecule within cavities in the crystal lattice of another.
A unique property of clathrates is the absence of chemical bonding, which makes it possible to separate them relatively easily.
For example, when methane hydrates are warmed or depressurized, it will revert back to water and natural gas.
On Earth, gas hydrates occur naturally in some marine sediment and within and beneath permafrost.
They are also speculated to form on other planets.
Gas Hydrates are important for a variety of reasons:
Gas hydrate deposits may contain roughly twice the carbon contained in all reserves of coal, oil, and conventional natural gas combined, making them a potentially valuable energy resource.
Their decomposition can release large amounts of methane, which is a greenhouse gas that could impact Earth’s climate.
Sudden release of pressurized methane gas may cause submarine landslides, which in turn can trigger tsunamis.
Gas hydrates in the ocean can be associated with unusual and possibly unique biological communities that use hydrocarbons or hydrogen sulfide for carbon and energy via a process known as chemosynthesis.
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