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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 9, 1451, doi:10.1029/2002GL016802, 2003

Nucleation of gas hydrate in marine environments

O. Y. Zatsepina

Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


B. A. Buffett

Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Abstract

An extrapolation of parameters from an experimental study of CO2-hydrate nucleation in porous media is used to describe the nucleation of CH4 hydrate under conditions found below the seafloor. The requirements for nucleation can significantly delay the onset of hydrate formation when CH4-bearing liquids rise into the hydrate stability zone. Hydrate may not form at all if the vertical extent of the stability zone is too narrow to achieve sufficient cooling below equilibrium temperature. This is particular relevent in shallow water or at times in the Earth's past where the ocean floor was warmer than today.

Published 2 May 2003.

Index Terms: 3022 Marine Geology and Geophysics: Marine sediments—processes and transport; 3939 Mineral Physics: Physical thermodynamics; 4558 Oceanography: Physical: Sediment transport.

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Citation: Zatsepina, O. Y., and B. A. Buffett (2003), Nucleation of gas hydrate in marine environments, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(9), 1451, doi:10.1029/2002GL016802.