Study shows new source of methane hydrate in Artic Ocean

Ultra-slow spreading ocean ridges were
discovered in the Arctic in 2003 by scientists
at Woods Hole Ocenographic Institution.
 

Methane, a highly effective greenhouse gas, is usually produced by decomposition of organic material, a complex process involving bacteria and microbes.

But there is another type of methane that can appear under specific circumstances: Abiotic methane is formed by chemical reactions in the oceanic crust beneath the seafloor.

New findings show that deep water gas hydrates, icy substances in the sediments that trap huge amounts of the methane, can be a reservoir for abiotic methane. One such reservoir was recently discovered on the ultraslow spreading Knipovich ridge, in the deep Fram Strait of the Arctic Ocean. The study suggests that abiotic methane could supply vast systems of methane hydrate throughout the Arctic.

The study was conducted by scientists at Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The results were recently published in Geology online and will be featured in the journal´s May issue.

Read the Phys.org story - “New source of methane discovered in the Arctic Ocean.”