1. Gas Hydrate: Burning Ice
Bruno Tremblay
McGill University

2. Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum

3. PETM
The warming phase lasted 20,000 years. The recovery phase lasted around 30 to 170,000 years.
GT of Carbon released in the atmosphere in 2000 years – slightly lower than today’s emissions.
Large negative excursion of delta C13. Methane is very rich in C12 (negative delta C13)
Plants prefer C12 over C13 and there fore leaving things is rich in C12 or delta C13 more negative.

4. How do we know the source of Carbon in the atmosphere?

5. Delta C13

6. Burning Ice

7. Methane Hydrate

8. Formation and Stability
Rapid accumulation of organic detritus and rapid accumulation of sediment (to protect the detritus from oxydation.
Bacteria produces metane from organic detritus
Gas forms within the sediment and rise until they are no longer stable in gas phase (trn into ice).
This is in turn forms a cap preventing methane from escaping.

9. Stability Curve

10. Gas hydrate Reservoir

11. Confirmed and Inferred Gas hydrate Sites

12. Gas Hydrate Extraction
Add heat to the gas hydrate to melt and extract the gaseous methane
Pumping into the free gas below the stability curve.
Add anti-freeze such as methanol
Replace the methane in the hydrate with CO2!
Heat required to melt the ice is equivalent to using 5 unit of energy to extract 1 unit of usable energy.