A new approach for the identification of gas hydrate in marine sediments

Abstract

It has always been the focus of researchers to accurately identify gas hydrate location. Geophysical prospecting is a widely used method for gas hydrate exploration, which has high credibility, especially seismic exploration technology is most generally used. In our study, we analyze the different physical properties of gas hydrate and other minerals bearing in unconsolidated marine sediments based on the effective medium theory. Then, a new attribute is put forward to discriminate gas hydrate. The logging data in the Dongsha area of the South China Sea and the Hydrate Ridge along the Oregon continental margin are applied to validate this method. Our test results are basically in line with actual situation, which provides a new approach in hydrate identification.