Experimental studies on the possible influences of composition changes of pore water on the stability conditions of methane hydrate in marine sediments

Experiments with a set of electrolyte solutions have been carried out to investigate the effects of pore water composition changes on the stability conditions of methane hydrate in marine sediments. The results reveal that (1) SO42− and Cl− concentration changes can affect hydrate stability slightly, (2) the changes in both the type and the concentration of cations, which occur in normal diagenetic processes, do not exert a significant influence on the methane hydrate stability conditions, and (3) the shift of hydrate stability in pore water can be expressed as a function of the Cl− concentration only. Based on the results above, an empirical equation ΔT (K)=0.00206 Cl− (mmol/dm3) has been obtained for estimating the shift in the equilibrium temperature of methane hydrate in pore water at a given pressure.