Читать книгу Clathrate Hydrates - Группа авторов - Страница 30

Hydrates of natural gas in nature were the subject of some speculation [105] before Yuri F. Makogon first reported the existence of natural gas hydrates associated with the Messoyakha gas field in Siberia in 1965 [106]. Onshore permafrost hydrates in Canada [107] and marine gas hydrates associated with sediment on the continental margins [108] were reported soon after. Their ubiquitous nature soon kindled worldwide interest in hydrates as to their role in the geosphere and especially as a huge new global source of natural gas. This broadened hydrate research to include the earth and ocean sciences, geotechnical engineering, reservoir modeling, and other related fields. Some of the laboratories mentioned above quite naturally also became involved in this new stream of hydrate research.

Other naturally occurring hydrates, those of air, were predicted by Stanley L. Miller in 1969 to occur deep inside glaciers, at a depth where air bubbles trapped in the ice disappeared [109]. He also suggested that CO₂ hydrate may well occur on Mars, and methane hydrate on the outer planets and their satellites [110, 111]. In 1952, Armond H. Delsemme and Pol F. Swings, then at the University of Liège further speculated that gas hydrates may be responsible for the steady outgassing of the heads of comets on approaching the sun [112].