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Characteristic Settling Time and Interface Height Dependence on Pore Fluid Chemistry for Sediment Collected From Area B, During India's National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition NGHP-02

Metadata Updated: January 7, 2026

One goal of the Indian National Gas Hydrate Program's NGHP-02 expedition was to examine the geomechanical response of marine sediment to the extraction of methane from gas hydrate found offshore eastern India in the Bay of Bengal. Methane gas hydrate is a naturally occurring crystalline solid that sequesters methane in individual molecular cages in a lattice of water molecules. Methane gas hydrate is a potential energy resource, but whether extracting methane from gas hydrate in the marine subsurface is technically and economically viable remains an open research topic as of 2018. This data release provides insight about a poorly quantified aspect of this process: the reaction of fine-grained sediment particles (fines) to the change in pore water chemistry that occurs when methane is extracted from gas hydrate. Fines are an issue for production because they can get resuspended in the flow of fluid and gas toward the extraction well. As fines move, they can cluster and subsequently clog pore throats in the sediment, reducing permeability (which controls how easily methane can flow toward the extraction well). There are two main factors in determining the cluster structure (the size and fabric of the cluster) and the cluster formation and settling rates: the type of fine-grained particle and the chemistry of the surrounding pore water. Data in this study provide insight into both factors. Fine particles interact with each other primarily in response to electrical forces, and changes in pore water chemistry can significantly alter how those forces are communicated between particles. In marine systems, in situ pore water is an electrically conductive brine. As gas hydrate dissociates, however, fresh water is released along with the methane, making the pore water less conductive. Depending on the type of fine-grained particles involved, the pore water chemistry change enhances or diminishes the clustering and changes the rates at which the clusters form and settle. For this data release, specimens from the NGHP-02 expedition are observed during sedimentation (settling) tests in pore fluids of differing chemistry. The results included in this data release can (1) provide insight into the types of fines present, which can be difficult to quantify if using the more standard x-ray diffraction method for identifying fines and (2) indicate whether the in situ fines are likely to increase or decrease their capacity to clog pore throats as the pore water transitions from higher to lower salinity during gas hydrate dissociation.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_5b228193e4b092d9652a211d
Data Last Modified 2020-08-07T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 86c29d87-072b-4f83-978d-41fb43896145
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial 84.19200167, 17.43391500, 84.19757167, 17.43830167
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 0d0658c7986d08ab0e68ec5e925e51d5a7b4dfdee01a9f3f5e392d1a7beb5426
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": 84.19200167, 17.43391500, 84.19200167, 17.43830167, 84.19757167, 17.43830167, 84.19757167, 17.43391500, 84.19200167, 17.43391500}

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