Methane Hydrate Block at Southern Hydrate Ridge

The manipulator arm of the ROV ROPOS reaches for a small block of methane hydrate wedeged against a small rampart and nearly vertical wall within a large collapsed area at the summit of Southern Hydrate Ridge. Several minutes after sampling this site with the ROV, a continuous jet of methane bubbles issued from the large opening to the right of the hydrate sample. The methane hydrate is translucent, very clean and is reminscent of quartz with a conchoidal-like fracture pattern and is partially encased in a thin skin of sediment. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive R1784; V14.  

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