STRUCTURE, MORPHOLOGY, AND COMPOSITION OF NATURAL GAS HYDRATES SAMPLED IN THE KEDR-1 MUD VOLCANO (LAKE BAIKAL)

Structure, morphology, and composition of the gas for natural gas hydrates sampled in the Kedr-1 mud volcano (Lake Baikal) are studied. It is shown that all these hydrates have cubic structure II, and the hydrate‐bound gas contains about 14% of ethane (the rest is methane). One of the samples is a porous monolithic hydrate layer sandwiched between the layers of hydrate granules. The hydrate has similar structures and compositions in the layer and in the granules. As far as we know, no such morphology features of natural hydrates have been reported so far. Possible mechanisms underlying the formation of such objects are discussed.