What are methane hydrates?

• A. A type of coal.
• B. A form of natural gas.
• C. A mineral.
• D. Ice balls of methane found in oceans at depth of 1000m, on land in tundra areas and trapped in water cages.

Answer: (D)

Methane hydrates are ice-like crystalline solids in which methane molecules are trapped inside a lattice of water molecules. They form under high pressure and low temperature, such as in deep-ocean sediments (around 1,000 meters deep) and in permafrost regions on land. They aren’t coal, nor a pure mineral, and they aren’t just natural gas—they’re a solid form containing methane locked inside water cages. The description that they are ice-like methane held in water cages at depth in oceans (and in tundra permafrost) best captures what they are.