AN international research ship is to investigate the idea that methane is bubbling up from beneath the seabed in the Bermuda Triangle. The gas may be "one cause of the mysterious disappearance of ships and planes" in the area, says Britain's Natural Environment Research Council, one of the sponsors of the international Ocean Drilling Programme which will carry out the study.
The ODP's drilling ship Resolution is to explore the Blake Ridge and Carolina Rise area of the Atlantic floor, between the US and Bermuda, from October to December. According to ODP scientist John Parks of the University of Bristol, the research will concentrate on the role of bacteria in "cold seeps", the faults in marine sediments where subterranean methane reaches the ocean floor through faults. The gas is trapped in frozen lattices, known as ice hydrates.
Ice hydrates occur both on land and beneath the sea. They may contain ...
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