INTEGRATED ANALYSIS OF PERMAFROST FEATURES, GAS SEEPS, GAS HYDRATE AND GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES IN PRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA

Countries around the world will look to unconventional resources, such as gas hydrates and coalbed methane, as conventional resources deplete (Max 2003). Hydrates on the Alaska North Slope (ANS), Prudhoe Bay region, are the focus of this study and are thought to be related to migrating water and gases. The migration occurs along the Eileen Fault Zone (8,000 ft below the surface) which intersects the stability field of gas hydrates, and is therefore an ideal environment for hydrate formations. Excess gases (mainly methane) from gas hydrate formation may continue migrating to the surface and could then become trapped in impermeable features such as pingos. Trace gases found in an ice-core of a pingo within the Prudhoe Bay region are of comparable composition to gas hydrates found in this area (Collett pers. comm.). This study uses digital processing of remote sensing data to identify permafrost features. Using GIS techniques, geologic structures and geophysical data have been integrated with the processed remote sensing images to check for any correlation between permafrost features, gas seeps and gas hydrates in Prudhoe Bay Alaska. If such an association exists, the migrating gases may be an indicator for subsurface gas hydrate formation, suggesting the permafrost features would become an indirect indicators for gas hydrates.