Methane clathrates usually develop in high-pressure settings. And are found mostly in frozen polar areas and on the ocean floor.
Methane clathrate under a rock from the seafloor of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Deposits such as these demonstrate that methane and other gases cross the seafloor and enter the ocean.
A recent study has discovered a new class of bacterial proteins that play an essential role in methane clathrates' creation and long-term stability.trapped within an interlocking lattice of water molecules. They serve a key role in preventing methane from entering the atmosphere. “We wanted to understand how these formations were staying stable under the seafloor and precisely what mechanisms were contributing to their stability. This is something no one has done before,” said Jennifer Glass, associate professor at Georgia Tech, in anMethane clathrates usually develop in high-pressure settings. They are found mostly in year-round frozen polar areas and on the ocean floor.
For this study, the team examined a methane deposit extracted from the seafloor off the coast of Oregon.Following that, they prepared proteins that were thought to be prospective candidates for binding to methane clathrates.
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