The natural gas hydrate, which is also known as “burning ice”, is broadly distributed in permafrost regions, deep sea on the edge of the continental shelf and sediment in deep lakes. At present, scientists have found large quantities of natural gas hydrate occurrence in permafrost regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including the MacKenzie Delta in Canada, Alaska in USA and Siberia in Russia. 

Through a scientific drilling project in the Kunlun Pass Basin, scientists with Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI) found the existing evidence of natural gas hydrate in permafrost regions at the middle section of east Kunlun Mountain, northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The possible occurrence of natural gas hydrate in permafrost of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has significant potential impact on energy resources, climate change and the environment. 

Scientist record a full suite of petrophysical logs, and gas geochemistry was logged during drilling. Gas recovered from multi-layer strata below the depth of 250m was characterized by intermittent gas peaks and methane concentration ranges from 22% to 32% during drilling. 

Petrophysical analysis indicates that these multi-layer strata are dominated by typical gas hydrate features including low density, high lateral resistivity, and high acoustic velocity. Corroborating petrographic evidence includes authigenic carbonate minerals and pyrite found in these strata, closely related with methane and expected as a product of gas hydrate dissociation. 

The research achievement is the first time to find natural gas hydrate in low latitudes of permafrost regions in the world, and the first time to prove that natural gas hydrate existing in permafrost region on continent where is far away from the ocean. 

This research is supported by the CAS Action-Plan for West Development (KZCX-XB-03) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41101070, 41001038), and research achievements were published in Chinese Science Bulletin: (DOI: 10.1360/N972014-00088).