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Summary: Noble gases and radiocarbon in natural gas hydrates
Gisela Winckler
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Werner Aeschbach-Hertig, Johannes Holocher and Rolf Kipfer
Institute of Isotope Geology and Mineral Resources, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water, EAWAG, Dubendorf, Switzerland
Ingeborg Levin and Christian Poss
Institut fu¨r Umweltphysik, Universita¨t Heidelberg, Germany
Gregor Rehder and Erwin Suess
GEOMAR, Forschungszentrum fu¨r marine Geowissenschaften, Kiel, Germany
Peter Schlosser
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Received 30 August 2001; revised 3 November 2001; accepted 12 November 2001; published 24 May 2002.
[1] In samples of pure natural gas hydrates from Hydrate Ridge,
Cascadia Margin, virtually no helium and neon components are
present providing evidence that the light noble gases are not
incorporated into the structure of natural methane hydrates. In
contrast, the hydrates contain significant amounts of argon, krypton
and xenon. These gases show a distinct fractionation pattern, with
the heavier ones preferentially incorporated into the gas hydrate
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