It looks like ice.
It feels like ice.
But if you bring it to the surface and expose it to the right conditions, it can burn.
Deep beneath the ocean floor, enormous deposits of methane hydrate—sometimes called methane ice—trap methane gas inside a crystal structure made of water.
It is one of the strangest materials found beneath Earth's oceans.
INTRO
Imagine digging into the ocean floor and finding something that looks like ordinary ice.
You pick it up.
Then it begins to release gas.
And under the right conditions, that gas can actually catch fire.
This isn't science fiction.
It's methane hydrate.
Deep beneath the seafloor, pressure and low temperatures can allow water molecules to form cage-like structures around methane molecules.
The result is a solid material that looks like ice but contains concentrated methane.
And there can be enormous quantities of it beneath continental margins and other deep-ocean environments.
The phrase "ice that burns" sounds impossible.
But deep beneath the ocean, physics creates exactly that strange combination.
Water forms a crystalline cage.
Methane becomes trapped inside.
Pressure and temperature keep the structure stable.
Change those conditions, and the methane escapes.
Give that methane an ignition source, and it can burn.
A material that looks like ice can therefore contain an enormous amount of trapped natural gas.
It is another reminder that Earth's oceans are hiding entire worlds of chemistry and geology beneath the surface.
The ice that burns beneath the ocean.
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