Effect of Pressure on Hydrogen Isotope Fractionation in Methane during Methane Hydrate Formation at Temperatures Below the Freezing Point of Water

Abstract

Isotopic fractionation of methane between gas and solid hydrate phases provides data regarding hydrate-forming environments, but the effect of pressure on isotopic fractionation is not well understood. In this study, methane hydrates were synthesized in a pressure cell, and the hydrogen isotope compositions of the residual and hydrate-bound gases were determined. The δ2H of hydrate-bound methane formed below the freezing point of water was 5.7–10.3‰ lower than that of residual methane, indicating that methane hydrate generally encapsulates lighter molecules (CH4) instead of CH32H. The fractionation factors αH-V of the gas and hydrate phases were in the range 0.9881–0.9932 at a temperature and pressure of 223.3–268.2 K and 1.7–19.5 MPa, respectively. Furthermore, αH-V increased with increasing formation pressure, suggesting that the difference in the hydrogen isotopes of the hydrate-bound methane and surrounding methane yields data regarding the formation pressure. Although the differences in the hydrogen isotopes observed in this study are insignificant, precise analyses of the isotopes of natural hydrates in the same area enable the determination of the pressure during hydrate formation.