image: Researchers report a methane hydrate phase stable at the pressures likely found in methane-rich planets Uranus and Neptune. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Sofiane Schaack
Researchers report the discovery, via both Raman scattering experiments in diamond anvil cells and molecular dynamics simulations, of a phase of methane hydrate, in which water molecules arranged in an ordinary ice structure surround and trap molecules of methane; this phase can remain stable at pressures up to 150 gigapascals, near the highest estimated pressures in the mantles of methane-rich planets such as Uranus and Neptune, according to the authors.
###
Article #19-04911: "Observation of methane filled hexagonal ice stable up to 150 GPa," by Sofiane Schaack et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Livia E. Bove, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, SWITZERLAND; e-mail: livia.bove@epfl.ch
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences