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.
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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
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences