Abstract:

The Alaska North Slope Basin (ANSB) is one of the earliest areas for gas hydrate investigation and research in the world, and it has an exemplary role in global gas hydrate studies. In this work, the metallogenic geological conditions and regularities of natural gas hydrates in the ANSB were summarized systematically by means of literature-based research and analysis. It is believed that the gas hydrate system of the ANSB is a shallow derivation of the underlying Cretaceous–Tertiary petroleum system, which is the result of multiple factors including gas sources, faults, lithology and the special environment (i.e., permafrost, stratum temperature and pressure field). Based on the above inference, three levels of prospective resource areas in the ANSB were determined using simulation calculations, and the gas hydrate resource in the entire Alaska area was estimated to be 6.0 × 1012 m3 standard natural gas. Overall, the Class I prospective areas are distributed mainly in the coastal permafrost and shelf areas of the ANSB, and their resource potential was estimated to be 2.83 × 1012 m3 standard natural gas.

Key words: Alaska North Slope Basin, gas hydrate, mineralizing pattern, resource potential