APPLICATION PROSPECT OF CPT IN GAS HYDRATE EXPLORATION

Geophysical, geochemical, microbial and geological methods are widely used in gas hydrate exploration and 3D seismic method is doubtlessly the main and most important one. There are obvious differences in physical properties of sediments containing free natural gas and gas hydrates. The distribution of gas hydrates can be recognized by using these differences with 3D seismic data. However, some sediments, such as carbonate rocks may produce similar anomalies. CPT has prominent advantages in accurately determining the physical properties and types of sediments. It has the capability to carry out tasks such as soil mechanics testing, soil photography taking, geological sampling, P-S logging, thermodynamic testing, magnetic observation, conductivity testing, radioisotope testing and chemical analysis testing, etc. Combined with other methods, CPT is believed a very promising method for accurately determinating hydrate distribution and calculating gas reserves in gas hydrate exploration.