Methane Clathrate Cluster

Methane Clathrate Clusters are large balls of ice filled with methane that appear in the Tar Delta. They can be broken down into Methane Clathrate at the Resource Crusher by using a Tadpole Seafrog Chassis to gravitize them.

Databank Entry

Source: Scan a Methane Clathrate Cluster


Methane (CH4) trapped in a cage of water molecules. Also known as fire ice.

Methane clathrates form beneath the seabed when methane produced by microorganisms is trapped in ice. The pocket of methane gas makes the ice buoyant, so if it reaches the open sea it will quickly rise and melt. Methane hydrate miners must handle the fire ice carefully.

As natural gas, methane is an effective source of electrical power. Seafloor deposits may have been excavated for use in alien power plants.

Higher levels of carbon on Proteus have probably created larger methane clathrate reserves than Earth's. Tens of thousands of gigatons of carbon may be locked up in sub-ocean clathrate beds. Whiled pre-Expansion fears of a 'methane clathrate gun' that would boil the Earth proved false, methane is still a powerful greenhouse gas.

If methane hydrates are exposed at the seafloor, this may indicate that the subsurface deposits have warmed and begun to boil away.

Assessment: useful power source in bioreactors. Anchor methane hydrate masses while harvesting or they will float away.