Editing Bermuda Triangle (section)

====Methane hydrates====
{{Further|Methane clathrate}}
[[File:Gas hydrates 1996.svg|thumb|Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.<br/>Source: [[United States Geological Survey]]]]

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of large fields of [[methane]] hydrates (a form of natural gas) on the [[continental shelves]].<ref name="Energy Citations Database (ECD) – Document #616279">{{cite journal |osti=616279 |title=Office of Scientific & Technical Information, OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy, DOE |journal=Petroleum Engineer International |volume=71 |issue=3 |publisher=OTSI |date=March 1998 |last1=Gruy |first1=H. J.}}</ref> Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water,<ref name="Monash, 2003">{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3226787 |title=Could methane bubbles sink ships? |date=21 October 2003 |publisher=Monash Univ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Dowling |first=Jason |date=23 October 2003 |title=Bermuda Triangle mystery solved? It's a load of gas |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631498889.html |work=The Age}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Aym |first=Terrence |date=6 August 2010 |title=How Brilliant Computer Scientists Solved the Bermuda Triangle Mystery |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3226787 |publisher=Salem-News.com}}</ref> and any wreckage would be deposited on the ocean floor or rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane [[eruption]]s (sometimes called "[[mud volcano]]es") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate [[buoyancy]] for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.<ref name="Joseph,">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zz3jCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |title=Investigating Seafloors and Oceans: From Mud Volcanoes to Giant Squid |last=Antony |first=Joseph |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |date=2017|access-date=26 September 2023 |page=87 |isbn=978-0-12-809357-3}}</ref>

Publications by the [[USGS]] describe large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide, including the [[Blake Ridge]] area, off the coast of the southeastern United States.<ref name="WoodsHole papers">{{cite web |last1=Paull |first1=C.K. |last2=W.P. |first2=D. |year=1981 |title=Appearance and distribution of the gas hydrate reflection in the Blake Ridge region, offshore southeastern United States |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218231421/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html |archive-date=18 February 2012 |work=Gas Hydrates at the USGS |publisher=Woods Hole |id=MF-1252.}}</ref> However, according to the USGS, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.<ref name="WoodsHole Bermuda">{{cite web |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121023070855/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html| archive-date = 23 October 2012 |title=Bermuda Triangle |work=Gas Hydrates at the USGS |publisher=Woods Hole}}</ref>