The Permian/Triassic extinction event is often laid at the door of the methane hydrate deposits in the ocean;
It would be nice to find a way to use the stored energy from these deposits in a controlled way, to help out in our likely future energy short-fall; trouble is they seem to be so unstable that they just come bubbling up all at once when disturbed.
This has even been suggested as the worst case scenario if global warming continues- the warmer seas might trigger a cataclysmic methane release.
Of course the seas have been much warmer than they are now several times during the Tertiary, and I don’t know if methane events occurred then as well;
but it seems a shame to let an energy resource go to waste.
incidentally I believe there are whole methanotrophic ecologies down there which rely on this chemical, so perhaps we should consider the biodiversity issue as well.
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