ИСТИНА

The method can be used in the field of gas hydrate geology for determining the pore water content in equilibrium with gas hydrate in different dispersed media, including rock, sedimentary deposits and soil systems. A dispersed-medium specimen which has been pre-dried and weighed is place between, and in direct contact with, two plates of ice, ice containing soil or ice-containing dispersed medium; then, the specimen is put, together with the plates, into an altitude chamber at a specifed negative or positive Celsius temperature. A hydrate-forming gas is injected into the altitude chamber to a pressure exceeding the pressure of the “ice/gas/hydrate” three-phase equilibrium, and the specimen is held in the altitude chamber until equilibrium saturation of the specimen with moisture is achieved. The altitude chamber gas pressure is then decreased to the atmospheric level, the specimen is withdrawn and weighed, and the equilibrium moisture content of the specimen is determined from the difference between the specimen weights before and after the experiment.