ИСТИНА

Methane in underground ice has been already studied on Western Yamal; it was detected in permafrost sediments on Central Yamal (Bovanenkovo gas field) during parametric wells drilling, but it has never been studied in the outcrops of underground ice on the banks of lakes and rivers. New data of methane gaseous inclusions in underground ice and frozen Quaternary sediments and methane concentrations in the air on Central Yamal (Bovanenkovo) is discussed. Total of 26 samples of ice were obtained from five underground ice outcrops in Se-Yakha river basin, 2 samples were taken from air and two from icy permafrost sediments. The concentration of methane in the samples was determined by the “Headspace” method. High concentrations of methane in underground ice – 32283 ppmv and 18330 ppmv was found in 2 samples from northern part of “Outcrop №1” [70.380537о, 68.413028о] located in thermoerosional gully on the right bank of Se-Yakha river. Width of underground ice outcrop is 15-17 m with average height of 1.9 m. Other values of methane concentration in this outcrop vary from 12 to 681 ppmv. Our hypothesis is that these sediments have complex genesis – southern part is an ice wedge (there is also a local depression in relief above outcrop with 20 m width and 300-350 m length towards watershed) and northern part is a part of massive ground ice structure (which has been studied before by Dorofeev, Parmuzin, Sukhodolskiy etc).