Influence of Gas Hydrate on the Acoustic Properties of Sediment: A Comprehensive Review with a Focus on Experimental Measurements

In recent years, natural gas hydrate has attracted increasing attention worldwide as a potential alternative energy source due to its attributes of wide distribution, large reserves, and low carbon. Since the acoustic characteristics of hydratebearing reservoirs clearly differ from those of adjacent formations, an acoustic approach, using seismic and acoustic logging, is one of the most direct, effective and widely used methods among the identification and characterization techniques for hydrate reservoir exploration. This review of research on the influence of hydrate(content and distribution) on the acoustic properties(velocity and attenuation) of sediments in the past two decades includes experimental studies based on different hydrate formation methods and measurements, as well as rock physics models. The main problems in current research are also pointed out and future prospects discussed.