The decomposition of gas hydrates releases gas and water at volumes much larger than the original volume. The gas escapes violently, which destroys seabed sediments and can even cause geological disasters. To explore the effect of natural gas hydrate decomposition on underwater slopes, laboratory experiments were conducted to observe the features of slope failure. Aeration was used to model the gas that was produced by hydrate decomposition, and the results were as follows. (a) Once air filled into the bottom of the underwater slope, the pore pressure at the slope was altered, which eventually caused the slope to fail. (b) The formation of pockmarks corresponded to the variations in the pore-water pressure. (c) The theoretical analysis results showed that the sedimentation rate of fine particles (d < 0.4 mm) was lower than the water flow velocity, indicating that these particles were carried away with the air–liquid two-phase flow, which eventually caused the pockmarks to develop into craters.

中文翻译：

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曝气分解天然气水合物的麻点实验模型

气体水合物的分解释放出的气体和水的体积比原始体积大得多。气体猛烈逸出，破坏了海底沉积物，甚至可能造成地质灾害。为了探索天然气水合物分解对水下边坡的影响，进行了室内实验以观察边坡破坏的特征。使用曝气对水合物分解产生的气体进行建模，结果如下。（a）一旦空气填充到水下斜坡的底部，斜坡上的孔隙压力就会发生变化，最终导致斜坡失效。（b）麻点的形成与孔隙水压力的变化相对应。（c）理论分析结果表明，d  <0.4 mm的细小颗粒的沉降速率低于水的流速，这表明这些颗粒被气液两相流带走，最终导致麻点发展成陨石坑。