| Summary: | Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2024 My thesis evaluates lake sediment characteristics and how they have been affected as large geologic methane (CH₄) seeps formed in Esieh Lake (informal name), a lake in Northwest Alaska. I provide extensive background of the lake, including a synthesis of studies and reports that characterize the geology around this lake which, to date, contains the largest known CH₄ seeps in the Arctic. In addition to providing background information on Esieh Lake and characterizing the lake's sediments, I evaluate the economic potential for the CH₄ seeps and compare flux values to natural gas projects which were previously completed in Alaska and Canada. The evidence suggests the possibility that CH₄ seeps initiated in Esieh Lake sometime within the last century via an explosive event that formed large pockmarks in the lake bottom. Rapid expansion of the seep field occurred between 1952 and 1972. Seepage continued after the blowout event and is still present today, albeit at a more quiescent stage. An economic evaluation of the seep as an energy source found that the capital cost for infrastructure to transport gas to a nearby community resulted in high energy costs, higher than the current cost of electricity in Noatak from imported diesel. However, if infrastructure capital costs were not a factor, then the cost of electricity for Noatak using Esieh Lake seepage as natural gas, would be much lower that current electricity costs. Through existing technologies, Esieh Lake is not economically viable as a resource but as technology progresses, developing a very small-scale gas resource may become a viable option. NANA Regional Corporation
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