Specific surface area (SSA) measurements made on four cores recovered in the Mississippi Canyon region of the Gulf of Mexico suggest that SSA is not a controlling factor in hydrate formation. SSA was determined using the single point Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (B.E.T.) method on a Quantachrome Quantasorb Sorption System. This method uses thermal conductivity to measure the volume of nitrogen adsorbed and desorbed from the sample surface.