The interaction of methane with silica-supported Ru has been investigated. Methane is found to undergo dissociative adsorption above 373 K. The prexponential factor for dissociative adsorption is 2.0 x 10(-7)-5.7 x 10(-7) and the activation energy is 5.9-7.0 kcal/mol. Three types of carbon are formed, designated as C-alpha, C-beta, and C-gamma. The distribution among these species is dependent on the total carbon coverage and the length of time that the carbon has been aged at given temperature after deposition. Aging results in the conversion of C-beta to C-alpha. The apparent activation energy for this process is 22w kcal/mol. Hydrogenation of the carbonaceous deposit produces methane and smaller quantities of ethane and propane. The distribution among these products depends on the surface coverage of carbon and the temperature of hydrogenation. Both the distribution of carbonaceous species present on the catalyst surface after dissociative adsorption of CH4 and the distribution of alkanes formed upon isothermal hydrogenation of the carbonaceous deposit depend on whether or not the catalyst has been carburized.