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Global diffusive fluxes of methane in marine sediments

Nature Geoscience volume 11, pages 421–425 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Anaerobic oxidation of methane provides a globally important, yet poorly constrained barrier for the vast amounts of methane produced in the subseafloor. Here we provide a global map and budget of the methane flux and degradation in diffusion-controlled marine sediments in relation to the depth of the methane oxidation barrier. Our new budget suggests that 45–61 Tg of methane are oxidized with sulfate annually, with approximately 80% of this oxidation occurring in continental shelf sediments (<200 m water depth). Using anaerobic oxidation as a nearly quantitative sink for methane in steady-state diffusive sediments, we calculate that ~3–4% of the global organic carbon flux to the seafloor is converted to methane. We further report a global imbalance of diffusive methane and sulfate fluxes into the sulfate–methane transition with no clear trend with respect to the corresponding depth of the methane oxidation barrier. The observed global mean net flux ratio between sulfate and methane of 1.4:1 indicates that, on average, the methane flux to the sulfate–methane transition accounts for only ~70% of the sulfate consumption in the sulfate–methane transition zone of marine sediments.

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Fig. 1: Global distribution of investigated sites.
Fig. 2: Observed global empirical relationships.
Fig. 3: Global maps.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. N. Glud, F. J. R. Meysman and F.-D. Bockelmann for sharing their sedimentation rate database (data collection at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in the framework of FWO Odysseus project G.0929.08) and several other scientists for providing unpublished geochemical data. This work was funded by the Max Planck Society, by an ERC Advanced Grant to B.B.J. (MICROENERGY, EU 7th FP, grant no. 294200) and by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF grant no. 104). Additional support (for J.M.M.) was provided by the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC).

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Author notes

  1. Matthias Egger

    Present address: The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, Delft, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Biosciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Matthias Egger & Bo Barker Jørgensen

  2. Boones Pickens School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

    Natascha Riedinger

  3. Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, The Netherlands

    José M. Mogollón

  4. Department of Earth Sciences – Geochemistry, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    José M. Mogollón

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  1. Matthias Egger
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  3. José M. Mogollón
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Contributions

M.E., N.R. and B.B.J. designed research. M.E. performed research. M.E. and N.R. compiled and processed data. M.E. and J. M. M. performed ArcGIS modelling. M.E. wrote the paper with contributions from all co-authors. B.B.J. obtained the funding for this work.

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Correspondence to Matthias Egger.

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Egger, M., Riedinger, N., Mogollón, J.M. et al. Global diffusive fluxes of methane in marine sediments. Nature Geosci 11, 421–425 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0122-8

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