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Dickens 2001

Dickens, G. (2001). On the fate of past gas: What happens to methane released from a bacterially mediated gas hydrate capacitor?. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 2. doi: 10.1029/2000GC000131. issn: 1525-2027.

Gas hydrates and associated free gas in marine sediment may constitute a large capacitor of CH4 in the global carbon cycle with outputs controlled by water temperature at intermediate depths of the ocean. The best support for this concept previously has come from stable isotope records of benthic foraminifera that show pronounced negative 13C excursions during certain brief intervals of deep to intermediate water warming. New work by Hinrichs <2001> demonstrates that such isotope excursions in the Santa Barbara Basin coincide with high accumulations of diplopterol, a biomarker for aerobic CH4 oxidation by bacteria. This is the first direct evidence for enhanced CH4concentrations in the deep ocean during or immediately after bottom water warming and injection of 12C-rich carbon. However, the formation of biomarkers indicates that a fraction of CH4 released during warming is oxidized to biomass and 2 in the water column. In contrast to most literature, the primary consequences of CH4 release from dissociated gas hydrate may be dissolved O2 depletion and carbonate dissolution rather than atmospheric warming.

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Keywords
Geochemistry, Organic geochemistry, Global Change, Biogeochemical processes, Oceanography, General, Paleoceanography, Oceanography, Biological and Chemical, Carbon cycling

Journal
Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems

Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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