• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Extreme (13)C depletion of carbonates formed during oxidation of biogenic methane in fractured granite
  • Contributor: Drake, Henrik [Author]; Åström, Mats E [Author]; Heim, Christine [Author]; Broman, Curt [Author]; Åström, Jan [Author]; Whitehouse, Martin [Author]; Ivarsson, Magnus [Author]; Siljeström, Sandra [Author]; Sjövall, Peter [Author]
  • imprint: GEO-LEOe-docs (FID GEO), 2015
  • Language: English
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8020
  • ISSN: 2041-1723
  • Origination:
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  • Description: Precipitation of exceptionally 13C-depleted authigenic carbonate is a result of, and thus a tracer for, sulphate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation, particularly in marine sediments. Although these carbonates typically are less depleted in 13C than in the source methane, because of incorporation of C also from other sources, they are far more depleted in 13C (δ13C as light as -69‰ V-PDB) than in carbonates formed where no methane is involved. Here we show that oxidation of biogenic methane in carbon-poor deep groundwater in fractured granitoid rocks has resulted in fracture-wall precipitation of the most extremely 13C-depleted carbonates ever reported, δ13C down to -125‰ V-PDB. A microbial consortium of sulphate reducers and methane oxidizers has been involved, as revealed by biomarker signatures in the carbonates and S-isotope compositions of co-genetic sulphide. Methane formed at shallow depths has been oxidized at several hundred metres depth at the transition to a deep-seated sulphate-rich saline water. This process is so far an unrecognized terrestrial sink of methane.
  • Access State: Open Access
  • Rights information: Attribution (CC BY)