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Microbially mediated methane and sulfur cycling in pockmark sediments of the Gdansk Basin, Baltic Sea

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Abstract

In the Russian sector of the Gdansk Basin (Baltic Sea), high organic matter influx fuels microbial processes resulting in the formation of reduced sediments with elevated methane concentrations. Investigated areas of geoacoustic anomalies (∼245 km2) were found to contain three distinct geomorphologic structures (pockmarks), with a total area of ∼1 km2. Methane anomalies recorded in the water above one of these pockmarks were traced as high as 10 m above the bottom. In pockmark sediments, sulfate reduction and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) occurred at high rates of 33 and 50 µmol dm−3 day−1, respectively. Integrated over 0–180 cm sediment depths, AOM exceeded methanogenesis almost tenfold. High AOM rates resulted from methane influx from deeper sediment layers. The δ13C signature of methane carbon (−78.1 to −71.1‰) indicates the biogenic origin of pockmark methane. In pockmark sediments, up to 70% of reduced sulfur compounds was possibly produced via AOM.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to L.E. Dulov, T.S. Prusakova, E.E. Zakharova, and I.I. Rusanov (Institute of Microbiology, RAS) for help in analytical work, to D.V. Dorokhov (ABIORAS) for GIS project development and design of the location map, and to the crew and scientific staff of the 84th, 87th, and 90th cruises of the Professor Shtokman research vessel. The work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects nos. 07-04-00160a and 08-04-92422-BONUS), and the Molecular and Cell Biology grant of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, RAS, pr. 60-letiya Oktyabrya 7, k. 2, 117312, Moscow, Russia

    Nikolay V. Pimenov, Timur A. Kanapatsky, Elena F. Veslopolova & Pavel A. Sigalevich

  2. Atlantic Branch of P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, RAS, Prospekt Mira 1, 236000, Kaliningrad, Russia

    Marina O. Ulyanova & Vadim V. Sivkov

Authors
  1. Nikolay V. Pimenov
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  2. Marina O. Ulyanova
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  3. Timur A. Kanapatsky
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  4. Elena F. Veslopolova
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  5. Pavel A. Sigalevich
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  6. Vadim V. Sivkov
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Correspondence to Nikolay V. Pimenov.

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Pimenov, N.V., Ulyanova, M.O., Kanapatsky, T.A. et al. Microbially mediated methane and sulfur cycling in pockmark sediments of the Gdansk Basin, Baltic Sea. Geo-Mar Lett 30, 439–448 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-010-0200-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-010-0200-4

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