Open AccessCarbonate-hosted microbial communities are prolific and pervasive methane oxidizers at geologically diverse marine methane seep sites
Author(s) -
Jeffrey J. Marlow,
D. Hoer,
Sean P. Jungbluth,
Linda M. Reynard,
Amy Gartman,
Marko S. Chavez,
Mohamed Y. ElNaggar,
Noreen Tuross,
Victoria J. Orphan,
Peter R. Girguis
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2006857118
Subject(s) - methane , anaerobic oxidation of methane , cold seep , chemosynthesis , abiogenic petroleum origin , microbial population biology , environmental chemistry , methanogenesis , carbonate , petroleum seep , oceanography , environmental science , geology , ecology , hydrothermal vent , chemistry , biology , paleontology , hydrothermal circulation , bacteria , organic chemistry
Significance Methane is a strong greenhouse gas that plays a key role in Earth’s climate. At methane seeps, large amounts of methane move upward through the seafloor, where microbial communities consume much of it. A full accounting of methane’s sources and sinks has evaded researchers—in part, perhaps, because key habitats including carbonate rock mounds have been largely neglected. We sampled seven methane seeps representing four geological settings and found that all sites had rock-hosted microbes capable of consuming methane; in lab-based incubations, some did so at the highest rates reported to date. We demonstrate several factors that help determine a sample’s methane-consuming potential and propose that carbonate rocks at methane seeps may represent a methane sink of far-reaching importance.