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Extreme organic carbon burial fuels intense methane bubbling in a temperate reservoir
Author(s) -
Sobek Sebastian,
DelSontro Tonya,
Wongfun Nuttakan,
Wehrli Bernhard
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl050144
Subject(s) - methane , methanogenesis , anoxic waters , temperate climate , organic matter , sink (geography) , sediment , environmental science , total organic carbon , greenhouse gas , carbon cycle , sedimentation , carbon dioxide , carbon fibers , geology , carbon sink , environmental chemistry , hydrology (agriculture) , oceanography , climate change , ecology , chemistry , geomorphology , ecosystem , biology , materials science , composite number , composite material , cartography , geotechnical engineering , geography
Organic carbon (OC) burial and greenhouse gas emission of inland waters plays an increasingly evident role in the carbon balance of the continents, and particularly young reservoirs in the tropics emit methane (CH 4 ) at high rates. Here we show that an old, temperate reservoir acts simultaneously as a strong OC sink and CH 4 source, because the high sedimentation rate supplies reactive organic matter to deep, anoxic sediment strata, fuelling methanogenesis and gas bubble emission (ebullition) of CH 4 from the sediment. Damming of the river has resulted in the build‐up of highly methanogenic sediments under a shallow water column, facilitating the transformation of fixed CO 2 to atmospheric CH 4 . Similar high OC burial and CH 4 ebullition is expected in other reservoirs and natural river deltas.