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Possible Links Between Methane Seepages and Glacial‐Interglacial Transitions in the South China Sea
Author(s) -
Deng Yinan,
Chen Fang,
Guo Qingjun,
Hu Yu,
Chen Daohua,
Yang Shengxiong,
Cao Jun,
Chen Hong,
Wei Rongfei,
Cheng Sihai,
Zhou Jianhou,
Liu Chenhui,
Jiang Xuexiao,
Zhu Jiang
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2020gl091429
Subject(s) - interglacial , geology , glacial period , methane , oceanography , clathrate hydrate , climate change , pleistocene , cold seep , hydrostatic pressure , earth science , paleontology , physical geography , hydrate , ecology , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , geography , biology , thermodynamics
Methane seeps are widespread at continental margins, and may exert an influence on climate change. However, many details concerning the relationship between methane seepage and climate change in the geological history remain unclear. Geological records of cold seeps at glacial‐interglacial transitions remain scarce due to the lack of relatively complete records. Here we present geochemical data of seep carbonates from a drill core from the South China Sea, which reveals three stages of methane seepage linked to the dissociation of biogenic methane hydrate: ∼130.3 ka BP before, MIS 5 (∼130.3 to 111.4 ka BP) and MIS 1 (∼11.1 to 10.0 ka BP). Our results evidence that methane seepage was induced by warm seawater and subsequently hydrostatic pressure drop during deglaciations. We suspect this process to occur in other world regions and infer that methane seepage might occur more widespread at glacial‐interglacial transitions, which in turn might have accelerated global warming.