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A new method to study simultaneous methane oxidation and methane production in soils
Author(s) -
Andersen B. L.,
Bidoglio G.,
Leip A.,
Rembges D.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/98gb01975
Subject(s) - methane , methanogenesis , soil water , atmospheric methane , environmental chemistry , anaerobic oxidation of methane , mixing ratio , mixing (physics) , chemistry , volume (thermodynamics) , environmental science , gas chromatography , soil test , methane gas , soil science , mineralogy , chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Results of laboratory experiments show that 14 C‐labeled methane added to soil was consumed faster than atmospheric 12 C methane. This implies a source of methane, presumably through methanogenesis, in a soil that is a net consumer of atmospheric methane. The soil was well‐drained forest soil from Ispra, Italy. An undisturbed sample was taken with a steel corer and incubated under oxic conditions in a jar. Headspace samples were taken at time intervals and analyzed for total methane by gas chromatography and analyzed for 14 C methane by liquid scintillation counting. Fluxes calculated from the decreasing headspace mixing ratios were, for example, −6.5 and −7.1 μmol m −2 hr −1 for 12 C methane and 14 C methane, respectively. A simple model is considered which reproduces reasonably well the observed mixing ratios as function of time.