TY - JOUR
T1 - Noble gases and radiocarbon in natural gas hydrates
AU - Winckler, Gisela
AU - Aeschbach-Hertig, Werner
AU - Holocher, Johannes
AU - Kipfer, Rolf
AU - Levin, Ingeborg
AU - Poss, Christian
AU - Rehder, Gregor
AU - Suess, Erwin
AU - Schlosser, Peter
PY - 2002/5/15
Y1 - 2002/5/15
N2 - In samples of pure natural gas hydrates from Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Margin, virtually no helium and neon components are present providing evidence that the light noble gases are not incorporated into the structure of natural methane hydrates. In contrast, the hydrates contain significant amounts of argon, krypton and xenon. These gases show a distinct fractionation pattern, with the heavier ones preferentially incorporated into the gas hydrate structure. The hydrate methane is devoid of 14C indicating that there is no contribution of a recent (14C-active) organic carbon reservoir to the hydrate carbon pool. On the basis of the δ13C and δ2H signature, it appears that microbial CO2-reduction is the dominant CH4 production pathway.
AB - In samples of pure natural gas hydrates from Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Margin, virtually no helium and neon components are present providing evidence that the light noble gases are not incorporated into the structure of natural methane hydrates. In contrast, the hydrates contain significant amounts of argon, krypton and xenon. These gases show a distinct fractionation pattern, with the heavier ones preferentially incorporated into the gas hydrate structure. The hydrate methane is devoid of 14C indicating that there is no contribution of a recent (14C-active) organic carbon reservoir to the hydrate carbon pool. On the basis of the δ13C and δ2H signature, it appears that microbial CO2-reduction is the dominant CH4 production pathway.
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U2 - 10.1029/2001gl014013
DO - 10.1029/2001gl014013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037095872
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 29
SP - 63-1-63-4
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 10
ER -