Cold seep carbonates were studied from two locations (Dongsha and Chiasian) in the northern South China Sea and on Taiwan island. Lipid biomarkers and their stable carbon isotopic compositions extracted from these seep carbonate samples were analyzed in this study and the results pointed at the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) as responsible for carbonate formation. Distinct AOM communities were indicated by isotopically highly depleted archaeal biomarkers (with 13 C values as low as-140.8 ‰ VPDB) and bacterial biomarkers (with 13 C values as low as-128.6‰ VPDB), which confirmed that biogenic methane was the dominant carbon source. Lipid biomarker distributions indicated that ANME-2 archaea were
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