How sulfate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane affects the sulfur isotopic composition of pyrite: A SIMS study from the South China Sea

Lin, Zhiyong; Sun, Xiaoming; Peckmann, Jörn; Lu, Yang; Xu, Li; Strauß, Harald; Zhou, Haoyang; Gong, Junli; Lu, Hongfeng; Teichert, Barbara M.A.

doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.07.007

Cited by 159 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…Through several hydrate survey expeditions, six promising hydrate-bearing areas including Dongsha, SW Taiwan, Xisha, Qiongdongnan, Shenhu, and Beikang have been confirmed to date [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Besides, more than 40 cold seepage sites have been indicated by the occurrence of 13 C-depleted authigenic carbonate and seep-associated fauna and anomalous pore water and sediment geochemistry influenced by fluid seepage [6,[21][22][23][24][25]. Several pioneering studies have targeted at quantifying the rate of biogeochemical reactions and carbon fluxes at the seafloor using the reaction-transport model, in the specific seep sites of the northern SCS [16,24,26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Areal Assessment of Subseafloor Carbon Cycling in Cold Seeps and Hydrate-Bearing Areas in the Northern South China Sea

Zhang

Luo

et al. 2019

Geofluids

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Gas hydrates, acting as a dynamic methane reservoir, store methane in the form of a solid phase under high-pressure and low-temperature conditions and release methane through the sediment column into seawater when they are decomposed. The seepage of methane-rich fluid (i.e., cold hydrocarbon seeps) fuels the chemosynthetic biota-inhabited surface sediments and represents the major pathway to transfer carbon from sediments to the water column. Generally, the major biogeochemical reactions related to carbon cycling in the anoxic marine sediments include organic matter degradation via sulfate reduction (OSR), anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM), methanogenesis (ME), and carbonate precipitation (CP). In order to better understand the carbon turnover in the cold seeps and gas hydrate-bearing areas of the northern South China Sea (SCS), we collected geochemical data of 358 cores from published literatures and retrieved 37 cores and corresponding pore water samples from three areas of interest (i.e., Xisha, Dongsha, and Shenhu areas). Reaction-transport simulations indicate that the rates of organic matter degradation and carbonate precipitation are comparable in the three areas, while the rates of AOM vary over several orders of magnitude (AOM: 8.3-37.5 mmol·m-2·yr-1 in Dongsha, AOM: 12.4-170.6 mmol·m-2·yr-1 in Xisha, and AOM: 9.4-30.5 mmol·m-2·yr-1 in Shenhu). Both the arithmetical mean and interpolation mean of the biogeochemical processes were calculated in each area. Averaging these two mean values suggested that the rates of organic matter degradation in Dongsha (25.7 mmol·m-2·yr-1) and Xisha (25.1 mmol·m-2·yr-1) are higher than that in Shenhu (12 mmol·m-2·yr-1) and the AOM rate in Xisha (135.2 mmol·m-2·yr-1) is greater than those in Dongsha (27.8 mmol·m-2·yr-1) and Shenhu (17.5 mmol·m-2·yr-1). In addition, the rate of carbonate precipitation (32.3 mmol·m-2·yr-1) in Xisha is far higher than those of the other two regions (5.3 mmol·m-2·yr-1 in Dongsha, 5.8 mmol·m-2·yr-1 in Shenhu) due to intense AOM sustained by gas dissolution. In comparison with other cold seeps around the world, the biogeochemical rates in the northern SCS are generally lower than those in active continental margins and special environments (e.g., the Black sea) but are comparable with those in passive continental margins. Collectively, ~2.8 Gmol organic matter was buried and at least ~0.82 Gmol dissolved organic and inorganic carbon was diffused out of sediments annually. This may, to some extent, have an impact on the long-term deep ocean carbon cycle in the northern SCS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Areal Assessment of Subseafloor Carbon Cycling in Cold Seeps and Hydrate-Bearing Areas in the Northern South China Sea

Zhang

Luo

et al. 2019

Geofluids

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“…These distinct isotope signatures allow the reconstruction of the complex history of biogeochemical sulfur cycling in dynamic sediments. The power of this approach has previously been demonstrated for pyrite enrichment-fronts that indicate the location of past (paleo or fossil) SMTs (Borowski et al, 2013;Lin et al, 2016) but can now be expanded and refined by the inclusion of the inventory and stable sulfur isotope composition of other sulfur constituents, such as the sulfur isotope composition of the organic phase (δ 34 S-TOS). We believe these analyses can be greatly augmented by employing highresolution SIMS techniques to identify the former presence of upper and lower fringes of SMTs, particularly in cases where such signatures were stacked on top of each other during fluctuations in the depth of the SMT.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a consequence, with increasing sediment depth, any sulfur phase resulting from sulfide oxidation or directly precipitated iron sulfide will also become enriched in 34 S (e.g., Goldhaber and Kaplan, 1980). Furthermore, at the sulfate-methane transition (SMT) where sulfate is almost entirely consumed, iron sulfides are precipitated with the heaviest isotope composition compared to the upper sediments Borowski et al, 2013;Lin et al, 2016).…”

Section: Sulfur Cycling In Marine Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sulfur Cycling in an Iron Oxide-Dominated, Dynamic Marine Depositional System: The Argentine Continental Margin

Riedinger

Brunner

Krastel³

et al. 2017

Front. Earth Sci.

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The interplay between sediment deposition patterns, organic matter type and the quantity and quality of reactive mineral phases determines the accumulation, speciation, and isotope composition of pore water and solid phase sulfur constituents in marine sediments. Here, we present the sulfur geochemistry of siliciclastic sediments from two sites along the Argentine continental slope-a system characterized by dynamic deposition and reworking, which result in non-steady state conditions. The two investigated sites have different depositional histories but have in common that reactive iron phases are abundant and that organic matter is refractory-conditions that result in low organoclastic sulfate reduction rates (SRR). Deposition of reworked, isotopically light pyrite and sulfurized organic matter appear to be important contributors to the sulfur inventory, with only minor addition of pyrite from organoclastic sulfate reduction above the sulfate-methane transition (SMT). Pore-water sulfide is limited to a narrow zone at the SMT. The core of that zone is dominated by pyrite accumulation. Iron monosulfide and elemental sulfur accumulate above and below this zone. Iron monosulfide precipitation is driven by the reaction of low amounts of hydrogen sulfide with ferrous iron and is in competition with the oxidation of sulfide by iron (oxyhydr)oxides to form elemental sulfur. The intervals marked by precipitation of intermediate sulfur phases at the margin of the zone with free sulfide are bordered by two distinct peaks in total organic sulfur (TOS).Organic matter sulfurization appears to precede pyrite formation in the iron-dominated margins of the sulfide zone, potentially linked to the presence of polysulfides formed by reaction between dissolved sulfide and elemental sulfur. Thus, SMTs can be hotspots for organic matter sulfurization in sulfide-limited, reactive iron-rich marine sedimentary systems. Furthermore, existence of elemental sulfur and iron monosulfide phases meters below the SMT demonstrates that in sulfide-limited systems metastable sulfur constituents are not readily converted to pyrite but can be buried to deeper Riedinger et al.Non-steady State Subsurface Sulfur Cycling sediment depths. Our data show that in non-steady state systems, redox zones do not occur in sequence but can reappear or proceed in inverse sequence throughout the sediment column, causing similar mineral alteration processes to occur at the same time at different sediment depths.

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“…Such pyrite tubes have been frequently detected close to the surface in near-anaerobic marine shelf sediments (e.g. Sassen et al, 2004;Xie et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2014Lin et al, , 2016. Sulphate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) by methanotrophic archaea and sulphate-reducing bacteria is the favoured model to explain the authigenic formation of tubular pyrite aggregates in marine sediments (McGlynn et al, 2015;Wegener et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2016).…”

Section: Authigenic Tubular Pyrite Aggregates As Indicator For Severementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sassen et al, 2004;Xie et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2014Lin et al, , 2016. Sulphate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) by methanotrophic archaea and sulphate-reducing bacteria is the favoured model to explain the authigenic formation of tubular pyrite aggregates in marine sediments (McGlynn et al, 2015;Wegener et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2016). AOM, however, is not restricted to marine environments but is also documented for brackish water and freshwater sediments (Wu et al, 2009;Deutzmann and Schink, 2011;Egger et al, 2015).…”

Section: Authigenic Tubular Pyrite Aggregates As Indicator For Severementioning

confidence: 99%

The Sarmatian/Pannonian boundary at the western margin of the Vienna Basin (City of Vienna, Austria)

Harzhauser

Mandić

Kranner

et al. 2018

Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences

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Sarmatian and Pannonian cores, drilled at the western margin of the Vienna Basin in the City of Vienna, reveal a complex succession of marine and lacustrine depositional environments during the middle to late Miocene transition. Two Sarmatian and two Pannonian transgressive-regressive sequences were studied in detail. Identical successions of benthic faunal assemblages and similar patterns in magnetic susceptibility logs characterise these sequences. This allows a correlation of the boreholes over a distance of ~3.5 km across one of the major marginal faults of the Vienna Basin. Biostratigraphic data, combined with rough estimates of sedimentation rates, reveal large gaps between these sequences, suggesting that only major transgressions reached this marginal area. In particular, during the Sarmatian-Pannonian transition, the basin margin completely emerged and turned into a terrestrial setting for at least 600 ka.

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How sulfate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane affects the sulfur isotopic composition of pyrite: A SIMS study from the South China Sea

Cited by 159 publications

References 110 publications

An Areal Assessment of Subseafloor Carbon Cycling in Cold Seeps and Hydrate-Bearing Areas in the Northern South China Sea

An Areal Assessment of Subseafloor Carbon Cycling in Cold Seeps and Hydrate-Bearing Areas in the Northern South China Sea

Sulfur Cycling in an Iron Oxide-Dominated, Dynamic Marine Depositional System: The Argentine Continental Margin

The Sarmatian/Pannonian boundary at the western margin of the Vienna Basin (City of Vienna, Austria)

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