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Volume 56, Issue 4 p. 1536-1544
Article
Free Access

Geochemical evidence for iron-mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane

Orit Sivan

Corresponding Author

Orit Sivan

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

Corresponding author: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
Michal Adler

Michal Adler

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

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Ann Pearson

Ann Pearson

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Faina Gelman

Faina Gelman

Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel

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Itay Bar-Or

Itay Bar-Or

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

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Seth G. John

Seth G. John

California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, California

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Werner Eckert

Werner Eckert

Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, The Yigal Allon Kinneret Limnological Laboratory, Migdal, Israel

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First published: 08 July 2011
Citations: 101

Abstract

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) by sulfate has been recognized as a critical process to maintain this greenhouse gas stability by limiting methane flux to the atmosphere. We show geochemical evidence for AOM in deep lake sediments and demonstrate that AOM is likely driven by iron (Fe) reduction. Pore-water profiles from Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee, Israel) show that this sink for methane is located below the 20-cm depth in the sediment, which is well below the depths at which nitrate and sulfate are completely exhausted, as well as below the zone of methanogenesis. Iron-dependant AOM was verified by Fe(III)-amended mesocosm studies using intact sediment cores, and native iron oxides were detectable throughout the sediments. Because anaerobic Fe(III) respiration is thermodynamically more favorable than both sulfate-dependent methanotrophy and methanogenesis, its occurrence below the zone of methane production supports the idea that reduction of sedimentary iron oxides is kinetically or biologically limited. Similar conditions are likely to prevail in other incompletely pyritized aquatic sediments, indicating that AOM with Fe(III) is an important global sink for methane.