Gaia's breath - global methane exhalations

被引:224
作者
Kvenvolden, KA [1 ]
Rogers, BW [1 ]
机构
[1] US Geol Survey, Menlo Pk, CA 94025 USA
关键词
methane; seeps; global inventory; carbon cycle;
D O I
10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2004.08.004
中图分类号
P [天文学、地球科学];
学科分类号
07 ;
摘要
Methane (CH4) is the most abundant organic compound in the Earth's atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas and thus has implications for global climate change. The current atmospheric CH4 budget, however, does not take into account geologically-sourced CH4 seepage. Geological sources of CH4 include natural macro- and micro-seeps, mud volcanoes, and other miscellaneous sources such as gas hydrates, magmatic volcanoes, geothermal regions, and mid-ocean ridges. Macro-seeps contribute similar to 25 Tg (teragrams) CH4/yr to the atmosphere, whereas, micro-seepage contributes perhaps 7 Tg CH4/yr. Mud volcanoes emit similar to 5 Tg CH4/yr, and miscellaneous sources emit similar to 8 Tg CH4/yr to the atmosphere. Thus, the total contribution to the atmosphere from geological sources is estimated to be 45 Tg CH4/yr, which is significant to the atmospheric organic carbon cycle and should be included in any global inventory of atmospheric CH4. We argue that the atmospheric CH4 global inventory of the Interplanetary Panel on Climate Change must be adjusted in order to incorporate geologically-sourced CH4 from naturally occurring seepage. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
引用
收藏
页码:579 / 590
页数:12
相关论文
共 87 条
[1]  
Aliyev A. A., 2002, CATALOGUE RECORDED E
[2]  
[Anonymous], 2001, Climate Change 2001:Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
[3]  
Ben-Avraham Z, 2002, GEOLOGY, V30, P927, DOI 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0927:GHAMVO>2.0.CO
[4]  
2
[5]  
BORN M, 1990, Tellus Series B Chemical and Physical Meteorology, V42, P2, DOI 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1990.00002.x
[6]   Measurements of the fate of gas hydrates during transit through the ocean water column [J].
Brewer, PG ;
Paull, C ;
Peltzer, ET ;
Ussler, W ;
Rehder, G ;
Friederich, G .
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 2002, 29 (22) :38-1
[7]   Fluid migration and origin of a mud volcano in the Northern Apennines (Italy): the role of deeply rooted normal faults [J].
Capozzi, R ;
Picotti, V .
TERRA NOVA, 2002, 14 (05) :363-370
[8]   BIOGEOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC METHANE [J].
Cicerone, R. ;
Oremland, R. .
GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES, 1988, 2 (04) :299-327
[9]   SUBMARINE SEEPAGE OF NATURAL-GAS IN NORTON SOUND, ALASKA [J].
CLINE, JD ;
HOLMES, ML .
SCIENCE, 1977, 198 (4322) :1149-1153
[10]  
Cranston RE, 1994, B GEOL SOC DENMARK, V41, P101