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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 28, NO. 20, PAGES 3931–3934, 2001

Co-Generation of Hydrogen Sulfide and Methane in Marine Carbonate Sediments

Richard M. Mitterer

Dept. of Geosciences, Univ. of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX

Mitchell J. Malone

Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, Texas.

Glenn A. Goodfriend

Dept. Earth & Environ. Sciences, George Wash. Univ., Wash., DC.

Peter K. Swart

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmos. Sciences, Miami, FL.

Ulrich G. Wortmann

GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geos., Kiel, Germany

Graham A. Logan

Australian Geol. Survey Organisation, Canberra, Australia.

David A. Feary

Australian Geol. Survey Organisation, Canberra, Australia.

Albert C. Hine

Dept. of Marine Science, Univ. of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL.

Abstract

Sulfate reduction and methanogenesis are considered to be mutually exclusive microbial reactions in marine sediments. Typically, methane does not appear in significant concentrations in sediment pore waters until almost all dissolved sulfate has been reduced to sulfide. An exception to this commonly accepted pattern occurs in an approximately 500-meter thick sequence of Quaternary carbonates on the continental margin of the Great Australian Bight. An unusual combination of geochemical and sedimentological conditions leads to extensive simultaneous sulfate reduction and methane production throughout the 500-m interval. A probable explanation for the co-production of these reduced gases in this deeper biosphere is the presence of noncompetitive substrates for the two types of microbiota.

Received 23 April 2001; accepted 30 July 2001.

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Citation: Mitterer, R. M., M. J. Malone, G. A. Goodfriend, P. K. Swart, U. G. Wortmann, G. A. Logan, D. A. Feary, and A. C. Hine (2001), Co-Generation of Hydrogen Sulfide and Methane in Marine Carbonate Sediments, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(20), 3931–3934.

Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union.