Potential of microbial methane formation in a high-temperature hydrocarbon seep

Hydrocarbon seepage is a surface expression where fluids mixed with sediments and hydrocarbons are expelled through fracture systems that potentially tap into gas–petroleum reservoirs. Hydrocarbons released from most seeps appear to be thermogenic on the basis of their relative abundance and isotopic composition. The potential for subsurface microbial processes modifying these geochemical fingerprints remains poorly constrained. In this study, microcosm incubations were conducted on mud slurries supplied with/without various methanogenic precursors at temperatures ranging from ambient conditions to 90 °C, in order to assess microbial CH4 formation in the subsurface beneath hydrocarbon seeps. The analyses indicated that CH4 production was positive at ⩽80 °C, regardless of whether or not or which precursors were added. However, the pattern of CH4 production rates varied with the precursor and temperature. In general, the optimum CH4 production from H2/CO2 and formate occurred over a wide range of temperatures (⩾40 °C), whereas that from acetate, methanol and methylamine was restricted to relatively lower temperatures (40–50 °C). The CH4 recoveries, together with the C isotopic compositions of CH4, further indicated that the quantities of CH4 produced could not completely account for the quantities of precursor consumed, suggesting that a complex metabolic network was involved in the transformation of the added precursor and organic C inherited from inoculated sediments. Microbial CH4 was estimated to constitute 7–61% of the CH4 observed using experimentally-derived apparent isotope fractionations as the end member compositions. This illustrates the possibility that microbial CH4 produced at shallower depths could quantitatively and isotopically alter deeply-sourced thermogenic CH4 in hydrocarbon seep environments.

► Muddy sediments from a high-temperature seep of Taiwan were incubated.
► Methane production was stimulated by precursor addition at RT to 80 °C.
► Methanogenesis from CO2 and formate was more active at ⩾40 °C.
► Acetoclastic and methylotrophic methanogenesis was more active at 40–50 °C.
► Microbial methane contributes significantly to the overall methane inventory.