The Global Inventory of Methane Hydrate in Marine Sediments: A Theoretical Approach

Klaus Wallmann, Elena Pinero, Ewa Burwicz, Matthias Haeckel, Christian Hensen, Andrew Dale and Lars Ruepke
Additional contact information
Klaus Wallmann: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany
Elena Pinero: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany
Ewa Burwicz: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany
Matthias Haeckel: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany
Christian Hensen: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany
Andrew Dale: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany
Lars Ruepke: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Kiel D-24148, Germany

Energies, 2012, vol. 5, issue 7, 1-50

Abstract: The accumulation of methane hydrate in marine sediments is controlled by a number of physical and biogeochemical parameters including the thickness of the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), the solubility of methane in pore fluids, the accumulation of particulate organic carbon at the seafloor, the kinetics of microbial organic matter degradation and methane generation in marine sediments, sediment compaction and the ascent of deep-seated pore fluids and methane gas into the GHSZ. Our present knowledge on these controlling factors is discussed and new estimates of global sediment and methane fluxes are provided applying a transport-reaction model at global scale. The modeling and the data evaluation yield improved and better constrained estimates of the global pore volume within the modern GHSZ ( ? 44 × 10 15 m 3 ), the Holocene POC accumulation rate at the seabed (~1.4 × 10 14 g yr ?1 ), the global rate of microbial methane production in the deep biosphere (4?25 × 10 12 g C yr ?1 ) and the inventory of methane hydrates in marine sediments ( ? 455 Gt of methane-bound carbon).

Keywords: methane; gas hydrate; marine sediments; global change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/5/7/2449/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/5/7/2449/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:5:y:2012:i:7:p:2449-2498:d:18876

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().