Do Soil Methanotrophs Really Remove About 5% of Atmospheric Methane?

Xiaokun Yao, Tao Tao, Wei Li (), Tingzhen Ming and Renaud de Richter ()
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Xiaokun Yao: Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FB, UK
Tao Tao: Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FB, UK
Wei Li: Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FB, UK
Tingzhen Ming: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Renaud de Richter: Tour-Solaire.Fr, 8 Impasse des Papillons, 34090 Montpellier, France

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: It has been experimentally proved that microorganisms in soils are able to remove atmospheric methane (CH 4 ), particularly through experiments with radioelements such as 14 CH 4 . However, a curious question arises: are these microorganisms the only responsible sink for all atmospheric CH 4 uptake attributed to soils, or do non-microbial (e.g., chemical) processes also contribute part of it? In this perspective article, we propose that atmospheric methane removal (AMR) in soils may result from a combination of microbial and non-microbial processes. In addition to oxidation by MOB, we analyzed the potential roles of photocatalytic reactions on soil minerals, Fenton-like chemistry in water droplets, chlorine radical pathways in chloride-rich soils and ozone/VOCs-driven •OH generation. These chemical mechanisms may act independently or intertwined with microbial activity under specific environmental conditions. We suggest that future studies use experimental approaches to explore and quantify the relative contributions of these pathways and to help refine our understanding of the soil CH 4 sink in the global methane budget.

Keywords: methane sinks; soil methanotrophs; photocatalysis; Fenton-like reactions; chlorine radical (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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