Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA)

Liuwen Xia; Jian Cao; Wenxuan Hu; Eva E. Stüeken; Xiaolin Wang; Suping Yao; Dongming Zhi; Yong Tang; Baoli Xiang; Wenjun He

doi:10.1130/g51286.1

Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA)

Liuwen Xia, Jian Cao^*, Wenxuan Hu, Eva E. Stüeken, Xiaolin Wang, Suping Yao, Dongming Zhi, Yong Tang, Baoli Xiang, Wenjun He

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Methane (CH₄) is an important greenhouse gas, but its behavior and influencing factors over geological time scales are not sufficiently clear. This study investigated the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), which is thought to have experienced an interval of rapid warming at ca. 304 Ma, that may have been analogous to modern warming. To explore possible causes of this warming event, we investigated ancient alkaline lakes in the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Results show that microbial CH₄ cycling here was strong, as evidenced by carbonate δ¹³C (δ¹³C_carb) values of >5‰, ∼+0.6‰ offsets between pristane δ¹³C (δ¹³C_Pr) and phytane δ¹³C (δ¹³C_Ph) values, a 3β-methylhopane index of 9.5% ± 3.0%, and highly negative δ¹³C values of hopanes (−44‰ to −61‰). Low sulfate concentrations in the alkaline lakes made methanogenic archaea more competitive than sulfate-reducing bacteria, and the elevated levels of dissolved inorganic carbon promoted methanogenesis. Biogenic CH₄ emissions from alkaline lakes, in addition to CO₂, may have contributed to rapid climate warming.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	935-940
Number of pages	6
Journal	Geology
Volume	51
Issue number	10
Early online date	27 Jul 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1130/g51286.1
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2023

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Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) (dataset)
Xia, L. (Creator), Cao, J. (Creator), Hu, W. (Creator), Stueeken, E. E. (Creator), Wang, X. (Creator), Yao, S. (Creator), Zhi, D. (Creator), Tang, Y. (Creator), Xiang, B. (Creator) & He, W. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 19 Jan 2024
DOI: 10.17630/ceeb64e6-6ec7-45bb-b002-b66f86c4cea2
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@article{721a11c1d5a249f28c6beef4394bcea0,

title = "Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA)",

abstract = "Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas, but its behavior and influencing factors over geological time scales are not sufficiently clear. This study investigated the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), which is thought to have experienced an interval of rapid warming at ca. 304 Ma, that may have been analogous to modern warming. To explore possible causes of this warming event, we investigated ancient alkaline lakes in the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Results show that microbial CH4 cycling here was strong, as evidenced by carbonate δ13C (δ13Ccarb) values of >5‰, ∼+0.6‰ offsets between pristane δ13C (δ13CPr) and phytane δ13C (δ13CPh) values, a 3β-methylhopane index of 9.5% ± 3.0%, and highly negative δ13C values of hopanes (−44‰ to −61‰). Low sulfate concentrations in the alkaline lakes made methanogenic archaea more competitive than sulfate-reducing bacteria, and the elevated levels of dissolved inorganic carbon promoted methanogenesis. Biogenic CH4 emissions from alkaline lakes, in addition to CO2, may have contributed to rapid climate warming.",

author = "Liuwen Xia and Jian Cao and Wenxuan Hu and St{\"u}eken, {Eva E.} and Xiaolin Wang and Suping Yao and Dongming Zhi and Yong Tang and Baoli Xiang and Wenjun He",

note = "Funding: This work was jointly funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos . 42230808, 42203055 and 41830425) and PetroChina Science and Technology Major project (Grant No. 20 21DJ0108).",

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doi = "10.1130/g51286.1",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA)

AU - Xia, Liuwen

AU - Cao, Jian

AU - Hu, Wenxuan

AU - Stüeken, Eva E.

AU - Wang, Xiaolin

AU - Yao, Suping

AU - Zhi, Dongming

AU - Tang, Yong

AU - Xiang, Baoli

AU - He, Wenjun

N1 - Funding: This work was jointly funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos . 42230808, 42203055 and 41830425) and PetroChina Science and Technology Major project (Grant No. 20 21DJ0108).

PY - 2023/10/1

Y1 - 2023/10/1

N2 - Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas, but its behavior and influencing factors over geological time scales are not sufficiently clear. This study investigated the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), which is thought to have experienced an interval of rapid warming at ca. 304 Ma, that may have been analogous to modern warming. To explore possible causes of this warming event, we investigated ancient alkaline lakes in the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Results show that microbial CH4 cycling here was strong, as evidenced by carbonate δ13C (δ13Ccarb) values of >5‰, ∼+0.6‰ offsets between pristane δ13C (δ13CPr) and phytane δ13C (δ13CPh) values, a 3β-methylhopane index of 9.5% ± 3.0%, and highly negative δ13C values of hopanes (−44‰ to −61‰). Low sulfate concentrations in the alkaline lakes made methanogenic archaea more competitive than sulfate-reducing bacteria, and the elevated levels of dissolved inorganic carbon promoted methanogenesis. Biogenic CH4 emissions from alkaline lakes, in addition to CO2, may have contributed to rapid climate warming.

AB - Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas, but its behavior and influencing factors over geological time scales are not sufficiently clear. This study investigated the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), which is thought to have experienced an interval of rapid warming at ca. 304 Ma, that may have been analogous to modern warming. To explore possible causes of this warming event, we investigated ancient alkaline lakes in the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Results show that microbial CH4 cycling here was strong, as evidenced by carbonate δ13C (δ13Ccarb) values of >5‰, ∼+0.6‰ offsets between pristane δ13C (δ13CPr) and phytane δ13C (δ13CPh) values, a 3β-methylhopane index of 9.5% ± 3.0%, and highly negative δ13C values of hopanes (−44‰ to −61‰). Low sulfate concentrations in the alkaline lakes made methanogenic archaea more competitive than sulfate-reducing bacteria, and the elevated levels of dissolved inorganic carbon promoted methanogenesis. Biogenic CH4 emissions from alkaline lakes, in addition to CO2, may have contributed to rapid climate warming.

U2 - 10.1130/g51286.1

DO - 10.1130/g51286.1

M3 - Article

SN - 0091-7613

VL - 51

SP - 935

EP - 940

JO - Geology

JF - Geology

IS - 10

ER -

Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA)

Abstract

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Effects on global warming by microbial methanogenesis in alkaline lakes during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) (dataset)

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