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Detection of methane in the water column at gas and oil seep sites in central and southern Lake Baikal

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Abstract

Microbiological and biogeochemical investigation of the water column of oligotrophic Lake Baikal at the sites of the K2 and Bolshoi mud volcanoes and the Gorevoy Utes oil seep was carried out in July 2013. Total microbial numbers (TMN), cell numbers of type I and type II methanotrophs, and methane concentrations were measured; the rate of methane oxidation was determined. Methane concentrations in Lake Baikal water column varied from 0.09 to 1 μL/L, while methane oxidation rates varied from 0.007 to 0.9 nL/(L day). The highest rates of methane oxidation were revealed in the near-bottom water horizons at the sites of the Bolshoy mud volcano and the Gorevoy Utes oil seep. These were the sites where the most pronounced anomalies in methane concentration were also detected. TMN varied from 0.123 × 106 to 1.64 × 106 cells/mL. Methanotrophic bacteria were revealed in the water column at all sites, their abundance did not always correlate with methane concentrations and the rates of methane oxidation. Methanotrophs constituted not more than 1.63% of the total microbial number, with their highest abundance in the upper 200 m of the water column.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Limnological Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia

    A. S. Zakharenko, V. G. Ivanova & T. I. Zemskaya

  2. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    N. V. Pimenov

Authors
  1. A. S. Zakharenko
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  2. N. V. Pimenov
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  3. V. G. Ivanova
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  4. T. I. Zemskaya
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Correspondence to A. S. Zakharenko.

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Original Russian Text © A.S. Zakharenko, N.V. Pimenov, V.G. Ivanov, T.I. Zemskaya, 2015, published in Mikrobiologiya, 2015, Vol. 84, No. 1, pp. 98–106.

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Zakharenko, A.S., Pimenov, N.V., Ivanova, V.G. et al. Detection of methane in the water column at gas and oil seep sites in central and southern Lake Baikal. Microbiology 84, 90–97 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261715010178

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261715010178

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