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Cryogenesis as a factor of methane distribution in layers of permafrost

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Abstract

The gas seeps in Kolyma lowland are associated with methane inclusions in permafrost. These inclusions are formed by methane squeezed by epigenetic freezing of methane saturated deposits. This is proved by the biological genesis of the methane, by the isotopic data and the lower radiocarbon age of the methane from the gas seep in comparison with the radiocarbon age of the host deposits. The experimental data and observations of methane distribution in permafrost indicate that the methane distribution in the stratum of frozen deposits is a result of methane migration during cryolithogenesis. The regularities of methane distribution in the deposits and formation of methane inclusions may change the idea of the character and volumes of emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere upon degradation of permafrost.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Ecology and Productivity of Forests, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    G. N. Kraev

  2. Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    G. N. Kraev

  3. Max Plank Institute of Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany

    E. -D. Schultze

  4. Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, Russia

    E. M. Rivkina

Authors
  1. G. N. Kraev
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  2. E. -D. Schultze
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  3. E. M. Rivkina
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Correspondence to G. N. Kraev.

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Original Russian Text © G.N. Kraev, E.-D. Schultze, E.M. Rivkina, 2013, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2013, Vol. 451, No. 6, pp. 684–687.

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Kraev, G.N., Schultze, E.D. & Rivkina, E.M. Cryogenesis as a factor of methane distribution in layers of permafrost. Dokl. Earth Sc. 451, 882–885 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X13080291

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X13080291

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