Methane seepage inferred from pore water geochemistry in shallow sediments in the western slope of the Mid-Okinawa Trough

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Abstract Widely distributed cold seeps are crucial sources of carbon to the seawater, whereas anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and precipitation of authigenic carbonate might change the compositions of the methane-rich fluids and thus reduce the outputs of dissolved carbon to seawater. In this work, we analyze the pore water compositions of four gravity cores with high methane concentration abnormalities in pore water or in overlying seawater in the western slope of the Mid-Okinawa Trough. For the northern research area, active weak methane seepage through the seafloor is identified in the vicinity of mud volcanoes (sites C01 and C10), and strong emissions of gas and fluids may occur in the central mud volcanoes. In a submarine canyon at the south, C23 site exhibits rarely methane seepage, while high rate transportation of methane from deep sediments and associated AOM are identified at site C25 where small vertical faults and gas-bearing layers are developed at the surrounding. AOM at site C25 is indicated by (1) quasi-linearly decrease of sulfate concentrations with depths, (2) intense increases of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations and (3) significantly negative δ13C values (vary from −7.2 to −26.3‰) of DIC. Organoclastic degradation in the shallow sediments is not obviously recognized in the study area because of the low concentrations of NH4+, as well as negligible sulfate consumption at three of the four sites. Our data reveal that the cold systems are one of the DIC sources (the fluxes are ca. 11.2 mmol/m2/yr) to the seawater in the Okinawa Trough, which can be tracked by high depletion of 13C (δ13CDIC ranges from −7.2 to −26.3‰ VPDB).