Molecular and isotopic signatures in sediments and gas hydrate of the central/southwestern Ulleung Basin: high alkalinity escape fuelled by biogenically sourced methane

Abstract

Natural marine gas hydrate was discovered in Korean territorial waters during a 2007 KIGAM cruise to the central/southwestern Ulleung Basin, East Sea. The first data on the geochemical characterization of hydrate-bound water and gas are presented here for cold seep site 07GHP-10 in the central basin sector, together with analogous data for four sites (07GHP-01, 07GHP-02, 07GHP-03, and 07GHP-14) where no hydrates were detected in other cores from the central/southwestern sectors. Hydrate-bound water displayed very low concentrations of major ions (Cl−, SO 4 2− , Na+, Mg2+, K+, and Ca2+), and more positive δD (15.5‰) and δ18O (2.3‰) signatures compared to seawater. Cl– freshening and more positive isotopic values were also observed in the pore water at gas hydrate site 07GHP-10. The inferred sulfate–methane interface (SMI) was very shallow ( 40 mM), but the carbon isotopic ratios of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) did not show minimum values typical of AOM. Moreover, macroscopic authigenic carbonates were not observed at any of the core sites. This can plausibly be explained by carbon with high δ13C values diffusing upward from below the SMI, increasing alkalinity via deep methanogenesis and eventually escaping as alkalinity into the water column, with minor precipitation as solid phase. This contrasts, but is not inconsistent with recent reports of methane-fuelled carbonate formation at other sites in the southwestern basin sector. Methane was the main hydrocarbon component (>99.85%) of headspace, void, and hydrate-bound gases, C1/C2+ ratios were at least 1,000, and δ13CCH4 and δDCH4 values were in the typical range of methane generated by microbial reduction of CO2. This is supported by the δ13CC2H6 signatures of void and hydrate-bound gases, and helps clarify some contradictory interpretations existing for the Ulleung Basin as a whole. In combination, these findings suggest that deep biogenic gas and pore waters migrate upward through pathways such as hydrofractures, and measurably influence the shallow carbon cycle. As a result, cation-adjusted alkalinity/removed sulfate diagrams cannot always serve to estimate the degree of alkalinity produced by sulfate reduction and AOM in high methane flux areas.