This work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant NE/E01559X/1)

A Boetius

A Paulmier

AJ Watkins

B Thamdrup

B Zhu

C Padilla

CJ Schubert

CS Lazar

CS Martens

D Wilkins

DA Lashof

DL Valentine

E Vázquez-Domínguez

F Sansone

Felicity Shelley

FJ Sansone

G Webster

H Imachi

H Kojima

IA Sanders

J Chen

JC Nicholls

JD Kessler

JG Ferry

JJ Wright

JL Garcia

JS Deutzmann

K Fennel

K Knittel

K Wasmund

KF Ettwig

KP Helm

L Steinle

L Stramma

M Blumenberg

M Krüger

MA Pack

Mark Trimmer

MB Heintz

MF Haroon

MJ Whiticar

N Shakhova

N Singh

O Schmale

Panagiota-Myrsini Chronopoulou

PL Tavormina

PM Crill

RA Burke

RE Keeling

RM Mitterer

RS Oremland

S D’Hondt

S Kirschke

S Li-Dong

S Mau

Susanna T Maanoja

SWA Naqvi

T Hayashi

V Ramaswamy

William J Pritchard

WS Reeburgh

X Zhang

Y Wang

The ISME Journal

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) contain the largest pools of oceanic methane but its origin and fate are poorly understood. High-resolution (&lt;15 m) water column profiles revealed a 300 m thick layer of elevated methane (20–105 nM) in the anoxic core of the largest OMZ, the Eastern Tropical North Pacific. Sediment core incubations identified a clear benthic methane source where the OMZ meets the continental shelf, between 350 and 650 m, with the flux reflecting the concentration of methane in the overlying anoxic water. Further incubations characterised a methanogenic potential in the presence of both porewater sulphate and nitrate of up to 88 nmol g−1day−1 in the sediment surface layer. In these methane-producing sediments, the majority (85%) of methyl coenzyme M reductase alpha subunit (mcrA) gene sequences clustered with Methanosarcinaceae (greater than or equal to96% similarity to Methanococcoides sp.), a family capable of performing non-competitive methanogenesis. Incubations with 13C-CH4 showed potential for both aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation in the waters within and above the OMZ. Both aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation is corroborated by the presence of particulate methane monooxygenase (pmoA) gene sequences, related to type I methanotrophs and the lineage of Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera, known to perform nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (N-DAMO), respectively.Peer reviewe

Chronopoulou, Panagiota-Myrsini

Shelley, Felicity

Pritchard, William J

Maanoja, Susanna T

Trimmer, Mark

Trepo - Institutional Repository of Tampere University

Origin and fate of methane in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone

Origin and fate of methane in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone

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