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Microbial oxidation significantly reduces methane export from global groundwaters.

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Area of Science:

  • Environmental Science
  • Microbiology
  • Geochemistry

Background:

  • Methane in groundwater is a growing environmental concern due to its release into surface environments.
  • Microbial oxidation is a key process for methane consumption, but its rates in groundwater are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify in situ microbial methane oxidation rates across a wide range of methane concentrations in German aquifers.
  • To identify microbial communities involved in methane oxidation.
  • To estimate the global impact of groundwater methane oxidation on methane release.

Main Methods:

  • Ultra-low-level 14C-labeling to measure methane oxidation rates.
  • Analysis of methane concentrations spanning five orders of magnitude.
  • Microbial community analysis to identify dominant methanotrophs.

Main Results:

  • Methane oxidation rates were strongly correlated with methane concentrations, ranging from 0.001 to 74.28 µgC L-1 d-1.
  • Methane turnover times varied from days to weeks at low concentrations and months to decades at high concentrations.
  • Specific microbial groups, including gammaproteobacteria and anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea, were associated with high oxidation rates.

Conclusions:

  • The groundwater microbiome acts as a critical methane filter, removing approximately 66% of groundwater methane globally (167–778 Tg CH4 y-1).
  • High methane concentrations can lead to incomplete oxidation, increasing the potential for methane release.
  • Understanding these microbial processes is crucial for predicting methane fluxes from groundwater.