Organic Matter Availability and the Production of Methane-Derived Dissolved Organic Carbon at Methane Seeps

Methane seeps located along continental margins and slopes export sedimentary methane and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into the ocean. The flux of these reduced carbon molecules from the seafloor into the ocean impacts ocean chemistry and supports deep-sea life. While significant effort has been made to understand how the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) regulates the release of methane from the seafloor, little is known about the production of DOC in association with AOM or its flux and fate in the ocean. We hypothesize a mechanism for methane incorporation into DOC at seeps and investigate the relationship between sediment total organic carbon (TOC) availability and the incorporation of methane-derived carbon into DOC at four methane seep regions along the Cascadia margin, with a range of microbial and thermogenic methane sources. At sites with <2.0 wt.% TOC (Hydrate Ridge and Bullseye Vent), up to 60%–80% of carbon in DOC is methane-carbon, much more than sites with >2.0 wt.% TOC (Astoria Canyon and Barkley Canyon). We attribute the greater methane contribution at the more TOC-limited sites to a greater role of AOM in the carbon cycle, whereas at the organic matter-rich sites, microbial competition for sulfate as an electron acceptor for organic matter decomposition limits AOM and hence the transfer of carbon from methane to DOC. We estimate that the global diffusive flux of methane-derived DOC from the seafloor is 0.07–10.1 Tg C/yr, contributing to the stock of DOC present in the deep ocean and/or fueling the deep-sea microbial loop.