Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep
We used high-resolution imagery within a Geographic Information System (GIS), free gas and porewater analyses and animal bulk stable isotope measurements to characterize the biotic and abiotic aspects of the newly discovered Vestbrona Carbonate Field (VCF) seep site on the Norwegian shelf (63°28′N,...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/feart.2023.1203998 2024-02-11T10:05:42+01:00 Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep Sinner, Melina Hong, Wei Li Michel, Loïc N. Vadakkepuliyambatta, Sunil Knies, Jochen Sen, Arunima Norges Forskningsråd Erasmus+ 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Earth Science volume 11 ISSN 2296-6463 General Earth and Planetary Sciences journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998 2024-01-26T09:56:47Z We used high-resolution imagery within a Geographic Information System (GIS), free gas and porewater analyses and animal bulk stable isotope measurements to characterize the biotic and abiotic aspects of the newly discovered Vestbrona Carbonate Field (VCF) seep site on the Norwegian shelf (63°28′N, 6° 31′E, ∿270 m water depth). Free gas was mainly composed of microbial methane. Sediment porewater sulfide concentrations were in the millimolar range and thus high enough to sustain seep chemosymbiotrophic animals. Nonetheless, the VCF lacked chemosymbiotrophic animals despite an abundance of methane-derived carbonate crusts which are formed by the same anaerobic processes that sustain chemosymbiotrophic animals at seeps. Furthermore, none of the sampled taxa, across various trophic guilds exhibited a detectable contribution of chemosynthetically fixed carbon to their diets based on bulk stable isotope values, suggesting a predominantly photosynthetic source of carbon to the VCF seep food web. We link the absence of chemosymbiotrophic animals to highly localized methane flow pathways, which may act as a “shunt-bypass” of the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and by extension sulfide generation, thus leading to sediment sulfide concentrations that are highly heterogeneous over very short lateral distances, inhibiting the successful colonization of chemosymbiotrophic animals at the VCF seep. Instead, the seep hosted diverse biological communities, consisting of heterotrophic benthic fauna, including long lived taxa, such as soft corals (e.g., Paragorgia arborea ) and stony corals (i.e., Desmophyllum pertusum , formerly known as Lophelia pertusa ). Compared to the surrounding non-seep seafloor, we measured heightened megafaunal density at the seep, which we attribute to increased habitat heterogeneity and the presence of a variety of hard substrates (i.e., methane-derived authigenic carbonates, dropstones and coral rubble), particularly since the most abundant taxa all belonged to the phylum Porifera. Compared to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Lophelia pertusa Paragorgia arborea Subarctic Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Earth Science 11 |
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unknown |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Sinner, Melina Hong, Wei Li Michel, Loïc N. Vadakkepuliyambatta, Sunil Knies, Jochen Sen, Arunima Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
description |
We used high-resolution imagery within a Geographic Information System (GIS), free gas and porewater analyses and animal bulk stable isotope measurements to characterize the biotic and abiotic aspects of the newly discovered Vestbrona Carbonate Field (VCF) seep site on the Norwegian shelf (63°28′N, 6° 31′E, ∿270 m water depth). Free gas was mainly composed of microbial methane. Sediment porewater sulfide concentrations were in the millimolar range and thus high enough to sustain seep chemosymbiotrophic animals. Nonetheless, the VCF lacked chemosymbiotrophic animals despite an abundance of methane-derived carbonate crusts which are formed by the same anaerobic processes that sustain chemosymbiotrophic animals at seeps. Furthermore, none of the sampled taxa, across various trophic guilds exhibited a detectable contribution of chemosynthetically fixed carbon to their diets based on bulk stable isotope values, suggesting a predominantly photosynthetic source of carbon to the VCF seep food web. We link the absence of chemosymbiotrophic animals to highly localized methane flow pathways, which may act as a “shunt-bypass” of the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and by extension sulfide generation, thus leading to sediment sulfide concentrations that are highly heterogeneous over very short lateral distances, inhibiting the successful colonization of chemosymbiotrophic animals at the VCF seep. Instead, the seep hosted diverse biological communities, consisting of heterotrophic benthic fauna, including long lived taxa, such as soft corals (e.g., Paragorgia arborea ) and stony corals (i.e., Desmophyllum pertusum , formerly known as Lophelia pertusa ). Compared to the surrounding non-seep seafloor, we measured heightened megafaunal density at the seep, which we attribute to increased habitat heterogeneity and the presence of a variety of hard substrates (i.e., methane-derived authigenic carbonates, dropstones and coral rubble), particularly since the most abundant taxa all belonged to the phylum Porifera. Compared to ... |
author2 |
Norges Forskningsråd Erasmus+ |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sinner, Melina Hong, Wei Li Michel, Loïc N. Vadakkepuliyambatta, Sunil Knies, Jochen Sen, Arunima |
author_facet |
Sinner, Melina Hong, Wei Li Michel, Loïc N. Vadakkepuliyambatta, Sunil Knies, Jochen Sen, Arunima |
author_sort |
Sinner, Melina |
title |
Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
title_short |
Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
title_full |
Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
title_fullStr |
Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
title_full_unstemmed |
Lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
title_sort |
lack of detectable chemosynthesis at a sponge dominated subarctic methane seep |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998/full |
genre |
Lophelia pertusa Paragorgia arborea Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Lophelia pertusa Paragorgia arborea Subarctic |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science volume 11 ISSN 2296-6463 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1203998 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
11 |
_version_ |
1790602840092180480 |