Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea
Biomarkers from methane hydrate-bearing sediments can provide vital evidence for microbial activities associated with methanogenesis and their relation to the formation of methane hydrates. However, the former mainly focus on intact polar lipids from these microorganisms, and rarely investigate mole...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ad79413f33d24fa6a15c015aec25b9df 2023-05-15T17:11:15+02:00 Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea Qian-Zhi Zhou Yan Li Fang Chen Shui-Fu Li Shu-Jun Dong Feng-Lin Zhang Xiao-Ming Xu Jiang-Hai Wang 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24030456 https://doaj.org/article/ad79413f33d24fa6a15c015aec25b9df EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/3/456 https://doaj.org/toc/1420-3049 1420-3049 doi:10.3390/molecules24030456 https://doaj.org/article/ad79413f33d24fa6a15c015aec25b9df Molecules, Vol 24, Iss 3, p 456 (2019) methane hydrates biomarkers unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) microbial activities the South China Sea Organic chemistry QD241-441 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24030456 2022-12-31T13:49:03Z Biomarkers from methane hydrate-bearing sediments can provide vital evidence for microbial activities associated with methanogenesis and their relation to the formation of methane hydrates. However, the former mainly focus on intact polar lipids from these microorganisms, and rarely investigate molecular hydrocarbons such as acyclic isoprenoids and hopanes so far. In this work, the composition of biomarkers in the methane hydrate-bearing sediments in cores SH2B and SH7B from the Shenhu area, the South China Sea (SCS) were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS). The occurrence of unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) and 25-norhopane indicate that the organic matters in methane hydrate-bearing sediments underwent a high degree of biodegradation. Although specific biomarkers for methanogens were not identified, the UCMs, 25-norhopane, pristane, phytane, and hopanes can still indicate the microbial activities associated with methanogenesis. These molecular signals suggest that diverse microorganisms, particularly methanogens, were quite vigorous in the methane hydrate-bearing sediments. Further, the biomarkers identified in this study can also be steadily detected from deep oil/gas reservoirs. Considering numerous adjacent oil/gas reservoir systems, fault systems, and mud diapers occurred in the SCS, it can be inferred that microbial activities and deep oil/gas reservoirs may have jointly contributed to the formation of methane hydrate deposits in the SCS. Article in Journal/Newspaper Methane hydrate Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Molecules 24 3 456 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
methane hydrates biomarkers unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) microbial activities the South China Sea Organic chemistry QD241-441 |
spellingShingle |
methane hydrates biomarkers unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) microbial activities the South China Sea Organic chemistry QD241-441 Qian-Zhi Zhou Yan Li Fang Chen Shui-Fu Li Shu-Jun Dong Feng-Lin Zhang Xiao-Ming Xu Jiang-Hai Wang Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea |
topic_facet |
methane hydrates biomarkers unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) microbial activities the South China Sea Organic chemistry QD241-441 |
description |
Biomarkers from methane hydrate-bearing sediments can provide vital evidence for microbial activities associated with methanogenesis and their relation to the formation of methane hydrates. However, the former mainly focus on intact polar lipids from these microorganisms, and rarely investigate molecular hydrocarbons such as acyclic isoprenoids and hopanes so far. In this work, the composition of biomarkers in the methane hydrate-bearing sediments in cores SH2B and SH7B from the Shenhu area, the South China Sea (SCS) were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS). The occurrence of unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) and 25-norhopane indicate that the organic matters in methane hydrate-bearing sediments underwent a high degree of biodegradation. Although specific biomarkers for methanogens were not identified, the UCMs, 25-norhopane, pristane, phytane, and hopanes can still indicate the microbial activities associated with methanogenesis. These molecular signals suggest that diverse microorganisms, particularly methanogens, were quite vigorous in the methane hydrate-bearing sediments. Further, the biomarkers identified in this study can also be steadily detected from deep oil/gas reservoirs. Considering numerous adjacent oil/gas reservoir systems, fault systems, and mud diapers occurred in the SCS, it can be inferred that microbial activities and deep oil/gas reservoirs may have jointly contributed to the formation of methane hydrate deposits in the SCS. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Qian-Zhi Zhou Yan Li Fang Chen Shui-Fu Li Shu-Jun Dong Feng-Lin Zhang Xiao-Ming Xu Jiang-Hai Wang |
author_facet |
Qian-Zhi Zhou Yan Li Fang Chen Shui-Fu Li Shu-Jun Dong Feng-Lin Zhang Xiao-Ming Xu Jiang-Hai Wang |
author_sort |
Qian-Zhi Zhou |
title |
Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea |
title_short |
Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea |
title_full |
Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea |
title_fullStr |
Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geochemical Significance of Biomarkers in the Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea |
title_sort |
geochemical significance of biomarkers in the methane hydrate-bearing sediments from the shenhu area, the south china sea |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24030456 https://doaj.org/article/ad79413f33d24fa6a15c015aec25b9df |
genre |
Methane hydrate |
genre_facet |
Methane hydrate |
op_source |
Molecules, Vol 24, Iss 3, p 456 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/3/456 https://doaj.org/toc/1420-3049 1420-3049 doi:10.3390/molecules24030456 https://doaj.org/article/ad79413f33d24fa6a15c015aec25b9df |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24030456 |
container_title |
Molecules |
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24 |
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3 |
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456 |
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1766068073130885120 |