Active conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide to methane in peridotites of the Samail Ophiolite, Oman.

ABSTRACT: Methane (CH [Formula: see text]) is common in fluids sourced from low-temperature hydrating (serpentinizing) peridotites, but the carbon sources, rates, and mechanisms of CH [Formula: see text] formation are uncertain. In CH [Formula: see text] dissolved in groundwaters pumped from four wells of up to 400 m depth in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman, we observed [Formula: see text] C contents ranging from radiocarbon-dead to [Formula: see text] fraction modern. Chemical and isotopic analyses of groundwaters and hydrocarbon gases align with microbiological data indicating that methanogens inhabiting H [Formula: see text]-rich [Formula: see text]), [Formula: see text] fluids produce the [Formula: see text] C-rich CH [Formula: see text]. This "young" microbial CH [Formula: see text] constitutes a po

SUBMITTER: Nothaft DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12855872 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature