Methane Clumped Isotopes: Progress and Potential for a New Isotopic Tracer
Creators
- Douglas, Peter M. J.1, 2
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Stolper, Daniel A.1, 3
- Eiler, John M.1
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Sessions, Alex L.1
- Lawson, Michael4
- Shuai, Yanhua1, 5
- Bishop, Andrew6
- Podlaha, Olaf G.7
- Ferreira, Alexandre A.8
- Santos Neto, Eugenio V.8
- Niemann, Martin
- Steen, Arne S.9
- Huang, Ling5
- Chimiak, Laura1
- Valentine, David L.10
- Fiebig, Jens11
- Luhmann, Andrew J.12
- Seyfried, William E., Jr.13
- Etiope, Giuseppe14, 15
- Schoell, Martin
- Inskeep, William P.16
- Moran, James J.17
- Kitchen, Nami1
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1.
California Institute of Technology
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2.
McGill University
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3.
University of California, Berkeley
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4.
ExxonMobil (United States)
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5.
Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
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6.
University of California, Riverside
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7.
Shell (Netherlands)
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8.
Petrobras (Brazil)
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9.
Equinor (Norway)
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10.
University of California, Santa Barbara
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11.
Goethe University Frankfurt
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12.
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
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13.
University of Minnesota
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14.
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
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15.
Babeș-Bolyai University
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16.
Montana State University
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17.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Abstract
The isotopic composition of methane is of longstanding geochemical interest, with important implications for understanding petroleum systems, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, the global carbon cycle, and life in extreme environments. Recent analytical developments focusing on multiply substituted isotopologues ('clumped isotopes') are opening a valuable new window into methane geochemistry. When methane forms in internal isotopic equilibrium, clumped isotopes can provide a direct record of formation temperature, making this property particularly valuable for identifying different methane origins. However, it has also become clear that in certain settings methane clumped isotope measurements record kinetic rather than equilibrium isotope effects. Here we present a substantially expanded dataset of methane clumped isotope analyses, and provide a synthesis of the current interpretive framework for this parameter. In general, clumped isotope measurements indicate plausible formation temperatures for abiotic, thermogenic, and microbial methane in many geological environments, which is encouraging for the further development of this measurement as a geothermometer, and as a tracer for the source of natural gas reservoirs and emissions. We also highlight, however, instances where clumped isotope derived temperatures are higher than expected, and discuss possible factors that could distort equilibrium formation temperature signals. In microbial methane from freshwater ecosystems, in particular, clumped isotope values appear to be controlled by kinetic effects, and may ultimately be useful to study methanogen metabolism.
Additional Information
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. Received 26 June 2017, Revised 11 July 2017, Accepted 22 July 2017, Available online 16 August 2017. The development of the Ultra was funded by NSF-EAR. PMJD was supported in part by Royal Dutch Shell. Research on the Santa Barbara Basin was supported by NSF OCE-1046144. The manuscript benefitted from constructive reviews from Andrew Murray, Kenneth Peters, and Xinyu Xia.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - 1-s2.0-S0146638017303479-mmc1.pdf
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Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 80573
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2017.07.016
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170817-141906771
Related works
- Describes
- 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2017.07.016 (DOI)
Funding
- Royal Dutch Shell
- NSF
- OCE-1046144
Dates
- Created
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2017-08-17Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field