Dissolved Microbial Methane in the Deep Crystalline Crust Fluids–Current Knowledge and Future Prospects

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, of which most produced by microorganisms in process called methanogenesis. One environment where methanogenic occur the deep biosphere. The biosphere comprises variety ecosystem settings; marine habitats such as subseafloor sediments, rock pore volumes within basalts, and terrestrial settings sedimentary rocks crystalline bedrock fracture networks. Microbial methane formed these environments influence biological, chemical, geological cycles upper crust, may seep out into atmosphere. This review focuses on microbial methanogenesis oxidation relatively underexplored crystalline-bedrock hosted subsurface, several works recent years have shown that production consumption this energy-poor rock-fracture-hosted environment. These findings are summarized along with techniques to study source origins crust. Future prospects for exploration processes proposed combine geochemical determine whether ubiquitous phenomenon crust across space time. will aid determining globally vast rock-hosted significant contributor global reservoir.