The global methane cycle includes both terrestrial and atmospheric processes and may contribute to feedback regulation of the climate. Most oxic soils are a net sink for methane, and these soils consume approximately 20 to 60 Tg of methane per year. The soil sink for atmospheric methane is microbially mediated and sensitive to disturbance. A decrease in the capacity of this sink may have contri...

A steady state box model was developed to estimate the methane input into the Black Sea water column at various water depths. Our model results reveal a total input of methane of 4.7 Tg yr−1. The model predicts that the input of methane is largest at water depths between 600 and 700 m (7% of the total input), suggesting that the dissociation of methane gas hydrates at water depths equivalent to...

Methane in soil gas may have undesirable consequences. The soil gas may be able to form a flammable mixture with air and present an explosion hazard. Aerobic biodegradation of the methane in soil gas may consume oxygen that would otherwise be available for biodegradation of gasoline hydrocarbons. The consumption of oxygen by methane may increase the chance of completing a vapor intrusion pathwa...

Acid rain sulphate (SO4 2 ) deposition is a known suppressant of methane (CH4) emission from wetlands. However, the hypothesised mechanism responsible for this important biogeochemical interaction, competitive exclusion of methanogens by dissimilatory SO4 2 reducing bacteria (SRB), lacks supporting evidence. Here, we present data from an acid rain simulation experiment in the Moidach More peat ...

The low-friction properties of quasicrystal surfaces suggest their use as coatings on moving machine parts, including those in internal combustion engines. In such applications, additional lubricants are typically used. Since the low-friction properties of quasicrystals are thought to depend on their aperiodic structures, the interactions of lubricants on quasicrystalline surfaces may have an i...

Experiments on the interaction of intense, ultrafast pulses with large van der Waals bonded clusters have shown that these clusters can explode with substantial kinetic energy and that the explosion of deuterium clusters can drive nuclear fusion reactions. Producing explosions in deuterated methane clusters with a 100 fs, 100 TW laser pulse, it is found that deuterium ions are accelerated to su...

Measurements of nuclear spin relaxation times over a wide temperature range have been used to determine the interaction energies and molecular dynamics of light molecular gases trapped in the cages of microporous structures. The experiments are designed so that, in the cases explored, the local excitations and the corresponding heat capacities determine the observed nuclear spin-lattice relaxat...

During the last few years, the analysis of microbial diversity in various habitats greatly increased our knowledge on the kingdom Archaea. At the same time, we became aware of the multiple ways in which Archaea may interact with each other and with organisms of other kingdoms. The large group of euryarchaeal methanogens and their methane oxidizing relatives, in particular, take part in essentia...

[1] Recent spectroscopic detections of CH4 in the atmosphere of Mars are the first definitive observations of an organic compound on that planet. The relatively short photochemical lifetime of CH4 ( 300 years) argues for a geologically young source. We demonstrate here that lowtemperature alteration of basaltic crust by carbon-bearing hydrothermal fluid can produce the required CH4 flux of 1 10...

Peat bogs are primarily situated at mid to high latitudes and future climatic change projections indicate that these areas may become increasingly wetter and warmer. Methane emissions from peat bogs are reduced by symbiotic methane oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs). Higher temperatures and increasing water levels will enhance methane production, but also methane oxidation. To unravel the tempe...