Researchers report that rocks from Earth's upper mantle and lower oceanic crust in diverse geological settings around the world contain abiotic methane and hydrogen in fluid inclusions, likely formed by reaction between the mineral olivine and trapped water and subsequent reduction of dissolved inorganic carbon to methane; such microscopic inclusions may constitute one of the largest sources of abiotic methane on Earth as well as a source of hydrogen and methane elsewhere in the Solar System, according to the authors.
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Article #19-07871: "Abiotic methane synthesis and serpentinization in olivine-hosted fluid inclusions," by Frieder Klein, Niya G. Grozeva, and Jeffrey S. Seewald.
MEDIA CONTACT: Frieder Klein, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA; tel: 508-289-3355, 508-299-9982, +447863936416; e-mail: fklein@whoi.edu
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences