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www.clim-past-discuss.net/7/1139/2011/
doi:10.5194/cpd-7-1139-2011
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Methane release from gas hydrate systems during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum and other past hyperthermal events: setting appropriate parameters for discussion
1Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
2Department of Earth Sciences, Rice University, Houston, USA
Abstract. Enormous amounts of 13C-depleted carbon rapidly entered the exogenic carbon cycle during the onset of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), as attested to by a prominent negative δ13C excursion and widespread seafloor carbonate dissolution. A widely cited explanation for this carbon input has been thermal dissociation of gas hydrate, followed by release of massive CH4 from the seafloor and its subsequent oxidation to CO2 in the ocean or atmosphere. Increasingly, papers have argued against this mechanism, but without fully considering existing ideas and available data. Moreover, other explanations have been presented as plausible alternatives, even though they conflict with geological observations, they raise major conceptual problems, or both. Methane release from gas hydrates remains a congruous explanation for the δ
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Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Dickens, G. R.: Methane release from gas hydrate systems during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum and other past hyperthermal events: setting appropriate parameters for discussion, Clim. Past Discuss., 7, 1139-1174, doi:10.5194/cpd-7-1139-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
