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Carbon Isotope Evidence of Methanogenesis in Sediments of the Dal’nyaya Taiga Group (Lower Vendian of the Patom Basin, Siberia)

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Abstract

The results of lithological, petrographic, and C–O isotope studies of various types of the diagenetic and postdiagenetic carbonate cement in silty mudstones, as well as coeval limestones, in postglacial deposits of the Dal’nyaya Taiga Group (Patom Basin, Siberia) are presented. Evidence of methane generation but not its anaerobic oxidation has been obtained. High δ13C (up to 14.9‰) values of the earliest carbonate cement generations in mudstones from the Barakun and Ura formations are related to extreme isotopic fractionation during the biogenic methanogenesis. The absence of isotopic signatures of the anaerobic oxidation of methane indicates its isolation during the subsequent reactions, suggesting the accumulation of gas hydrate compounds inside the sedimentary layers. Analysis of the distribution and correlation of δ180 and δ13C in the authigenic and sedimentary carbonates provides new arguments in favor of link of the Ediacaran global δ13C trend with epochs of the predominant accumulation of gas hydrate hydrocarbon compounds inside the deep-sea sedimentary strata and their subsequent anaerobic oxidation.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project nos. 19-05-00155 and 19-05-00427.

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  1. Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    P. Yu. Petrov & B. G. Pokrovsky

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Petrov, P.Y., Pokrovsky, B.G. Carbon Isotope Evidence of Methanogenesis in Sediments of the Dal’nyaya Taiga Group (Lower Vendian of the Patom Basin, Siberia). Lithol Miner Resour 55, 83–94 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490220020066

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