Methane is a potent atmospheric trace gas, largely produced—and also consumed—within sediments and the water column of marine and lacustrine systems. Yet, understanding methane dynamics in the aquatic realm remains a major scientific challenge, shaped by geological, oceanographic/limnological, biological, and anthropogenic factors.
This session invites your contributions on methane in aquatic systems—past, present, and future. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
· Methane formation: from water–rock interactions and petroleum systems to microbial methanogenesis
· Methane transport: from subsurface fluid flow to bubble and diffusive transport mechanisms and fluxes
· Anthropogenic factors: from hydrocarbon exploitation and leaking wells to energy infrastructure and hydraulic structures
· Methane sinks: from microbial processes, biogeochemical pathways and kinetics to physicochemical removal processes
· Timescapes: from ultra-short variations to diel, seasonal, and geological timescales
· Geobiology: from microbe-animal symbioses to the carbon footprint of methane in broader ecological context
· Archives: from methane-derived carbonates and microbe–mineral interactions to molecular and macrofossil records