Efficient Preservation of Old Methane-Derived Organic Carbon in Deep-Sea Surface Sediments

Authors

• Rui Bao, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center
• Yangli Che, Ocean University of China
• Mingzhi Liu, Ocean University of China
• Naiyu Zhang, East China Normal University
• Yang Zhou, Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey
• Lihua Dong, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center
• Shen Li, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center
• Owen A. Sherwood, Dalhousie University
• Min Yu, Ocean University of China
• Zongheng Chen, China Geological Survey
• Shengxiong Yang, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
• Nan Wang, Ocean University of China
• Longhai Zhu, Ocean University of China
• Jiawang Chen, Donghai Laboratory
• Mutai Bao, Ocean University of China
• Haoshuai Li, Ocean University of China
• Luonan Chen, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• Weifeng Wu, Ocean University of China
• Haiyue Ma, Ocean University of China
• David J. Burdige, Old Dominion UniversityFollow

ORCID

0000-0002-8859-7096 (Burdige)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-74250-2

Publication Title

Nature Communications

Volume

Advance online publication

Pages

44 pp.

Abstract

Methane released from the subseafloor is significantly attenuated during upward migration, yet the preservation of methane-derived organic carbon (OC) in global deep-sea sediments remains poorly understood. Here, we measured carbon isotopes coupled with temperature-ramped analyses on various methane seepage sediments. Our results reveal a correlation between the radiocarbon (¹⁴)C) content in deep-sea surface sediments and sulfate-methane transition depth. Notably, our findings suggest that a substantial amount of (¹⁴)C-depleted OC may originate from deep-seated methane and is efficiently preserved in surface seepage sediments. We propose that the efficient OC preservation is related to microbial-mediated aggregate formation at the seawater-sediment interface, where physical occlusion within coarse-grained matrices reduces oxygen availability and enhances OC stability. We estimate that at least 6 Tg C of methane-derived OC are preserved annually in surface sediments of the global continental slopes. This process may play a non-negligible role in OC preservation in sediments, reducing methane emission into the atmosphere.

Rights

© The Authors 2026.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original authors and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this license to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. 

Data Availability

Article states: "The datasets generated and analysed in this study are provided in the Supplementary Information and Source Data file. They are also available from the Figshare repository at https:://figshare.com/s/6d27f31b8fcde89647fc. Source data are provided with this paper."

Original Publication Citation

Bao, R., Che, Y., Liu, M., Zhang, N., Zhou, Y., Dong, L., Li, S., Sherwood, O. A., Yu, M., Chen, Z., Yang, S., Wang, N., Zhu, L., Chen, J., Bao, M., Li, H., Chen, L., Wu, W., Ma, H., & Burdige, D. J. (2026). Efficient preservation of old methane-derived organic carbon in deep-sea surface sediments. Nature Communications. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74250-2

Repository Citation

Bao, Rui; Che, Yangli; Liu, Mingzhi; Zhang, Naiyu; Zhou, Yang; Dong, Lihua; Li, Shen; Sherwood, Owen A.; Yu, Min; Chen, Zongheng; Yang, Shengxiong; Wang, Nan; Zhu, Longhai; Chen, Jiawang; Bao, Mutai; Li, Haoshuai; Chen, Luonan; Wu, Weifeng; Ma, Haiyue; and Burdige, David J., "Efficient Preservation of Old Methane-Derived Organic Carbon in Deep-Sea Surface Sediments" (2026). OES Faculty Publications. 578.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/578