2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Application of methane clumped isotope approach in natural abiotic methane reservoirs
| Project/Area Number |
22K14134
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
張 乃忠 東京工業大学, 理学院, 研究員 (90782772)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Biodegradation / Abiotic methane / Mud volcano / Clumped isotope |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
To better constrain the origins of natural hydrocarbon gases, we have applied the novel analytical technique, i.e., methane clumped isotope approach, in different types of mud volcanos across the Japanese archipelago. We have conducted multiple field trips to collected emitted gases from mud volcanos and/or surface seeps in (1) Tokamachi area (Gamo, Murono and Kusozu), and (2) Goshogake area.
By combination of methane clumped isotope analysis and other geochemical approaches, such as bulk carbon isotope compositions and concentrations of alkanes and CO2, position specific isotope analysis of propane, we have successfully constrained the contribution of microbial activity (biodegradation process) in Tokamachi-type mud volcanos. The progresses have been presented at EGU2023 conference and will be submitted to an international journal soon.
In the coming year, we will mainly focus on its application in Goshogake-type mud volcanos, in which hydrocarbons have been assumed as considerately contributed from abiotic source.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Two field trips have been conducted in FY2022: (1) we visited Goshogake mud volcanos at August, 2022. However, due to heavy rain, we failed in collecting enough gases for clumped isotope analysis. We have planned a second trip to sample from Goshogake in June, 2023, by collaborating with a mud volcano specialist, Dr. Adriano Mazzini from Norway. (2) In December, 2022, we visited the mud volcano area in Niigata, and have successfully sampled from ~10 mud volcanos/seeps of 3 locations. The analyses of these samples have been finished, whoes results have been presented at the international conference in April, 2023.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We will visit Goshogake mud volcanos for a second-round sampling trip in the end of June, 2023. The samples are expected to be analyzed from July to October, 2023. Based on the methane clumped isotope analysis, we will discuss the contribution of abiotic hydrocarbon source in Goshogake.
After summarizing all the dataset from different types of mud volcanos, and comparing with the results of our abiotic methane formation experiments, we will further discuss the formation mechanism of natural abiotic methane sources. Two manuscripts related to these discussions are expected to be submitted in FY2024.
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| Causes of Carryover |
I have planned to attend AGU2022 on site, which require considerable amount of travel cost. But due to the conflict of schedule, I finally choose to attend the conference on line. The travel cost has been partly saved. This amount of money will be used in the new field trip in Goshogake mud volcanos scheduled in June, 2023.
The residue of funds also includes the publication cost. Since no manuscript has not been accepted yet, the publication fee needs to be charged in FY2023.
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Research Products
(4 results)
