Earthquakes Release Methane, Impacting Climate Change

(ETH Zurich, July 29, 2013)

Earthquakes significantly influence the release of the greenhouse gas methane from the seabed, where it occurs as frozen methane hydrate. Researchers at the University of Bremen and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven conclude this from studying methane sources at the bottom of the Indian Ocean off the coast of Pakistan. Where the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide with each other, methane gas bubbles up from under the ground. Scientists have shown that these sources have only been active in recent decades, probably since 1945 when an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurred in the region, forming cracks that weakened seabed stability. Climate calculations should therefore also take into account methane released by temporary sources like earthquakes.