Pockmark like structures in Lake Constance and their effects on methane emission from large lakes

• Applicant: Dr. Martin Wessels
• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
• Term: from 2007 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 36207447

The role of lakes in the global methane budget seems to be more important than previously thought. However, the sources and the sinks of this climate active gas in large lakes are still quite unknown. Beside diffusive flux or ebullition due to high microbiological methane production, another potentially important methane source is the emission of fluids and gas from the deeper geosphere, such as methane seeps or pockmarks. Pockmarks are depressions at the sediment surface, often characterized by fluid flow and sites of enhanced methane release. Numerous pockmarks have been described for the marine environment, but pockmarks in limnic systems are rather unknown, as well as their associated geological, chemical and biological processes. In Lake Constance (southern Germany) pockmark like structures have been discovered recently. In a preliminary survey in 2005, we were able to observe methane ebullition and increased methane concentrations in the adjacent water column at these pockmarks. The objectives of this study are (1) to locate and to describe the pockmark areas in Lake Constance, (2) to identify the mechanisms responsible for the formation of pockmarks in Lake Constance, (3) to identify the sources of methane and (4) to quantify the fluxes of methane from the lake floor and their temporal variability.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants