High speeds have been measured at seep and mud-volcano sites expelling methane-rich fluids from the seabed. Thermal or solute-driven convection alone cannot explain such high velocities in low-permeability sediments. Here we demonstrate that in addition to buoyancy, osmotic effects generated by the adsorption of methane onto the sediments can create large overpressures, capable of recirculating...

Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8505, Japan Usa Marine Biological Institute, Kochi University, Usa, Tosa, Kochi 781-1164, Japan The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Ehime University, Tarumi, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8566, Japan Kochi Prefectural Deep Seawater Laboratory, Muroto, Kochi 781-7101, Japan *Author to whom correspondence shou...

Altibacter lentus strain JLT2010(T) is the type strain of the recently identified novel genus and species of the family Flavobacteriaceae and was first isolated from deep seawater of the South China Sea. It can produce exopolysaccharide. Here we report the first draft genome of JLT2010(T) (3,160,033 bp, with GC content of 42.12%) and major findings from its annotation. It is the first reported ...

The development of Reference Materials for Nutrients in Seawater (RMNS) has been in progress since 1993. When RMNS were produced for nitrate, silicate, and phosphate, their initial homogeneities were as low as 0.1 to 0.2% in samples of high-nutrient seawater, such as deep water from the Pacific Ocean. The relative standard uncertainties associated with instability during long-term (4.8 years)...

The mineralogy of S-bearing phases, S-contents, and S-isotopic compositions of sediments and interstitial waters were determined for three cores drilled during Leg 129 in the western Pacific. Pelagic clays, chalks, and radiolarites generally contain 350-1200 ppm S, with essentially all S present as sulfate. Volcanogenic turbidite units contain about 400 ppm S, with about 10%-20% of total sulfur...