Black Sea cruise with RV Poseidon (29 Sept - 13 Oct 2004)

Black Sea north-western shelf and slope

As the largest anoxic basin on earth, the Black Sea provides an ideal model system for studies of anaerobic methane oxidation. The entire sea floor below 150 m is overlain by an anoxic water column, and sulfate reduction, methanogenesis and methane oxidation are the totally dominant terminal processes of carbon flux in the sediments. Anaerobic methane oxidation takes place in the subsurface and at the sediment surface at gas vents. The occurrence of methane seeps and carbonate structures have been mapped through extensive acoustic surveys by the local partners GeoEcoMar and IBSS.