Marine geologic nitrous oxide vents mobilized by drilling: Hidden climate risk from continental shelf strata

Marine geologic nitrous oxide vents mobilized by drilling: Hidden climate risk from continental shelf strata | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Marine geologic nitrous oxide vents mobilized by drilling: Hidden climate risk from continental shelf strata Xiaojun Tang, Xiaoshan Li, Zijian Huang, Liwei Wu, Mingyu Guo, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8405400/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Marine sediments, historically regarded as negligible nitrous oxide (N 2 O) sources despite harboring Earth's largest reactive nitrogen reservoirs, undergo greenhouse gas activation when penetrated through industrial drilling. Quantitative analysis of well head gases from over 400 offshore drilling sites in China’s Bohai Sea and more than 1200 onshore sites (Sichuan, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Liaoning, and Gansu provinces) revealed unprecedented N 2 O accumulation in deep marine strata. The N 2 O concentrations reached 1.42 vol%, exceeding those in overlying water columns by orders of magnitude. Exclusive offshore prevalence, depth gradient dependency, and source-diagnostic decoupling from thermogenic alkanes confirm sedimentary denitrification as the origin. Our findings establish offshore drilling operations as major climate forcing vectors through geologic N 2 O mobilization, demanding urgent integration of these emissions into Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change marine greenhouse gas budgets. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental chemistry/Environmental monitoring Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science/Atmospheric chemistry Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences/Marine chemistry Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Energy and society/Energy policy Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental chemistry/Geochemistry Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files ExtendedDataFigure1.jpg Extended Data Figure 1 ExtendedDataFigure2.jpg Extended Data Figure 2 ExtendedDataFigure3.jpg Extended Data Figure 3 ExtendedDataFigure4.jpg Extended Data Figure 4 ExtendedDataFigure5.jpg Extended Data Figure 5 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8405400","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":563030918,"identity":"886ec0c8-52e6-4865-97c1-649cdf52d06e","order_by":0,"name":"Xiaojun 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Quantitative analysis of well head gases from over 400 offshore drilling sites in China’s Bohai Sea and more than 1200 onshore sites (Sichuan, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Liaoning, and Gansu provinces) revealed unprecedented N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO accumulation in deep marine strata. The N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO concentrations reached 1.42 vol%, exceeding those in overlying water columns by orders of magnitude. Exclusive offshore prevalence, depth gradient dependency, and source-diagnostic decoupling from thermogenic alkanes confirm sedimentary denitrification as the origin. 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