Hydrogen generation by earthquake faulting and its implication for sub-surface biosphere

进行了高速摩擦实验，以验证断裂作用是否能产生丰富的氢气，以支持地下化学自养微生物，如产甲烷菌。我们的结果表明，H_2的产生量随着摩擦功(即震级)的增加而增加，甚至在小震级地震后，断裂带中的H_2浓度可以达到几个mmol/kg流体以上。据估计，地震产生的氢气浓度足够高，足以维持一个基于氢气的地下岩石自养微生物生态系统。

High velocity friction experiments were performed aimed to verify whether faulting can generate abundant H2 to sustain subsurface chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, such as methanogens. Our results show that H2 generation increases with frictional work (i.e., earthquake magnitude) and that a H2 concentration of more than few mmol/kg of fluid can be achieved in a fault zone after earthquakes of even small magnitudes. The estimated earthquake-derived H2 concentration is sufficiently high to sustain a H2-based subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystem.