Spatially resolved capture of hydrogen sulfide from the water column and sedimentary pore waters for abundance and stable isotopic analysis

Abstract

Sulfur cycling is ubiquitous in sedimentary environments, where it plays a major role in mediating carbon remineralization and impacts both local and global redox budgets. Microbial sulfur cycling is dominated by metabolic activity that either produces (e.g., sulfate reduction, disproportionation) or consumes (sulfide oxidation) hydrogen sulfide (H2S). As such, improved constraints on the production, distribution, and consumption of H2S in the natural environment will increase our understanding of microbial sulfur cycling. These different microbial sulfur metabolisms are additionally associated with particular stable isotopic fractionations. Coupling measurements of the isotopic composition of the sulfide with its distribution can provide additional information about environmental conditions and microbial ecology. Here we investigate the kinetics of sulfide capture on photographic films as a way to document the spatial distribution of sulfide in complex natural environments as well as for in situ capture of H2S for subsequent stable isotopic analysis. Laboratory experiments and timed field deployments demonstrate the ability to infer ambient sulfide abundances from the yield of sulfide on the films. This captured sulfide preserves the isotopic composition of the ambient sulfide, offset to slightly lower δ34S values by ~ 1.2 ± 0.5‰ associated with the diffusion of sulfide into the film and subsequent reaction with silver to form Ag2S precipitates. The resulting data enable the exploration of cm-scale lateral heterogeneity that complement most geochemical profiles using traditional techniques in natural environments. Because these films can easily be deployed over a large spatial area, they are also ideal for real-time assessment of the spatial and temporal dynamics of a site during initial reconnaissance and for integration over long timescales to capture ephemeral processes.