Methane cycling in the sediments of Lake Washington

About half of the methane flux from depth is oxidized to CO2 in the upper 0.7 cm of the sediments and the remainder escapes into the water column. In terms of the total carbon budget of the lake, the upward flux of methane is insignificant with only about 2% of the carbon fixed by primary production being returned as methane. The upward flux of methane, however, does represent about 20% of the organic carbon decomposed within the sediments. -from Authors