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Microbial Turn-over of Volatile Sulfur Compounds

  • Conference paper
Microbiology of Atmospheric Trace Gases

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 39))

Abstract

Biological production and consumption of sulfur gases include compounds such as H2S, methylsulfides (CH3SH, (CH3) 2S, (CH3S)2), methanesulfonate (CH3SO3H), sulfoxides (SO2), carbon disulfide (CS2) and carbonyl sulfide (COS). Only H2S, COS, SO2 and CH3SH are true gases under most environmental conditions, but other sulfur compounds, such as dimethylsulfide (DMS; (CH3)S), dimethyldisulfide (DMDS; (CH3S)2), CS2, and ethanethiol (ESH; C2H5SH) are liquids with vapor pressures which allow volatilization. Therefore, most of these sulfur compounds are gaseous and play a role in the global flux (estimated to be 210 Tg S y-1 Table 1) from aquatic and terrestrial environments to the atmosphere. There, these gases engage in various (photo)chemical reactions, often mediated by radicals such as OH, NO3 and IO (Plane 1989), and O3 (Lee and Zhou 1994). Chemical reactions yield methanesulfonate (MSA) , SO2 and SO4 2- (non-sea salt sulfate, nss). As in the sulfur cycle in the geosphere, atmospheric sulfur (S2- to S4+) is ultimately oxidized to sulfate (S 6+ ), and may return to the Earth’s surface by wet and dry deposition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, 1084 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    Pieter T. Visscher

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  1. Pieter T. Visscher
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    J. Colin Murrell

  2. Institute of Education, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Donovan P. Kelly

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Visscher, P.T. (1996). Microbial Turn-over of Volatile Sulfur Compounds. In: Murrell, J.C., Kelly, D.P. (eds) Microbiology of Atmospheric Trace Gases. NATO ASI Series, vol 39. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61096-7_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61096-7_13

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