Rate of growth of isolated bubbles in sediments with a diagenetic source of methane
Limnol. Oceanogr., 46(3), 2001, 616-622 | DOI: 10.4319/lo.2001.46.3.0616
Abstract: Observation of bubbles in estuarine and coastal sediments indicates that bubbles at or below 10 cm depth grow on seasonal time scales (May–October). In order to determine the controls on this growth rate, we have constructed a diffusion–reaction model that accounts for the dynamics of methane formation, its diffusion through pore waters, its incorporation into a bubble, and the consequent growth of the bubble. The model produces an explicit equation for the radius of a growing bubble, R(t), with time using mean parameter values and under the assumption that the mechanics of the sediment response to growth can be neglected: