{
  "abstract": "Global biogeochemical inventories require a spatial domain that is commensurate with the measured concentration, sediment mass, and ecosystem state. We re-evaluate the area term used by Ye et al. (2026) to estimate 142–218 Tg C of iron-bound organic carbon (Fe-OC) in the upper 30 cm of mature cold-seep sediment. Two primary results emerge. First, Ye et al. state that cold seeps occupy less than 0.05% of continental-slope area, citing a source that gives approximately 41 million km2 of slope. That statement implies less than 2.05 × 104 km2, yet the same article later applies 2.05–3.15 × 105 km2 without a domain conversion. Second, the two values in that reported span are not shown to be bounds from a common estimator. The identifiable lower-source premises form a top-down slope-area– occupation calculation; the upper numerical fingerprint is a bottom-up extrapolation of an approximately 350-km2 Haima field descriptor across a discovery-limited count of more than 900 seeps. The methods, spatial objects, sampling frames, and error structures are incommensurate, and “more than 900” cannot generate an upper bound at a nominal count of 900. Independent fluid-expulsion compilations and regional acoustic surveys document substantial inventory incompleteness and heterogeneity but do not supply a global activesediment area. The absolute stock also contains an undisclosed sediment-mass coefficient: reproducing both endpoints with the reported depth and Fe-OC content requires an effective value near 1.65 g cm−3. Interpreted as dry bulk density, this value is high relative to available regional and near-surface seep analogs, although not physically impossible. Replacing only 205,000 by the printed-premise product of 20,500 km2 still changes the corresponding endpoint from about 142 to 14.2 Tg C, but this is a controlled sensitivity, not a new lower bound. The disclosed record therefore does not support interpreting the published area pair or derived stock span as empirical global intervals.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Luigi Caputi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3btmfd2kd0n9t.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31223/x54n6g",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3btmfd2kd0n9t",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15048/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Life Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Physical Sciences and Mathematics"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "cold seeps; iron-bound organic carbon; global area; spatial upscaling; dry bulk density; ecological succession."
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2304|Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213532390",
  "pdf_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/object/15048/download/26235/",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-18",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3btmfd2kd0n9t.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:31Z",
      "native_id": "15048",
      "source": "eartharxiv",
      "url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15048/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2304|Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena",
      "subfield": "environmental"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Incommensurate Global Cold-Seep Area Constructions and Their Consequences for an Iron-Bound Organic-Carbon Stock",
  "title_text": "Incommensurate Global Cold-Seep Area Constructions and Their Consequences for an Iron-Bound Organic-Carbon Stock",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:31Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3btmfd2kd0n9t",
  "venue": "EarthArXiv",
  "versions": []
}