The chemical composition of sedimentary organic matter is often used to reconstruct Earth’s biogeochemical history. However, few studies have considered that the long-term effects of subterranean natural radioactivity over geologic time can be common enough and provide sufficient activation energy to trigger radiolysis and the generation of methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases. We performed separate α -, β -, and γ -irradi...

The rapid turnover of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), likely the most relevant dissolved organic sulfur compound in the surface ocean, makes it pivotal to understand the cycling of organic sulfur. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate is mainly synthesized by phytoplankton, and it can be utilized as carbon and sulfur sources by marine bacteria or cleaved by bacteria or algae to produce the volatile compound dimethylsulfide (DMS), invo...