Origin of methane and sources of high concentrations in Los Angeles groundwater

High dissolved methane gas concentrations were measured in 37 groundwater samples collected in the Los Angeles Basin, California. The origin of the methane was identified as microbial activity rather than from the burial and heating of organic material. The source of the methane was microbial production in shallow, oxygen-depleted aquifers rather than the upward migration or leakage of methane associated with oil fields in the basin.