Sulfate concentrations were measured at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology by suppressed ion chromatography at a 1:100 dilution with 18MOhm water on a Metrohm 761 compact IC. Standard calibrations using seawater provided by the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) were performed. The range for the 8-point standard calibration was 5 µM - 400 µM.For methane, a 3 cm**3 sediment sample was transferred into a 20 mL He flushed headspace vial, filled with 10 mL of a 5 M NaCl solution. All samples were taken immediately after the gravity core was retrieved and cut into 1-m segments. The vials were stored at 4°C. Methane concentrations were measured at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology with a Hewlett Packard 5890A gas chromatograph using a splitless injector, a stainless steel Porapak-Q column and a flame ionization detector. Chromatographic response on the GC instrument was calibrated against three different standards with variable concentrations of methane. Methane concentrations were corrected for sediment porosity.