Modeling anaerobic soil organic carbon decomposition in Arctic polygon tundra: insights into soil geochemical influences on carbon mineralization

Zheng, Jianqiu; Thornton, Peter E.; Painter, Scott L.; Gu, Baohua; Wullschleger, Stan D.; Graham, David E.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-663-2019

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-663-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-663-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

Research article

|

04 Feb 2019

Research article |

| 04 Feb 2019

Modeling anaerobic soil organic carbon decomposition in Arctic polygon tundra: insights into soil geochemical influences on carbon mineralization

Jianqiu Zheng, Peter E. Thornton, Scott L. Painter, Baohua Gu, Stan D. Wullschleger, and David E. Graham

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-663-2019-supplement

Data sets

Synthesis of Soil Geochemical Characteristics and Organic Carbon Degradation from Arctic Polygon Tundra, Barrow, Alaska J. Zheng, T. RoyChowdhury, E. Herndon, Z. Yang, B. Gu, S. Wullschleger, and D. E. Graham https://doi.org/10.5440/1440029

Soil Organic Carbon Degradation during Incubation, Barrow, Alaska, 2012 E. Herndon, Z. Yang, and B. Gu https://doi.org/10.5440/1168992

Soil Organic Carbon Degradation in Low Temperature Soil Incubations from Flat- and High- Centered Polygons, Barrow, Alaska, 2012-2013 J. Zheng and D. E. Graham https://doi.org/10.5440/1393836

Model code and software

Modeling Anaerobic Soil Organic Carbon Decomposition in Arctic Polygon Tundra: Insights into Soil Geochemical Influences on Carbon Mineralization: Modeling Archive J. Zheng, P. Thornton, S. Painter, B. Gu, S. Wullschleger, and D. E Graham https://doi.org/10.5440/1430703

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Short summary

Arctic warming exposes soil carbon to increased degradation, increasing CO₂ and CH₄ emissions. Models underrepresent anaerobic decomposition that predominates wet soils. We simulated microbial growth, pH regulation, and anaerobic carbon decomposition in a new model, parameterized and validated with prior soil incubation data. The model accurately simulated CO₂ production and strong influences of water content, pH, methanogen biomass, and competing electron acceptors on CH₄ production.