Articles | Volume 19, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1871-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1871-2022
Research article
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04 Apr 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 04 Apr 2022

Low biodegradability of particulate organic carbon mobilized from thaw slumps on the Peel Plateau, NT, and possible chemosynthesis and sorption effects

Sarah Shakil, Suzanne E. Tank, Jorien E. Vonk, and Scott Zolkos

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Cited articles

Abbott, B. W., Larouche, J. R., Jones, J. B., Bowden, W. B., and Balser, A. W.: Elevated dissolved organic carbon biodegradability from thawing and collapsing permafrost, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 119, 2049–2063, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JG002678, 2014. 
Attermeyer, K., Catalán, N., Einarsdottir, K., Freixa, A., Groeneveld, M., Hawkes, J. A., Bergquist, J., and Tranvik, L. J.: Organic Carbon Processing During Transport Through Boreal Inland Waters: Particles as Important Sites, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 123, 2412–2428, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JG004500, 2018. 
Berggren, M., Lapierre, J.-F., and del Giorgio, P. A.: Magnitude and regulation of bacterioplankton respiratory quotient across freshwater environmental gradients, ISME J., 6, 984–993, https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2011.157, 2012. 
Bock, E. and Wagner, M.: Oxidation of Inorganic Nitrogen Compounds as an Energy Source, in: The Prokaryotes, edited by: Rosenberg, E., DeLong, E. F., Lory, S., Stackebrandt, E., and Thompson, F., Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 83–118, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30141-4_64, 2013. 
Bröder, L., Keskitalo, K., Zolkos, S., Shakil, S., Tank, S. E., Kokelj, S. V., Tesi, T., van Dongen, B. E., Haghipour, N., Eglinton, T. I., and Vonk, J. E.: Preferential export of permafrost-derived organic matter as retrogressive thaw slumping intensifies, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 054059, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abee4b, 2021. 
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Short summary
Permafrost thaw-driven landslides in the western Arctic are increasing organic carbon delivered to headwaters of drainage networks in the western Canadian Arctic by orders of magnitude. Through a series of laboratory experiments, we show that less than 10 % of this organic carbon is likely to be mineralized to greenhouse gases during transport in these networks. Rather most of the organic carbon is likely destined for burial and sequestration for centuries to millennia.
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