Articles | Volume 19, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1871-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1871-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
04 Apr 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 04 Apr 2022
| 04 Apr 2022
Low biodegradability of particulate organic carbon mobilized from thaw slumps on the Peel Plateau, NT, and possible chemosynthesis and sorption effects
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Canada
Suzanne E. Tank
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Canada
Jorien E. Vonk
Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the
Netherlands
Scott Zolkos
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Canada
current address: John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Philippe Massicotte, Rainer M. W. Amon, David Antoine, Philippe Archambault, Sergio Balzano, Simon Bélanger, Ronald Benner, Dominique Boeuf, Annick Bricaud, Flavienne Bruyant, Gwenaëlle Chaillou, Malik Chami, Bruno Charrière, Jing Chen, Hervé Claustre, Pierre Coupel, Nicole Delsaut, David Doxaran, Jens Ehn, Cédric Fichot, Marie-Hélène Forget, Pingqing Fu, Jonathan Gagnon, Nicole Garcia, Beat Gasser, Jean-François Ghiglione, Gaby Gorsky, Michel Gosselin, Priscillia Gourvil, Yves Gratton, Pascal Guillot, Hermann J. Heipieper, Serge Heussner, Stanford B. Hooker, Yannick Huot, Christian Jeanthon, Wade Jeffrey, Fabien Joux, Kimitaka Kawamura, Bruno Lansard, Edouard Leymarie, Heike Link, Connie Lovejoy, Claudie Marec, Dominique Marie, Johannie Martin, Jacobo Martín, Guillaume Massé, Atsushi Matsuoka, Vanessa McKague, Alexandre Mignot, William L. Miller, Juan-Carlos Miquel, Alfonso Mucci, Kaori Ono, Eva Ortega-Retuerta, Christos Panagiotopoulos, Tim Papakyriakou, Marc Picheral, Louis Prieur, Patrick Raimbault, Joséphine Ras, Rick A. Reynolds, André Rochon, Jean-François Rontani, Catherine Schmechtig, Sabine Schmidt, Richard Sempéré, Yuan Shen, Guisheng Song, Dariusz Stramski, Eri Tachibana, Alexandre Thirouard, Imma Tolosa, Jean-Éric Tremblay, Mickael Vaïtilingom, Daniel Vaulot, Frédéric Vaultier, John K. Volkman, Huixiang Xie, Guangming Zheng, and Marcel Babin
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The MALINA oceanographic expedition was conducted in the Mackenzie River and the Beaufort Sea systems. The sampling was performed across seven shelf–basin transects to capture the meridional gradient between the estuary and the open ocean. The main goal of this research program was to better understand how processes such as primary production are influencing the fate of organic matter originating from the surrounding terrestrial landscape during its transition toward the Arctic Ocean.
Ove H. Meisel, Joshua F. Dean, Jorien E. Vonk, Lukas Wacker, Gert-Jan Reichart, and Han Dolman
Biogeosciences, 18, 2241–2258, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2241-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2241-2021, 2021
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Arctic permafrost lakes form thaw bulbs of unfrozen soil (taliks) beneath them where carbon degradation and greenhouse gas production are increased. We analyzed the stable carbon isotopes of Alaskan talik sediments and their porewater dissolved organic carbon and found that the top layers of these taliks are likely more actively degraded than the deeper layers. This in turn implies that these top layers are likely also more potent greenhouse gas producers than the underlying deeper layers.
Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Robert G. Striegl, Steven V. Kokelj, Justin Kokoszka, Cristian Estop-Aragonés, and David Olefeldt
Biogeosciences, 17, 5163–5182, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5163-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5163-2020, 2020
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High-latitude warming thaws permafrost, exposing minerals to weathering and fluvial transport. We studied the effects of abrupt thaw and associated weathering on carbon cycling in western Canada. Permafrost collapse affected < 1 % of the landscape yet enabled carbonate weathering associated with CO2 degassing in headwaters and increased bicarbonate export across watershed scales. Weathering may become a driver of carbon cycling in ice- and mineral-rich permafrost terrain across the Arctic.
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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.
Permafrost thaw-driven landslides in the western Arctic are increasing organic carbon delivered...
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