Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic
Abstract The Canadian Arctic is warming at an unprecedented rate. Warming-induced permafrost thaw can lead to mobilization of aged carbon from stores in soils and rocks. Tracking the carbon pools supplied to surrounding river networks provides insight on pathways and processes of greenhouse gas rele...
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2024
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134 2024-09-15T18:18:12+00:00 Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic Dasari, Sanjeev Garnett, Mark H Hilton, Robert G Romanowicz, Barbara Aurora Research Institute Inuvik Gwich’in Tribal Council 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134 https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134/57118258/pgae134.pdf https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article-pdf/3/4/pgae134/57336393/pgae134.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PNAS Nexus volume 3, issue 4 ISSN 2752-6542 journal-article 2024 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134 2024-07-15T04:24:05Z Abstract The Canadian Arctic is warming at an unprecedented rate. Warming-induced permafrost thaw can lead to mobilization of aged carbon from stores in soils and rocks. Tracking the carbon pools supplied to surrounding river networks provides insight on pathways and processes of greenhouse gas release. Here, we investigated the dual-carbon isotopic characteristics of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) pool in the main stem and tributaries of the Mackenzie River system. The radiocarbon (14C) activity of DIC shows export of “old” carbon (2,380 ± 1,040 14C years BP on average) occurred during summer in sampling years. The stable isotope composition of river DIC implicates degassing of aged carbon as CO2 from riverine tributaries during transport to the delta; however, information on potential drivers and fluxes are still lacking. Accounting for stable isotope fractionation during CO2 loss, we show that a large proportion of this aged carbon (60 ± 10%) may have been sourced from biospheric organic carbon oxidation, with other inputs from carbonate weathering pathways and atmospheric exchange. The findings highlight hydrologically connected waters as viable pathways for mobilization of aged carbon pools from Arctic permafrost soils. Article in Journal/Newspaper Mackenzie river permafrost Oxford University Press PNAS Nexus 3 4 |
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Open Polar |
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Oxford University Press |
op_collection_id |
croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The Canadian Arctic is warming at an unprecedented rate. Warming-induced permafrost thaw can lead to mobilization of aged carbon from stores in soils and rocks. Tracking the carbon pools supplied to surrounding river networks provides insight on pathways and processes of greenhouse gas release. Here, we investigated the dual-carbon isotopic characteristics of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) pool in the main stem and tributaries of the Mackenzie River system. The radiocarbon (14C) activity of DIC shows export of “old” carbon (2,380 ± 1,040 14C years BP on average) occurred during summer in sampling years. The stable isotope composition of river DIC implicates degassing of aged carbon as CO2 from riverine tributaries during transport to the delta; however, information on potential drivers and fluxes are still lacking. Accounting for stable isotope fractionation during CO2 loss, we show that a large proportion of this aged carbon (60 ± 10%) may have been sourced from biospheric organic carbon oxidation, with other inputs from carbonate weathering pathways and atmospheric exchange. The findings highlight hydrologically connected waters as viable pathways for mobilization of aged carbon pools from Arctic permafrost soils. |
author2 |
Romanowicz, Barbara Aurora Research Institute Inuvik Gwich’in Tribal Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dasari, Sanjeev Garnett, Mark H Hilton, Robert G |
spellingShingle |
Dasari, Sanjeev Garnett, Mark H Hilton, Robert G Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic |
author_facet |
Dasari, Sanjeev Garnett, Mark H Hilton, Robert G |
author_sort |
Dasari, Sanjeev |
title |
Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic |
title_short |
Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic |
title_full |
Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the Canadian Arctic |
title_sort |
leakage of old carbon dioxide from a major river system in the canadian arctic |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134 https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134/57118258/pgae134.pdf https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article-pdf/3/4/pgae134/57336393/pgae134.pdf |
genre |
Mackenzie river permafrost |
genre_facet |
Mackenzie river permafrost |
op_source |
PNAS Nexus volume 3, issue 4 ISSN 2752-6542 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae134 |
container_title |
PNAS Nexus |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
4 |
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1810456318381654016 |