Soil organic matter and stable carbon isotopes in surficial permafrost on Herschel Island, Yukon Territories, Canada

• Main Author: Baltruschat, Stefan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Herschel; Herschel Island; Ice; permafrost; Tundra; Yukon
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/39021/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/39021/1/Bachelorthesis_Baltruscht.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.46246; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.46246.d001

Organic matter in soils of northern high latitudes show a high lability to recent permafrost thaw. Mobilisation and release of soil organic matter (SOM) in permafrost areas might have a significant impact on the carbon and nitrogen flux into the marine environment and in the atmosphere which motivated scientists in the past to quantify carbon and nitrogen stocks. However, the determination of environmental factors and their influences to SOM storage still need to be investigated more accurately. This thesis seeks to contribute to an improvement of this issue. This study investigates the SOM in the active layer and surficial permafrost on Herschel Island in the western Canadian Arctic. It evaluates the preservation and degradation status of SOM in relation to different landscape phenomena. To reach this goal, soil moisture, total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents were analysed on 128 samples from twelve sediment cores. The stable carbon isotope (∂¹³C) composition on organic carbon and TOC/TN ratios (C/N) were determined. Drilling locations were chosen based on of morphology, vegetation and soil properties and supported by satellite imagery and air photos which classify the surface of Herschel Island into seven ecological units. Regression analyses and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to work out possible correlations and significant differences between environmental factors. Seasonal thaw depths (active layer depths) increase with disturbance and a decreasing vegetation cover and show depths between 20 and 100 cm. Results on organic matter show that consistently wellpreserved SOM is accumulated in the active layer and subjacent ice-rich permafrost of depressional polygonal tundra. Waterlogging leads to reduced organic matter decomposition and an enrichment of the TOC and TN content characterising depressional polygonal tundra as a peatland environment. Upland plateaus, gently rolling terrain and alluvial fans represent more than 50 % of the island and show heterogeneous SOM storage ...