Warming and monsoonal climate lead to large export of millennial-aged carbon from permafrost catchments of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ...

• Main Authors: Song, Chunlin, Wang, Genxu, Haghipour, Negar, Raymond, Peter A.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2020
• Subjects: Riverine carbon export; Radiocarbon; Stable carbon isotope; Permafrost; Qinghai-Tibet Plateau river; Climate warming; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000427814; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/427814

Permafrost carbon pool destabilization causes substantial fluvial export of soil carbon, yet the export patterns and magnitudes are not well understood. Here we investigated the radiocarbon (14C) in dissolved organic and inorganic carbon (DOC and DIC, respectively) exported from a mid-sized river in the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) permafrost region. We utilized the radiocarbon dating technique to reveal the ages of riverine dissolved carbon and a statistical model to partition the riverine carbon from different age categories. DOC and DIC showed bomb-depleted 14C signatures corresponding to millennial ages. Seasonally, 14C-depleted DOC and DIC ages were associated with active layer thaw and flow path deepening. Spatially, older DOC and DIC were found in the valley sites correlated with warmer permafrost and higher groundwater flow. Further, isotopic mixing models suggested that 83 ± 27% of riverine DOC was derived from active layer and permafrost layer aged carbon. DIC export was comprised of a ... : Environmental Research Letters, 15 (7) ...