Editorial: Organic carbon pools in permafrost regions on the Qinghai–Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau

The current Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database did not include organic carbon storage in permafrost regions on the Qinghai–Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau (QXP). In this study, we reported a new estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools in the permafrost regions on the QXP up to 25 m depth using...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: C. Mu, T. Zhang, Q. Wu, X. Peng, B. Cao, X. Zhang, G. Cheng
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2015
Subjects:
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
Arctic
permafrost
The Cryosphere
Thermokarst
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-479-2015
https://doaj.org/article/0fe0af1180544daeaf08ed71d17f3a4c
Description
Summary:The current Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database did not include organic carbon storage in permafrost regions on the Qinghai–Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau (QXP). In this study, we reported a new estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools in the permafrost regions on the QXP up to 25 m depth using a total of 190 soil profiles. The SOC pools were estimated to be 17.3 ± 5.3 Pg for the 0–1 m depth, 10.6 ± 2.7 Pg for the 1–2 m depth, 5.1 ± 1.4 Pg for the 2–3 m depth and 127.2 ± 37.3 Pg for the layer of 3–25 m depth. The percentage of SOC storage in deep layers (3–25 m) on the QXP (80%) was higher than that (39%) in the yedoma and thermokarst deposits in arctic regions. In total, permafrost regions on the QXP contain approximately 160 ± 87 Pg SOC, of which approximately 132 ± 77 Pg (83%) stores in perennially frozen soils and deposits. Total organic carbon pools in permafrost regions on the QXP was approximately 8.7% of that in northern circumpolar permafrost region. The present study demonstrates that the total organic carbon storage is about 1832 Pg in permafrost regions on northern hemisphere.

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