Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska
Abstract Erosion of landscapes underlaid by permafrost can transform sediment and nutrient fluxes, surface and subsurface hydrology, soil properties, and rates of permafrost thaw, thus changing ecosystems and carbon emissions in high latitude regions with potential implications for global climate. H...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4a7868c411f14d1291dd32e42284c3e2 2023-05-15T14:55:43+02:00 Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska Eitan Shelef Melissa Griffore Sam Mark Tim Coleman Nick Wondolowski G. Everett Lasher Mark Abbott 2022-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002779 https://doaj.org/article/4a7868c411f14d1291dd32e42284c3e2 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002779 https://doaj.org/toc/2328-4277 2328-4277 doi:10.1029/2022EF002779 https://doaj.org/article/4a7868c411f14d1291dd32e42284c3e2 Earth's Future, Vol 10, Iss 8, Pp n/a-n/a (2022) permafrost erosion‐rate climate‐change vegetation temperature sediments Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002779 2022-12-30T23:39:43Z Abstract Erosion of landscapes underlaid by permafrost can transform sediment and nutrient fluxes, surface and subsurface hydrology, soil properties, and rates of permafrost thaw, thus changing ecosystems and carbon emissions in high latitude regions with potential implications for global climate. However, future rates of erosion and sediment transport are difficult to predict as they depend on complex interactions between climatic and environmental parameters such as temperature, precipitation, permafrost, vegetation, wildfires, and hydrology. Thus, despite the potential influence of erosion on the future of the Arctic and global systems, the relations between erosion‐rate and these parameters, as well as their relative importance, remain largely unquantified. Here we quantify these relations based on a sedimentary record from Burial Lake, Alaska, one of the richest datasets of Arctic lake deposits. We apply a set of bi‐ and multi‐variate techniques to explore the association between the flux of terrigenous sediments into the lake (a proxy for erosion‐rate) and a variety of biogeochemical sedimentary proxies for paleoclimatic and environmental conditions over the past 25 cal ka BP. Our results show that erosion‐rate is most strongly associated with temperature and vegetation proxies, and that erosion‐rate decreases with increased temperature, pollen‐counts, and abundance of pollen from shrubs and trees. Other proxies, such as those associated with fire frequency, aeolian dust supply, mass wasting and hydrologic conditions, play a secondary role. The marginal effects of the sedimentary‐proxies on erosion‐rate are often threshold dependent, highlighting the potential for strong non‐linear changes in erosion in response to future changes in Arctic conditions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change permafrost Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Arctic Lake ENVELOPE(-130.826,-130.826,57.231,57.231) Earth's Future 10 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost erosion‐rate climate‐change vegetation temperature sediments Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
permafrost erosion‐rate climate‐change vegetation temperature sediments Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 Eitan Shelef Melissa Griffore Sam Mark Tim Coleman Nick Wondolowski G. Everett Lasher Mark Abbott Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska |
topic_facet |
permafrost erosion‐rate climate‐change vegetation temperature sediments Environmental sciences GE1-350 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Abstract Erosion of landscapes underlaid by permafrost can transform sediment and nutrient fluxes, surface and subsurface hydrology, soil properties, and rates of permafrost thaw, thus changing ecosystems and carbon emissions in high latitude regions with potential implications for global climate. However, future rates of erosion and sediment transport are difficult to predict as they depend on complex interactions between climatic and environmental parameters such as temperature, precipitation, permafrost, vegetation, wildfires, and hydrology. Thus, despite the potential influence of erosion on the future of the Arctic and global systems, the relations between erosion‐rate and these parameters, as well as their relative importance, remain largely unquantified. Here we quantify these relations based on a sedimentary record from Burial Lake, Alaska, one of the richest datasets of Arctic lake deposits. We apply a set of bi‐ and multi‐variate techniques to explore the association between the flux of terrigenous sediments into the lake (a proxy for erosion‐rate) and a variety of biogeochemical sedimentary proxies for paleoclimatic and environmental conditions over the past 25 cal ka BP. Our results show that erosion‐rate is most strongly associated with temperature and vegetation proxies, and that erosion‐rate decreases with increased temperature, pollen‐counts, and abundance of pollen from shrubs and trees. Other proxies, such as those associated with fire frequency, aeolian dust supply, mass wasting and hydrologic conditions, play a secondary role. The marginal effects of the sedimentary‐proxies on erosion‐rate are often threshold dependent, highlighting the potential for strong non‐linear changes in erosion in response to future changes in Arctic conditions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eitan Shelef Melissa Griffore Sam Mark Tim Coleman Nick Wondolowski G. Everett Lasher Mark Abbott |
author_facet |
Eitan Shelef Melissa Griffore Sam Mark Tim Coleman Nick Wondolowski G. Everett Lasher Mark Abbott |
author_sort |
Eitan Shelef |
title |
Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska |
title_short |
Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska |
title_full |
Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of Erosion‐Rate in Permafrost Landscapes to Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions Based on Lake Sediments From Northwestern Alaska |
title_sort |
sensitivity of erosion‐rate in permafrost landscapes to changing climatic and environmental conditions based on lake sediments from northwestern alaska |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002779 https://doaj.org/article/4a7868c411f14d1291dd32e42284c3e2 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-130.826,-130.826,57.231,57.231) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Lake |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Lake |
genre |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Earth's Future, Vol 10, Iss 8, Pp n/a-n/a (2022) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002779 https://doaj.org/toc/2328-4277 2328-4277 doi:10.1029/2022EF002779 https://doaj.org/article/4a7868c411f14d1291dd32e42284c3e2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002779 |
container_title |
Earth's Future |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
8 |
_version_ |
1766327735670538240 |