Evidence for preservation of organic carbon interacting with iron in material displaced from retrogressive thaw slumps: Case study in Peel Plateau, western Canadian Arctic

• Main Authors: Thomas, Maxime, Monhonval, Arthur, Hirst, Catherine, Bröder, Lisa, Zolkos, Scott, Vonk, Jorien E., Tank, Suzanne E., Keskitalo, Kirsi H., Shakil, Sarah, Kokelj, Steven V., van der Sluijs, Jurjen, Opfergelt, Sophie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: Mineral-organic carbon interactions; Retrogressive thaw slumps; Mass wasting; Peel Plateau; Iron; Arctic; Ice; permafrost; Thermokarst
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/608066; https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000608066

In northern high latitudes, rapid warming is set to amplify carbon-climate feedbacks by enhancing permafrost thaw and biogeochemical transformation of large amounts of soil organic carbon. However, between 30 % and 80 % of permafrost soil organic carbon is considered to be stabilized by geochemical interactions with the soil mineral pool and thus less susceptible to be emitted as greenhouse gases. Quantification of the nature of and controls on mineral-organic carbon interactions is needed to better constrain permafrost-carbon-climate feedbacks, particularly in ice-rich environments resulting in rapid thaw and development of thermokarst landforms. On sloping terrain, mass wasting features called retrogressive thaw slumps are amongst the most dynamic forms of thermokarst. These multi-decadal disturbances grow due to ablation of an ice-rich headwall, and their enlargement due to warming of the Arctic is mobilizing vast stores of previously frozen materials. Here, we investigate headwall profiles of seven retrogressive thaw slumps and sediments displaced from these mass wasting features from the Peel Plateau, western Canadian Arctic. The disturbances varied in their headwall height (2 to 25 m) and affected land surface area (<1 to > 30 ha). We present total and water extractable mineral element concentrations, mineralogy, and mineral-organic carbon interactions in the headwall layers (active layer, permafrost materials above an early Holocene thaw unconformity, and Pleistocene-aged permafrost tills) and in displaced material (suspended sediments in runoff and material accumulated on the debris tongue). Our data show that the main mechanism of organic carbon stabilization through mineral-organic carbon interactions within the headwall is the complexation with metals (mainly iron), which stabilizes 30 ± 15 % of the total organic carbon pool with higher concentrations in near-surface layers compared to deep permafrost. In the displaced material, this proportion drops to 18 ± 5 %. In addition, we estimate that up ...