Contrasting Export of Particulate Organic Carbon From Greenlandic Glacial and Nonglacial Streams

L. Bröder; C. Hirst; S. Opfergelt; M. Thomas; J. E. Vonk; N. Haghipour; T. I. Eglinton; J. Fouché

doi:10.1029/2022GL101210

Contrasting Export of Particulate Organic Carbon From Greenlandic Glacial and Nonglacial Streams

L. Bröder^*
, C. Hirst
, S. Opfergelt
, M. Thomas
, J. E. Vonk
, N. Haghipour
, T. I. Eglinton
, J. Fouché

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

On-going shrinkage of Greenland's icecap, permafrost thaw, and changes in precipitation are exposing its landscapes to erosion and remobilization of ancient organic carbon (OC) held in soils and sedimentary rocks. The fate of this OC and potential feedbacks to climate are still unclear. Here, we show that the glacial Zackenberg river (Northeastern Greenland) exports aged particulate OC (POC, uncalibrated radiocarbon ages of ∼4,000 years). Many of the smaller periglacial streams affected by abrupt permafrost thaw transport substantially older POC (up to 32,000 years), especially with enhanced discharge following intense precipitation. Mineralogical analysis, and density and size fractionation of soils and both glacial and nonglacial river sediments reveal that OC is largely associated with phyllosilicate minerals, suggesting stabilization against microbial processing. Enhanced export of ancient, mineral-associated OC as a consequence of summer rainfall may accelerate translocation of OC from terrestrial to marine environments, but could have limited consequences for climate.

Original language	English
Article number	e2022GL101210
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	49
Issue number	21
Early online date	31 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101210
Publication status	Published - 16 Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to express our gratitude to the staff at Zackenberg Research Station and operators of the GEM database. We also wish to acknowledge the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics for support of the AMS C measurements. The authors received funding for the field campaign from INTERACT under the European Union H2020 Grant 871120 to L.B. Further funding for this work came from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Starting Grant, WeThaw, Grant 714617) to S.O. and (ERC Starting Grant, Thawsome, Grant 676982) to J.V. Last but not least, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript. 14

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.

Funding

We would like to express our gratitude to the staff at Zackenberg Research Station and operators of the GEM database. We also wish to acknowledge the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics for support of the AMS C measurements. The authors received funding for the field campaign from INTERACT under the European Union H2020 Grant 871120 to L.B. Further funding for this work came from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Starting Grant, WeThaw, Grant 714617) to S.O. and (ERC Starting Grant, Thawsome, Grant 676982) to J.V. Last but not least, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript. 14

Funders	Funder number
European Union H2020
European Research Council
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	871120
Horizon 2020	714617, 676982

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

glacier
Greenland
particulate organic carbon
permafrost
radiocarbon
stream

Access to Document

10.1029/2022GL101210

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Cite this

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title = "Contrasting Export of Particulate Organic Carbon From Greenlandic Glacial and Nonglacial Streams",

abstract = "On-going shrinkage of Greenland's icecap, permafrost thaw, and changes in precipitation are exposing its landscapes to erosion and remobilization of ancient organic carbon (OC) held in soils and sedimentary rocks. The fate of this OC and potential feedbacks to climate are still unclear. Here, we show that the glacial Zackenberg river (Northeastern Greenland) exports aged particulate OC (POC, uncalibrated radiocarbon ages of ∼4,000 years). Many of the smaller periglacial streams affected by abrupt permafrost thaw transport substantially older POC (up to 32,000 years), especially with enhanced discharge following intense precipitation. Mineralogical analysis, and density and size fractionation of soils and both glacial and nonglacial river sediments reveal that OC is largely associated with phyllosilicate minerals, suggesting stabilization against microbial processing. Enhanced export of ancient, mineral-associated OC as a consequence of summer rainfall may accelerate translocation of OC from terrestrial to marine environments, but could have limited consequences for climate.",

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note = "Funding Information: We would like to express our gratitude to the staff at Zackenberg Research Station and operators of the GEM database. We also wish to acknowledge the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics for support of the AMS C measurements. The authors received funding for the field campaign from INTERACT under the European Union H2020 Grant 871120 to L.B. Further funding for this work came from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Starting Grant, WeThaw, Grant 714617) to S.O. and (ERC Starting Grant, Thawsome, Grant 676982) to J.V. Last but not least, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript. 14 Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022. The Authors.",

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AU - Bröder, L.

AU - Hirst, C.

AU - Opfergelt, S.

AU - Thomas, M.

AU - Vonk, J. E.

AU - Haghipour, N.

AU - Eglinton, T. I.

AU - Fouché, J.

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to express our gratitude to the staff at Zackenberg Research Station and operators of the GEM database. We also wish to acknowledge the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics for support of the AMS C measurements. The authors received funding for the field campaign from INTERACT under the European Union H2020 Grant 871120 to L.B. Further funding for this work came from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Starting Grant, WeThaw, Grant 714617) to S.O. and (ERC Starting Grant, Thawsome, Grant 676982) to J.V. Last but not least, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript. 14 Publisher Copyright: © 2022. The Authors.

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N2 - On-going shrinkage of Greenland's icecap, permafrost thaw, and changes in precipitation are exposing its landscapes to erosion and remobilization of ancient organic carbon (OC) held in soils and sedimentary rocks. The fate of this OC and potential feedbacks to climate are still unclear. Here, we show that the glacial Zackenberg river (Northeastern Greenland) exports aged particulate OC (POC, uncalibrated radiocarbon ages of ∼4,000 years). Many of the smaller periglacial streams affected by abrupt permafrost thaw transport substantially older POC (up to 32,000 years), especially with enhanced discharge following intense precipitation. Mineralogical analysis, and density and size fractionation of soils and both glacial and nonglacial river sediments reveal that OC is largely associated with phyllosilicate minerals, suggesting stabilization against microbial processing. Enhanced export of ancient, mineral-associated OC as a consequence of summer rainfall may accelerate translocation of OC from terrestrial to marine environments, but could have limited consequences for climate.

AB - On-going shrinkage of Greenland's icecap, permafrost thaw, and changes in precipitation are exposing its landscapes to erosion and remobilization of ancient organic carbon (OC) held in soils and sedimentary rocks. The fate of this OC and potential feedbacks to climate are still unclear. Here, we show that the glacial Zackenberg river (Northeastern Greenland) exports aged particulate OC (POC, uncalibrated radiocarbon ages of ∼4,000 years). Many of the smaller periglacial streams affected by abrupt permafrost thaw transport substantially older POC (up to 32,000 years), especially with enhanced discharge following intense precipitation. Mineralogical analysis, and density and size fractionation of soils and both glacial and nonglacial river sediments reveal that OC is largely associated with phyllosilicate minerals, suggesting stabilization against microbial processing. Enhanced export of ancient, mineral-associated OC as a consequence of summer rainfall may accelerate translocation of OC from terrestrial to marine environments, but could have limited consequences for climate.

KW - glacier

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KW - particulate organic carbon

KW - permafrost

KW - radiocarbon

KW - stream

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ER -

Contrasting Export of Particulate Organic Carbon From Greenlandic Glacial and Nonglacial Streams

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this