Abstract
AbstractWildfires in the Arctic are producing pyrogenic carbon as product of incomplete biomass combustion. The storage and distribution of pyrogenic carbon in soils is poorly known, especially in carbon rich permafrost-affected mineral soils. Here, we extracted pyrogenic carbon in mineral soils from eleven forest sites across the North Canadian permafrost regions by hydrogen pyrolysis. We found pyrogenic carbon with millennial-scale ages that were older in continuous (1960–12,690 calibrated years before present) than in discontinuous (510–3560 calibrated years before present) permafrost-affected soils. In all cases, pyrogenic carbon showed longer residence times compared to bulk soil organic carbon. The proportions of pyrogenic carbon on total soil organic carbon were consistent at 6.9 ± 0.5% of total soil organic carbon. Thus, pyrogenic carbon forms a significant component of the total soil organic carbon and climatic as well as soil factors control the long residence times of pyrogenic carbon in vulnerable high-latitude forest mineral soils.
Funder
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference91 articles.
1. Reisser, M., Purves, R. S., Schmidt, M. W. I. & Abiven, S. Pyrogenic carbon in soils: a literature-based inventory and a global estimation of its content in soil organic carbon and stocks. Front. Earth Sci. 4, 1–14 (2016).
2. Santín, C. et al. Towards a global assessment of pyrogenic carbon from vegetation fires. Glob. Change Biol. 22, 76–91 (2016).
3. Bird, M. I. et al. The pyrogenic carbon cycle. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 43, 273–298 (2015).
4. IPCC. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds. Masson-Delmotte V. et al.) (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
5. Turetsky, M. R. et al. Recent acceleration of biomass burning and carbon losses in Alaskan forests and peatlands. Nat. Geosci. 4, 27–31 (2011).