Abstract
The land surface in front of the Skaftafellsj?kull in southern Iceland, exposed by ice recession commencing about the start of the twentieth century, constitutes a foreland with a maximum age of about 100 years and a more distal outwash plain. The ages of different surfaces within this sequence are constrained by moraines of known or estimated ages. Across this chronosequence, we measured at various sites the extent of floral coverage of the surface, the soil carbon and nitrogen contents of the substrate and the soil CO2 flux rate. All measured parameters exhibit values increasing with distance from the ice front, which correlates approximately with age. The strongest correlations are seen between distance and the carbon and nitrogen concentrations of the soil. Marked horizonation of the soil is observed only on the oldest surfaces (100+ years).
Highlights
Current concerns with climate change often focus on the carbon cycle, and the various sources and sinks of carbon exchangeable on short time scales
We measured at various sites the extent of floral coverage of the surface, the soil carbon and nitrogen contents of the substrate and the soil CO2 flux rate
Our investigation demonstrates a general trend of increasing plant cover, soil carbon, soil nitrogen and soil CO2 flux with increasing distance from the glacier, which approximates the age of the chronosequence surface, with substantial variations among sample locations along each sample line (Table 1, Figure 2)
Summary
Current concerns with climate change often focus on the carbon cycle, and the various sources and sinks of carbon exchangeable on short (decadal) time scales. To this end, various studies have attempted to quantify the reservoirs and fluxes of carbon from both marine and continental reservoirs [1]. 760 Gt·C and the estimated 1600 Gt·C stored in soils and marine sediments [2] The carbon in these reservoirs is rapidly exchangeable, with an annual flux of roughly 60 Gt from the atmosphere to the biosphere (by photosynthesis) and approximately the same amount returned via respiration, decay and fermentation. As described in Callaghan and others [5], the response of arctic and subarctic ecosystems to climate change (e.g., changes in primary production) will depend on the response of microbial decomposers to temperature change and litter and water availability
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