Sub-Surface Carbon Stocks in Northern Taiga Landscapes Exposed in the Batagay Megaslump, Yana Upland, Yakutia

Andrei G Shepelev,Igor Syromyatnikov,Grigoriy Savvinov,Alexandra Cherepanova,Alexander Fedorov,Sebastian Wetterich,Alexander Kizyakov

doi:10.3390/land9090305

Abstract

The most massive and fast-eroding thaw slump of the Northern Hemisphere located in the Yana Uplands of Northern Yakutia was investigated to assess in detail the cryogenic inventory and carbon pools of two distinctive Ice Complex stratigraphic units and the uppermost cover deposits. Differentiating into modern and Holocene near-surface layers (active layer and shielding layer), highest total carbon contents were found in the active layer (18.72 kg m−2), while the shielding layer yielded a much lower carbon content of 1.81 kg m−2. The late Pleistocene upper Ice Complex contained 10.34 kg m−2 total carbon, and the mid-Pleistocene lower Ice Complex 17.66 kg m−2. The proportion of organic carbon from total carbon content is well above 70% in all studied units with 94% in the active layer, 73% in the shielding layer, 83% in the upper Ice Complex and 79% in the lower Ice Complex. Inorganic carbon is low in the overall structure of the deposits.

Highlights

Pioneering fieldwork in the Batagay megaslump to study its cryogenic inventory and origin was undertaken in 2011 [1]
In Yedoma deposits, carbon stocks are at a low level, which is typical of Northern Yakutia
The potential for the formation of organic matter in the local natural conditions of the Yana Upland is limited by climatic features and primary production of the forest

Summary

Introduction

Pioneering fieldwork in the Batagay megaslump to study its cryogenic inventory and origin was undertaken in 2011 [1]. The prominent ice-rich Ice Complex units and ice-poor sand units as well as enclosed ground ice exposed in the Batagay megaslump accumulated during the Pleistocene under the continental conditions of the non-glaciated region of eastern Siberia belonging to the western part of Beringia [1]. The Batagay megaslump and its exposed permafrost are increasingly studied by various disciplines to assess its modern morphodynamics such as erosion rates and budgets [2,3] or the behavior of living microorganisms inside the frozen zone [4]. Deal with the Quaternary frozen deposits, the fossil inventory and ground ice. Based on current cryolithological research and various dating approaches the permafrost exposed in the Batagay megaslump differentiates into the following seven units [1,5,6] starting from the slump.

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