Sundaland Peat Carbon Dynamics and Its Contribution to the Holocene Atmospheric CO2 Concentration

Abstract

The Sunda Shelf is a large submerged extension of the continental shelf of mainland Asia, joining the islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra and forming the shallow seabed of the South China Sea. Recent studies identified present‐day peatlands in Southeast Asia as a globally important carbon reservoir. However, little is known about Sundaland paleopeatlands and their role in the global carbon cycle since the Last Glacial Maximum. Using a topography‐based, sea level‐driven model, we estimate the potential spatial extent of peatlands during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene across the low‐lying Sundaland plains. We then use the estimated peatland area together with data on carbon accumulation rates to calculate the total peat carbon pool on the Sunda Shelf. Finally, using a global biogeochemical model, we analyze the relative influence of the predicted Sundaland peat dynamics and other carbon change mechanisms, specifically high‐latitude forest growth and peat formation, shallow sea carbonate deposition, ocean warming, and combinations of them, on the global carbon cycle of the Holocene. We identify a feedback mechanism between sea level and peatland carbon sequestration in Sundaland that reduced atmospheric CO2 concentration by about 4–5 ppm and increased δ13C by 0.05‰ during the Holocene. We also show that a concurrence of mechanisms that includes Sundaland peat dynamics produces model results that are consistent with proxy records, especially with respect to δ13C.