Accumulation of Soil Organic Carbon Linked to Holocene Sea Level Changes in West Greenland

Jensen, Louise; Schmidt, Lea Bjerre; Hollesen, Jørgen; Elberling, Bo

doi:10.1657/1523-0430(2006)38[378:aosocl]2.0.co;2

Cited by 18 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Oechel et al (1997) reported a near fivefold reduction in C accumulation rates (6.7-1.2 g C m −2 yr −1 ) in a wet-sedge tundra soil at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska after 5000 cal yr bp. On Disko Island (W. Greenland), Jensen et al (2006) also found that C accumulation in soils was higher in the early Holocene and declined from 10 000 to 7000 cal yr bp (from 6.7 to 3.1 g C m −2 yr −1 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The higher rate derived from the Minnesota lakes likely reflect the higher productivity in this temperate midcontinental location, as well as more pronounced sed- Table 3. Total number of lakes in the study area (Figure 1) for given lake area ranges, cumulative lake areas and estimated regional annual C burden assuming a mean C burial of 42 kg C m −2 lake area C burial on land is also given and assumes a mean C soil content of 6.7 kgm -2 (see Jensen et al, 2006). * A burden of 20 kgCm -2 was used to estimate total C burden for this lake size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The retention time of the freshwater lakes, although not known specifically, is likely very long, because the outflows at most lakes do not flow during the summer (N. J. Anderson, field observations), thus outflow loss of C is minimal. Jensen et al (2006) estimated soil standing stocks (to a depth of 60 cm) on Disko Island (some 300 km further north than Søndre Strømfjord) to be 2.6±0.7 kg C m −2 for well-drained Cassiope-dominated heath and 8.4±2.4 kg C m −2 for wetter Salix-Betula dominated heaths, with a mean total OC burden of 6.7 kg C m −2 . These values are similar to those reported for sites from eastern Greenland and Svalbard (Elberling et al, 2004;Elberling, 2007) (6.4-10.5 kg C m −2 ) but less than those quoted for 'tundra' (21.6 kg C m −2 ; Schlesinger, 1997).…”

Section: Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To estimate terrestrial C pools, a mean C content for dwarf shrub tundra soils (6.7 kg C m −2 ) was taken from published estimates (Elberling et al, 2004;Jensen et al, 2006) and assumes a mean soil depth of 60 cm (see "Discussion"), which is probably an overly generous estimate given the thin soils in much of the study area (Böcher, 1949).…”

Section: Regional C-burial Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using an average total tundra soil content of 6.7 kg m −2 (Jensen et al, 2006), the estimated total terrestrial soil C burden in the Søn-dre Strømfjord region is 8.23 × 10 13 g C (Table 3). The implication is that the C content of the Søndre Strøm-fjord lakes is comparable to that buried on land but in only ~14% of the land area.…”

Section: Comparisons With the Terrestrial C Stocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene carbon burial by lakes in SW Greenland

Anderson

D'Andrea

Fritz

2009

Global Change Biology

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The role of the Arctic in future global change processes is predicted to be important because of the large carbon (C) stocks contained in frozen soils and peatlands. Lakes are an important component of arctic landscapes although their role in storing C is not well prescribed. The area around Kangerlussuaq, SW Greenland (66–68°N, 49–54°W) has extremely high lake density, with ∼20 000 lakes that cover about 14% of the land area. C accumulation rates and standing stock (kg C m−2), representing late‐ to mid‐Holocene C burial, were calculated from AMS 14C‐dated sediment cores from 11 lakes. Lake ages range from ∼10 000 cal yr bp to ∼5400 cal yr bp, and reflect the withdrawal of the ice sheet from west to east. Total standing stock of C accumulated in the studied lakes for the last ∼8000 years ranged from 28 to 71 kg C m−2, (mean: ∼42 kg C m−2). These standing stock determinations yield organic C accumulation rates of 3.5–11.5 g C m−2 yr−1 (mean: ∼6 g C m−2 yr−1) for the last 4500 years. Mean C accumulation rates are not different for the periods 8–4.5 and 4.5–0 ka, despite cooling trends associated with the neoglacial period after 4.5 ka. We used the mean C standing stock to estimate the total C pool in small lakes (<100 ha) of the Kangerlussuaq region to be ∼4.9 × 1013 g C. This C stock is about half of that estimated for the soil pool in this region (but in 5% of the land area) and indicates the importance of incorporating lakes into models of regional C balance at high latitudes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional C-burial Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Comparisons With the Terrestrial C Stocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene carbon burial by lakes in SW Greenland

Anderson

D'Andrea

Fritz

2009

Global Change Biology

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Regional and local scale variations in soil organic carbon stocks in West Greenland

Gries

Schmidt

Scholten

et al. 2020

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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The soil organic carbon (SOC) pool of the Northern Hemisphere contains about half of the global SOC stored in soils. As the Arctic is exceptionally sensitive to global warming, temperature rise and prolonged summer lead to deeper thawing of permafrost-affected soils and might contribute to increasing greenhouse gas emissions progressively. To assess the overall feedback of soil organic carbon stocks (SOCS) to global warming in permafrost-affected regions the spatial variation in SOCS at different environmental scales is of great interest. However, sparse and unequally distributed soil data sets at various scales in such regions result in highly uncertain estimations of SOCS of the Northern Hemisphere and here particularly in Greenland. The objectives of this study are to compare and evaluate three controlling factors for SOCS distribution (vegetation, landscape, aspect) at two different scales (local, regional). The regional scale reflects the different environmental conditions between the two study areas at the coast and the ice margin. On the local scale, characteristics of each controlling factor in form of defined units (vegetation units, landscape units, aspect units) are used to describe the variation in the SOCS over short distances within each study area, where the variation in SOCS is high. On a regional scale, we investigate the variation in SOCS by comparing the same units between the study areas. The results show for both study areas that SOCS are with 8 kg m -2 in the uppermost 25 cm and 16 kg m -2 in the first 100 cm of the soil, i.e., 3 to 6 kg m -2 (37.5%) higher than existing large scale estimations of SOCS in West Greenland. Our approach allows to rank the scale-dependent importance of the controlling factors within and between the study areas. However, vegetation and aspect better explain variations in SOCS than landscape units. Therefore, we recommend vegetation and aspect for determining the variation in SOCS in West Greenland on both scales.

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Region‐specific drivers cause low organic carbon stocks and sequestration rates in the saltmarsh soils of southern Scandinavia

Leiva‐Dueñas,

Graversen,

Banta

et al. 2024

Limnology & Oceanography

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Saltmarshes are known for their ability to act as effective sinks of organic carbon (OC) and their protection and restoration could potentially slow down the pace of global warming. However, regional estimates of saltmarsh OC storage are often missing, including for the Nordic region. To address this knowledge gap, we assessed OC storage and accumulation rates in 17 saltmarshes distributed along the Danish coasts and investigated the main drivers of soil OC storage. Danish saltmarshes store a median of 10 kg OC m−2 (interquartile range, IQR: 13.5–7.6) in the top meter and sequester 31.5 g OC m−2 yr−1 (IQR: 41.6–15.7). In a global context, these values are comparatively low. Soils with abundant clay (> 20%), older and stable saltmarshes in mesohaline settings, and with low proportion of algal organic material showed higher OC densities, stocks, and accumulation rates. Grazing led to significantly higher OC stocks than neighboring ungrazed locations, likely due to trampling modifying soil abiotic conditions (higher erosion‐resistance and higher clay content) that slow carbon decay. Scaling up, Danish saltmarsh soils, comprising about 1% of the country's area, have the potential to yearly capture up to 0.1% of Denmark's annual consumption‐based CO2 emissions. Our research expands the baseline data needed to advance blue carbon research and management in the Nordic region while highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to saltmarsh management that considers the full range of services of these ecosystems and does not only focus on climate benefits.

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Accumulation of Soil Organic Carbon Linked to Holocene Sea Level Changes in West Greenland

Cited by 18 publications

References 28 publications

Holocene carbon burial by lakes in SW Greenland

Holocene carbon burial by lakes in SW Greenland

Regional and local scale variations in soil organic carbon stocks in West Greenland

Region‐specific drivers cause low organic carbon stocks and sequestration rates in the saltmarsh soils of southern Scandinavia

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