Premium
Significant Floodplain Soil Organic Carbon Storage Along a Large High‐Latitude River and its Tributaries
Author(s) -
Lininger K. B.,
Wohl E.,
Rose J. R.,
Leisz S. J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl080996
Subject(s) - permafrost , floodplain , tributary , environmental science , soil carbon , climate change , hydrology (agriculture) , total organic carbon , sediment , physical geography , geology , soil water , soil science , oceanography , geomorphology , geography , ecology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , biology
High‐latitude permafrost regions store large stocks of soil organic carbon (OC), which are vulnerable to climate warming. Estimates of subsurface carbon stocks do not take into account floodplains as unique landscape units that mediate and influence the delivery of materials into river networks. We estimate floodplain soil OC stocks within the active layer (seasonally thawed layer) and to a maximum depth of 1 m from a large field data set in the Yukon Flats region of interior Alaska. We compare our estimated stocks to a previously published data set and find that the OC stock estimate using our field data could be as much as 68% higher than the published data set. Radiocarbon measurements indicate that sediment and associated OC can be stored for thousands of years before erosion and transport. Our results indicate the importance of floodplains as areas of underestimated carbon storage, particularly because climate change may modify geomorphic processes in permafrost regions.