Millennial-aged pyrogenic carbon in high-latitude mineral soils

Schiedung, M., Ascough, P. , Bellè, S.-L., Bird, M. I., Bröder, L., Haghipour, N., Hilton, R. G., Lattaud, J. and Abiven, S. (2024) Millennial-aged pyrogenic carbon in high-latitude mineral soils. Communications Earth and Environment, 5, 177. (doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01343-5)

Abstract

Wildfires in the Arctic are producing pyrogenic carbon as product of incomplete biomass combustion. The storage and distribution of pyrogenic carbon in soils is poorly known, especially in carbon rich permafrost-affected mineral soils. Here, we extracted pyrogenic carbon in mineral soils from eleven forest sites across the North Canadian permafrost regions by hydrogen pyrolysis. We found pyrogenic carbon with millennial-scale ages that were older in continuous (1960–12,690 calibrated years before present) than in discontinuous (510–3560 calibrated years before present) permafrost-affected soils. In all cases, pyrogenic carbon showed longer residence times compared to bulk soil organic carbon. The proportions of pyrogenic carbon on total soil organic carbon were consistent at 6.9 ± 0.5% of total soil organic carbon. Thus, pyrogenic carbon forms a significant component of the total soil organic carbon and climatic as well as soil factors control the long residence times of pyrogenic carbon in vulnerable high-latitude forest mineral soils.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project no. 200021_178768) and conducted under a Northwest Territories Scientific Research Licence (licence no. 16550).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ascough, Dr Philippa
• Authors: Schiedung, M., Ascough, P., Bellè, S.-L., Bird, M. I., Bröder, L., Haghipour, N., Hilton, R. G., Lattaud, J., and Abiven, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Communications Earth and Environment
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2662-4435
• ISSN (Online): 2662-4435
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Communications Earth and Environment 5:177
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license