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ArticleArctic deltaic lake sediments as recorders of fluvial organic matter deposition(Frontiers Media, 2016-08-17) Vonk, Jorien E. ; Dickens, Angela F. ; Giosan, Liviu ; Hussain, Zainab A. ; Kim, Bokyung ; Zipper, Samuel C. ; Holmes, Robert M. ; Montlucon, Daniel B. ; Galy, Valier ; Eglinton, Timothy I.Arctic deltas are dynamic and vulnerable regions that play a key role in land-ocean interactions and the global carbon cycle. Delta lakes may provide valuable historical records of the quality and quantity of fluvial fluxes, parameters that are challenging to investigate in these remote regions. Here we study lakes from across the Mackenzie Delta, Arctic Canada, that receive fluvial sediments from the Mackenzie River when spring flood water levels rise above natural levees. We compare downcore lake sediments with suspended sediments collected during the spring flood, using bulk (% organic carbon, % total nitrogen, δ13C, Δ14C) and molecular organic geochemistry (lignin, leaf waxes). High-resolution age models (137Cs, 210Pb) of downcore lake sediment records (n = 11) along with lamina counting on high-resolution radiographs show sediment deposition frequencies ranging between annually to every 15 years. Down-core geochemical variability in a representative delta lake sediment core is consistent with historical variability in spring flood hydrology (variability in peak discharge, ice jamming, peak water levels). Comparison with earlier published Mackenzie River depth profiles shows that (i) lake sediments reflect the riverine surface suspended load, and (ii) hydrodynamic sorting patterns related to spring flood characteristics are reflected in the lake sediments. Bulk and molecular geochemistry of suspended particulate matter from the spring flood peak and lake sediments are relatively similar showing a mixture of modern higher-plant derived material, older terrestrial permafrost material, and old rock-derived material. This suggests that deltaic lake sedimentary records hold great promise as recorders of past (century-scale) riverine fluxes and may prove instrumental in shedding light on past behavior of arctic rivers, as well as how they respond to a changing climate.
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ArticleInfluence of hydraulic connectivity on carbon burial efficiency in Mackenzie Delta lake sediments(American Geophysical Union, 2021-02-02) Lattaud, Julie ; Bröder, Lisa ; Haghipour, Negar ; Rickli, Joerg ; Giosan, Liviu ; Eglinton, Timothy I.The Arctic is undergoing accelerated changes in response to ongoing modifications to the climate system, and there is a need for local to regional scale records of past climate variability in order to put these changes into context. The Mackenzie Delta region in northern Canada is populated by numerous small shallow lakes. They are classified as no-, low-, and high-closure (NC, LC, and HC, respectively) lakes, reflecting varying degrees of connection to the river main stem, and have different sedimentation characteristics. This study examines sedimentological (mineral surface area, grain size), carbon isotopic (bulk and molecular-level) and inorganic isotopic (neodymium) characteristics of sediment cores from three lakes representing each class. We find that HC lake sediments exhibit strikingly different properties from the other lake sediments. Specifically, they are characterized by higher organic carbon loadings per unit mineral surface area and with relatively minor influence from allochthonous, petrogenic (rock-derived) organic carbon. In contrast, LC and NC lakes have the potential to record basin-scale climatic changes at a high resolution by virtue of enhanced detrital sedimentation. Overall the delta lakes have the capacity to bury about 2 MtC year−1, with little changes in the last 200 years. However, in the (near) future, an increased number of high closure lakes might change the carbon burial efficiency of the Mackenzie Delta as they seem to retain less carbon than NC and LC lakes.