Vonk
Jorien E.
Vonk
Jorien E.
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ArticleMolecular and radiocarbon constraints on sources and degradation of terrestrial organic carbon along the Kolyma paleoriver transect, East Siberian Sea(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2010-10-14) Vonk, Jorien E. ; Sanchez-Garcia, L. ; Semiletov, Igor P. ; Dudarev, Oleg V. ; Eglinton, Timothy I. ; Andersson, August A. ; Gustafsson, OrjanClimate warming in northeastern Siberia may induce thaw-mobilization of the organic carbon (OC) now held in permafrost. This study investigated the composition of terrestrial OC exported to Arctic coastal waters to both obtain a natural integration of terrestrial permafrost OC release and to further understand the fate of released carbon in the extensive Siberian Shelf Seas. Application of a variety of elemental, molecular and isotopic (δ13C and Δ14C) analyses of both surface water suspended particulate matter and underlying surface sediments along a 500 km transect from Kolyma River mouth to the mid-shelf of the East Siberian Sea yielded information on the sources, degradation status and transport processes of thaw-mobilized soil OC. A three end-member dual-carbon-isotopic mixing model was applied to deduce the relative contributions from riverine, coastal erosion and marine sources. The mixing model was solved numerically using Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a fair representation of the uncertainties of both end-member composition and the end results. Riverine OC contributions to sediment OC decrease with increasing distance offshore (35±15 to 13±9%), whereas coastal erosion OC exhibits a constantly high contribution (51±11 to 60±12%) and marine OC increases offshore (9±7 to 36±10%). We attribute the remarkably strong imprint of OC from coastal erosion, extending up to ~500 km from the coast, to efficient offshoreward transport in these shallow waters presumably through both the benthic boundary layer and ice-rafting. There are also indications of simultaneous selective preservation of erosion OC compared to riverine OC. Molecular degradation proxies and radiocarbon contents indicated a degraded but young (Δ14C ca. −60‰ or ca. 500 14C years) terrestrial OC pool in surface water particulate matter, underlain by a less degraded but old (Δ14C ca. −500‰ or ca. 5500 14C years) terrestrial OC pool in bottom sediments. We suggest that the terrestrial OC fraction in surface water particulate matter is mainly derived from surface soil and recent vegetation fluvially released as buoyant organic-rich aggregates (e.g., humics), which are subjected to extensive processing during coastal transport. In contrast, terrestrial OC in the underlying sediments is postulated to originate predominantly from erosion of mineral-rich Pleistocene coasts (i.e., yedoma) and inland mineral soils. Sorptive association of this organic matter with mineral particles protects the OC from remineralization and also promotes rapid settling (ballasting) of the OC. Our findings corroborate recent studies by indicating that different Arctic surface soil OC pools exhibit distinguishing susceptibilities to degradation in coastal waters. Consequently, the general postulation of a positive feedback to global warming from degradation of permafrost carbon may be both attenuated (by reburial of one portion) and geographically displaced (degradation of released terrestrial permafrost OC far out over the Arctic shelf seas).
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ArticleMultimolecular tracers of terrestrial carbon transfer across the pan-Arctic : 14C characteristics of sedimentary carbon components and their environmental controls(John Wiley & Sons, 2015-11-02) Feng, Xiaojuan ; Gustafsson, Orjan ; Holmes, Robert M. ; Vonk, Jorien E. ; van Dongen, Bart E. ; Semiletov, Igor P. ; Dudarev, Oleg V. ; Yunker, Mark B. ; Macdonald, Robie W. ; Wacker, Lukas ; Montlucon, Daniel B. ; Eglinton, Timothy I.Distinguishing the sources, ages, and fate of various terrestrial organic carbon (OC) pools mobilized from heterogeneous Arctic landscapes is key to assessing climatic impacts on the fluvial release of carbon from permafrost. Through molecular 14C measurements, including novel analyses of suberin- and/or cutin-derived diacids (DAs) and hydroxy fatty acids (FAs), we compared the radiocarbon characteristics of a comprehensive suite of terrestrial markers (including plant wax lipids, cutin, suberin, lignin, and hydroxy phenols) in the sedimentary particles from nine major arctic and subarctic rivers in order to establish a benchmark assessment of the mobilization patterns of terrestrial OC pools across the pan-Arctic. Terrestrial lipids, including suberin-derived longer-chain DAs (C24,26,28), plant wax FAs (C24,26,28), and n-alkanes (C27,29,31), incorporated significant inputs of aged carbon, presumably from deeper soil horizons. Mobilization and translocation of these “old” terrestrial carbon components was dependent on nonlinear processes associated with permafrost distributions. By contrast, shorter-chain (C16,18) DAs and lignin phenols (as well as hydroxy phenols in rivers outside eastern Eurasian Arctic) were much more enriched in 14C, suggesting incorporation of relatively young carbon supplied by runoff processes from recent vegetation debris and surface layers. Furthermore, the radiocarbon content of terrestrial markers is heavily influenced by specific OC sources and degradation status. Overall, multitracer molecular 14C analysis sheds new light on the mobilization of terrestrial OC from arctic watersheds. Our findings of distinct ages for various terrestrial carbon components may aid in elucidating fate of different terrestrial OC pools in the face of increasing arctic permafrost thaw.
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ArticleBiomass offsets little or none of permafrost carbon release from soils, streams, and wildfire : an expert assessment(IOPScience, 2016-03-07) Abbott, Benjamin W. ; Jones, Jeremy B. ; Schuur, Edward A. G. ; Chapin, F. Stuart ; Bowden, William B. ; Bret-Harte, M. Syndonia ; Epstein, Howard E. ; Flannigan, Michael ; Harms, Tamara K. ; Hollingsworth, Teresa N. ; Mack, Michelle C. ; McGuire, A. David ; Natali, Susan M. ; Rocha, Adrian V. ; Tank, Suzanne E. ; Turetsky, Merritt R. ; Vonk, Jorien E. ; Wickland, Kimberly ; Aiken, George R. ; Alexander, Heather D. ; Amon, Rainer M. W. ; Benscoter, Brian ; Bergeron, Yves ; Bishop, Kevin ; Blarquez, Olivier ; Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin ; Breen, Amy L. ; Buffam, Ishi ; Cai, Yihua ; Carcaillet, Christopher ; Carey, Sean K. ; Chen, Jing M. ; Chen, Han Y. H. ; Christensen, Torben R. ; Cooper, Lee W. ; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C. ; de Groot, William J. ; DeLuca, Thomas Henry ; Dorrepaal, Ellen ; Fetcher, Ned ; Finlay, Jacques C. ; Forbes, Bruce C. ; French, Nancy H. F. ; Gauthier, Sylvie ; Girardin, Martin ; Goetz, Scott J. ; Goldammer, Johann G. ; Gough, Laura ; Grogan, Paul ; Guo, Laodong ; Higuera, Philip E. ; Hinzman, Larry ; Hu, Feng Sheng ; Hugelius, Gustaf ; JAFAROV, ELCHIN ; Jandt, Randi ; Johnstone, Jill F. ; Karlsson, Jan ; Kasischke, Eric S. ; Kattner, Gerhard ; Kelly, Ryan ; Keuper, Frida ; Kling, George W. ; Kortelainen, Pirkko ; Kouki, Jari ; Kuhry, Peter ; Laudon, Hjalmar ; Laurion, Isabelle ; Macdonald, Robie W. ; Mann, Paul J. ; Martikainen, Pertti ; McClelland, James W. ; Molau, Ulf ; Oberbauer, Steven F. ; Olefeldt, David ; Paré, David ; Parisien, Marc-André ; Payette, Serge ; Peng, Changhui ; Pokrovsky, Oleg ; Rastetter, Edward B. ; Raymond, Peter A. ; Raynolds, Martha K. ; Rein, Guillermo ; Reynolds, James F. ; Robards, Martin ; Rogers, Brendan ; Schädel, Christina ; Schaefer, Kevin ; Schmidt, Inger K. ; Shvidenko, Anatoly ; Sky, Jasper ; Spencer, Robert G. M. ; Starr, Gregory ; Striegl, Robert ; Teisserenc, Roman ; Tranvik, Lars J. ; Virtanen, Tarmo ; Welker, Jeffrey M. ; Zimov, Sergey A.As the permafrost region warms, its large organic carbon pool will be increasingly vulnerable to decomposition, combustion, and hydrologic export. Models predict that some portion of this release will be offset by increased production of Arctic and boreal biomass; however, the lack of robust estimates of net carbon balance increases the risk of further overshooting international emissions targets. Precise empirical or model-based assessments of the critical factors driving carbon balance are unlikely in the near future, so to address this gap, we present estimates from 98 permafrost-region experts of the response of biomass, wildfire, and hydrologic carbon flux to climate change. Results suggest that contrary to model projections, total permafrost-region biomass could decrease due to water stress and disturbance, factors that are not adequately incorporated in current models. Assessments indicate that end-of-the-century organic carbon release from Arctic rivers and collapsing coastlines could increase by 75% while carbon loss via burning could increase four-fold. Experts identified water balance, shifts in vegetation community, and permafrost degradation as the key sources of uncertainty in predicting future system response. In combination with previous findings, results suggest the permafrost region will become a carbon source to the atmosphere by 2100 regardless of warming scenario but that 65%–85% of permafrost carbon release can still be avoided if human emissions are actively reduced.
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ArticleMulti-molecular tracers of terrestrial carbon transfer across the pan-Arctic : comparison of hydrolyzable components with plant wax lipids and lignin phenols(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2015-08-15) Feng, Xiaojuan ; Gustafsson, Orjan ; Holmes, Robert M. ; Vonk, Jorien E. ; van Dongen, Bart E. ; Semiletov, Igor P. ; Dudarev, Oleg V. ; Yunker, Mark B. ; Macdonald, Robie W. ; Montlucon, Daniel B. ; Eglinton, Timothy I.Hydrolyzable organic carbon (OC) comprises a significant component of sedimentary particulate matter transferred from land into oceans via rivers. Its abundance and nature are however not well studied in Arctic river systems, and yet may represent an important pool of carbon whose fate remains unclear in the context of mobilization and related processes associated with a changing climate. Here, we examine the molecular composition and source of hydrolyzable compounds isolated from sedimentary particles derived from nine rivers across the pan-Arctic. Bound fatty acids (b-FAs), hydroxy FAs, n-alkane-α,ω-dioic acids (DAs) and phenols were the major components released upon hydrolysis of these sediments. Among them, b-FAs received considerable inputs from bacterial and/or algal sources, whereas ω-hydroxy FAs, mid-chain substituted acids, DAs, and hydrolyzable phenols were mainly derived from cutin and suberin of higher plants. We further compared the distribution and fate of suberin- and cutin-derived compounds with those of other terrestrial biomarkers (plant wax lipids and lignin phenols) from the same Arctic river sedimentary particles and conducted a benchmark assessment of several biomarker-based indicators of OC source and extent of degradation. While suberin-specific biomarkers were positively correlated with plant-derived high-molecular-weight (HMW) FAs, lignin phenols were correlated with cutin-derived compounds. These correlations suggest that, similar to leaf-derived cutin, lignin was mainly derived from litter and surface soil horizons, whereas suberin and HMW FAs incorporated significant inputs from belowground sources (roots and deeper soil). This conclusion is supported by the negative correlation between lignin phenols and the ratio of suberin-to-cutin biomarkers. Furthermore, the molecular composition of investigated biomarkers differed between Eurasian and North American Arctic rivers: while lignin dominated in the terrestrial OC of Eurasian river sediments, hydrolyzable OC represented a much larger fraction in the sedimentary particles from Colville River. Hence, studies exclusively focusing on either plant wax lipids or lignin phenols will not be able to fully unravel the mobilization and fate of bound OC in Arctic rivers. More comprehensive, multi-molecular investigations are needed to better constrain the land–ocean transfer of carbon in the changing Arctic, including further research on the degradation and transfer of both free and bound components in Arctic river sediments.
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ArticleBranched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in Arctic lake sediments : sources and implications for paleothermometry at high latitudes(John Wiley & Sons, 2014-08-29) Peterse, Francien ; Vonk, Jorien E. ; Holmes, Robert M. ; Giosan, Liviu ; Zimov, Nikita ; Eglinton, Timothy I.Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are analyzed in different lakes of the Mackenzie (Canadian Arctic) and Kolyma (Siberian Arctic) River basins to evaluate their sources and the implications for brGDGT-based paleothermometry in high-latitude lakes. The comparison of brGDGT distributions and concentrations in the lakes with those in river suspended particulate matter, riverbank sediments, and permafrost material indicates that brGDGTs in Arctic lake sediments have mixed sources. In contrast to global observations, distributional offsets between brGDGTs in Arctic lakes and elsewhere in the catchment are minor, likely due to the extreme seasonality and short window of biological production at high latitudes. Consequently, both soil- and lake-calibrated brGDGT-based temperature proxies return sensible temperature estimates, even though the mean air temperature (MAT) in the Arctic is below the calibration range. The original soil-calibrated MBT-CBT (methylation of branched tetraethers–cyclisation of branched tetraethers) proxy generates MATs similar to those in the studied river basins, whereas using the recently revised MBT′-CBT calibration overestimates MAT. The application of the two global lake calibrations, generating summer air temperatures (SAT) and MAT, respectively, illustrates the influence of seasonality on the production of brGDGTs in lakes, as the latter overestimates actual MAT, whereas the SAT-based lake calibration accounts for this influence and consequently returns more accurate temperatures. Our results in principle support the application of brGDGT-based temperature proxies in high-latitude lakes in order to obtain long-term paleotemperature records for the Arctic, although the calibration and associated transfer function have to be selected with care.
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ArticleRadium inputs into the Arctic Ocean from rivers a basin‐wide estimate(American Geophysical Union, 2022-09-08) Bullock, Emma J. ; Kipp, Lauren ; Moore, Willard S. ; Brown, Kristina A. ; Mann, Paul J. ; Vonk, Jorien E. ; Zimov, Nikita S. ; Charette, Matthew A.Radium isotopes have been used to trace nutrient, carbon, and trace metal fluxes inputs from ocean margins. However, these approaches require a full accounting of radium sources to the coastal ocean including rivers. Here, we aim to quantify river radium inputs into the Arctic Ocean for the first time for 226Ra and to refine the estimates for 228Ra. Using new and existing data, we find that the estimated combined (dissolved plus desorbed) annual 226Ra and 228Ra fluxes to the Arctic Ocean are [7.0–9.4] × 1014 dpm y−1 and [15–18] × 1014 dpm y−1, respectively. Of these totals, 44% and 60% of the river 226Ra and 228Ra, respectively are from suspended sediment desorption, which were estimated from laboratory incubation experiments. Using Ra isotope data from 20 major rivers around the world, we derived global annual 226Ra and 228Ra fluxes of [7.4–17] × 1015 and [15–27] × 1015 dpm y−1, respectively. As climate change spurs rapid Arctic warming, hydrological cycles are intensifying and coastal ice cover and permafrost are diminishing. These river radium inputs to the Arctic Ocean will serve as a valuable baseline as we attempt to understand the changes that warming temperatures are having on fluxes of biogeochemically important elements to the Arctic coastal zone.
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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.