skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A shift of thermokarst lakes from carbon sources to sinks during the Holocene epoch

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13560· OSTI ID:1776462
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [6];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States)
  2. Russian Academy of Sciences, Cherskii (Russia)
  3. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); US Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States)
  5. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
  6. Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg (Germany)
  7. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Thermokarst lakes formed across vast regions of Siberia and Alaska during the last deglaciation and are thought to be a net source of atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide during the Holocene epoch. However, the same thermokarst lakes can also sequester carbon, and it remains uncertain whether carbon uptake by thermokarst lakes can offset their greenhouse gas emissions. Here we use field observations of Siberian permafrost exposures, radiocarbon dating and spatial analyses to quantify Holocene carbon stocks and fluxes in lake sediments overlying thawed Pleistocene-aged permafrost. We find that carbon accumulation in deep thermokarst-lake sediments since the last deglaciation is about 1.6 times larger than the mass of Pleistocene-aged permafrost carbon released as greenhouse gases when the lakes first formed. Although methane and carbon dioxide emissions following thaw lead to immediate radiative warming, carbon uptake in peat-rich sediments occurs over millennial timescales. We assess thermokarst-lake carbon feedbacks to climate with an atmospheric perturbation model and find that thermokarst basins switched from a net radiative warming to a net cooling climate effect about 5,000 years ago. High rates of Holocene carbon accumulation in 20 lake sediments (47 ± 10 grams of carbon per square metre per year; mean ± standard error) were driven by thermokarst erosion and deposition of terrestrial organic matter, by nutrient release from thawing permafrost that stimulated lake productivity and by slow decomposition in cold, anoxic lake bottoms. When lakes eventually drained, permafrost formation rapidly sequestered sediment carbon. Furthermore, our estimate of about 160 petagrams of Holocene organic carbon in deep lake basins of Siberia and Alaska increases the circumpolar peat carbon pool estimate for permafrost regions by over 50 per cent. The carbon in perennially frozen drained lake sediments may become vulnerable to mineralization as permafrost disappears, potentially negating the climate stabilization provided by thermokarst lakes during the late Holocene.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010580
OSTI ID:
1776462
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Vol. 511, Issue 7510; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (57)

Methane bubbling from Siberian thaw lakes as a positive feedback to climate warming journal September 2006
Thermokarst Lakes as a Source of Atmospheric CH 4 During the Last Deglaciation journal October 2007
14CH4 Measurements in Greenland Ice: Investigating Last Glacial Termination CH4 Sources journal April 2009
Using the deuterium isotope composition of permafrost meltwater to constrain thermokarst lake contributions to atmospheric CH 4 during the last deglaciation journal February 2012
Fossil organic matter characteristics in permafrost deposits of the northeast Siberian Arctic journal January 2011
Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region: SOIL ORGANIC CARBON POOLS journal June 2009
Carbon dynamics in peatlands and other wetland soils regional and global perspectives journal September 1993
Reduction in areal extent of high-latitude wetlands in response to permafrost thaw journal June 2011
Diagnosing Present and Future Permafrost from Climate Models journal August 2013
CLIMATE CHANGE: Permafrost and the Global Carbon Budget journal June 2006
The deep permafrost carbon pool of the Yedoma region in Siberia and Alaska: DEEP CARBON OF SIBERIA AND ALASKA journal December 2013
Holocene radiative forcing impact of northern peatland carbon accumulation and methane emissions journal May 2007
The Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database: spatially distributed datasets of soil coverage and soil carbon storage in the northern permafrost regions journal January 2013
Siberian Peatlands a Net Carbon Sink and Global Methane Source Since the Early Holocene journal January 2004
Long-term carbon burial in European lakes: Analysis and estimate: CARBON BURIAL IN EUROPEAN LAKES journal September 2011
Lakes and reservoirs as regulators of carbon cycling and climate journal November 2009
Relative impacts of disturbance and temperature: persistent changes in microenvironment and vegetation in retrogressive thaw slumps journal July 2009
Benthic Photosynthesis and Respiration in Char Lake journal May 1974
Growth Rate of an Aquatic Bryophyte (Warnstorfia fluitans (Hedw.) Loeske) from a High Arctic Lake: Effect of Nutrient Concentration journal March 2010
Long-term effects of PO4 fertilization on the distribution of bryophytes in an arctic river journal October 1994
Effects of retrogressive permafrost thaw slumping on sediment chemistry and submerged macrophytes in Arctic tundra lakes journal June 2010
Effects of Predatory Sculpin on the Chironomid Communities in an Arctic Lake journal August 1985
Water color affects the stratification, surface temperature, heat content, and mean epilimnetic irradiance of small lakes journal November 2006
Thermal state of permafrost in Russia journal April 2010
Speleothems Reveal 500,000-Year History of Siberian Permafrost journal February 2013
A first pan-Arctic assessment of the influence of glaciation, permafrost, topography and peatlands on northern hemisphere lake distribution journal January 2007
Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years journal January 1991
Constraining spatial variability of methane ebullition seeps in thermokarst lakes using point process models: THERMOKARST LAKE METHANE EBULLITION journal July 2013
Thermokarst in Siberia and Its Influence on the Development of Lowland Relief journal September 1970
Thermokarst as a short-term permafrost disturbance, Central Yakutia journal January 2004
Long-term C accumulation and total C stocks in boreal lakes in northern Québec: C TOTAL STOCKS IN BOREAL LAKES IN QUÉBEC journal October 2012
A whole-basin, mass-balance approach to paleolimnology journal January 2013
Land-use change, not climate, controls organic carbon burial in lakes journal October 2013
A Simple Titrimetric Method for Determination of Inorganic Carbon in Soils journal March 1972
IntCal09 and Marine09 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves, 0–50,000 Years cal BP journal January 2009
The use of CORONA images in remote sensing of periglacial geomorphology: an illustration from the NE Siberian coast journal January 2005
Modern tundra landscapes of the Kolyma Lowland and their evolution in the Holocene journal October 2009
Spatial analyses of thermokarst lakes and basins in Yedoma landscapes of the Lena Delta journal January 2011
The Circumpolar Arctic vegetation map journal February 2005
Radiocarbon Dates and Late-Quaternary Stratigraphy from Mamontova Gora, Unglaciated Central Yakutia, Siberia, U.S.S.R. journal July 1977
Cryostratigraphy of late Pleistocene syngenetic permafrost (yedoma) in northern Alaska, Itkillik River exposure journal May 2011
Late Quaternary ice-rich permafrost sequences as a paleoenvironmental archive for the Laptev Sea Region in northern Siberia journal June 2001
Periglacial landscape evolution and environmental changes of Arctic lowland areas for the last 60 000 years (western Laptev Sea coast, Cape Mamontov Klyk) journal January 2008
Weichselian and Holocene palaeoenvironmental history of the Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island, New Siberian Archipelago, Arctic Siberia journal February 2009
Physical and chemical data for various lakes near Toolik Research Station, Arctic LTER Summer 2009. dataset January 2014
Biogeochemical processes in high-latitude lakes and rivers book September 2008
Limnological Analyses book January 2000
Land cover classification of tundra environments in the Arctic Lena Delta based on Landsat 7 ETM+ data and its application for upscaling of methane emissions journal February 2009
Simulating the decadal- to millennial-scale dynamics of morphology and sequestered carbon mobilization of two thermokarst lakes in NW Alaska: SIMULATING THERMOKARST LAKES journal March 2012
An efficient and accurate representation of complex oceanic and biospheric models of anthropogenic carbon uptake journal July 1996
Loess Ecosystems of Northern Alaska: Regional Gradient and Toposequence at Prudhoe Bay journal February 1991
The Circumpolar Arctic vegetation map journal January 2005
An efficient and accurate representation of complex oceanic and biospheric models of anthropogenic carbon uptake journal January 1996
Limnological Analyses book January 1991
The Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database: spatially distributed datasets of soil coverage and soil carbon storage in the northern permafrost regions journal January 2012
Physical and chemical data for various lakes near Toolik Research Station, Arctic LTER Summer 2009. dataset January 2018
Physical and chemical data for various lakes near Toolik Research Station, Arctic LTER Summer 2009. dataset January 2013

Cited By (79)

Postglacial vegetation community change over an elevational gradient on the western Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: pollen records from Sunken Island and Choquette Lakes journal May 2019
Multidecadal climate‐induced changes in Arctic tundra lake geochemistry and geomorphology journal September 2018
Mid-Wisconsin to Holocene Permafrost and Landscape Dynamics based on a Drained Lake Basin Core from the Northern Seward Peninsula, Northwest Alaska: Mid-Wisconsin to Holocene Landscape Dynamics, NW Alaska journal July 2015
Estimation and Sensitivity of Carbon Storage in Permafrost of North-Eastern Yakutia: Estimation and sensitivity of carbon storage journal January 2017
Holocene thermokarst and pingo development in the Kolyma Lowland (NE Siberia) journal July 2018
Long‐term perspectives on terrestrial and aquatic carbon cycling from palaeolimnology journal December 2015
Methane and Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound Emissions in Eastern Siberia book January 2019
Biogeochemistry of “pristine” freshwater stream and lake systems in the western Canadian Arctic journal October 2016
Regional environmental change versus local signal preservation in Holocene thermokarst lake sediments: A case study from Herschel Island, Yukon (Canada) journal March 2018
Impacts of shore expansion and catchment characteristics on lacustrine thermokarst records in permafrost lowlands, Alaska Arctic Coastal Plain journal November 2016
Sediment characteristics of a thermokarst lagoon in the northeastern Siberian Arctic (Ivashkina Lagoon, Bykovsky Peninsula) journal May 2018
A 16,000-yr-long sedimentary sequence from Lakes Peters and Schrader (Neruokpuk Lakes), northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska journal August 2019
Transient Electromagnetic Surveys for the Determination of Talik Depth and Geometry Beneath Thermokarst Lakes journal November 2018
Increasing Organic Carbon Biolability With Depth in Yedoma Permafrost: Ramifications for Future Climate Change journal July 2019
The Molecular Composition of Humic Substances Isolated From Yedoma Permafrost and Alas Cores in the Eastern Siberian Arctic as Measured by Ultrahigh Resolution Mass Spectrometry journal August 2019
Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback journal April 2015
Large increases in carbon burial in northern lakes during the Anthropocene journal November 2015
Circumpolar distribution and carbon storage of thermokarst landscapes journal October 2016
Methane emissions proportional to permafrost carbon thawed in Arctic lakes since the 1950s journal August 2016
21st-century modeled permafrost carbon emissions accelerated by abrupt thaw beneath lakes journal August 2018
Remote sensing quantifies widespread abundance of permafrost region disturbances across the Arctic and Subarctic journal December 2018
Greenhouse gas emissions from diverse Arctic Alaskan lakes are dominated by young carbon journal January 2018
Negligible cycling of terrestrial carbon in many lakes of the arid circumpolar landscape journal February 2019
Carbon release through abrupt permafrost thaw journal February 2020
Extensive loss of past permafrost carbon but a net accumulation into present-day soils journal August 2018
Lake levels in a discontinuous permafrost landscape: Late Holocene variations inferred from sediment oxygen isotopes, Yukon Flats, Alaska journal January 2018
Consequences of changes in vegetation and snow cover for climate feedbacks in Alaska and northwest Canada journal October 2016
Minor contribution of small thaw ponds to the pools of carbon and methane in the inland waters of the permafrost-affected part of the Western Siberian Lowland journal March 2018
First evidence for cold-adapted anaerobic oxidation of methane in deep sediments of thermokarst lakes journal March 2019
A simplified, data-constrained approach to estimate the permafrost carbon–climate feedback
  • Koven, C. D.; Schuur, E. A. G.; Schädel, C.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 373, Issue 2054 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0423
journal November 2015
Evidence of multiple thermokarst lake generations from an 11 800‐year‐old permafrost core on the northern S eward P eninsula, A laska journal June 2016
Eutrophication effects on greenhouse gas fluxes from shallow-lake mesocosms override those of climate warming journal November 2015
Permafrost collapse alters soil carbon stocks, respiration, CH 4 , and N 2 O in upland tundra journal November 2015
Rapid carbon loss and slow recovery following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands journal October 2016
Arctic permafrost landscapes in transition: towards an integrated Earth system approach journal June 2017
Methane turnover and environmental change from Holocene lipid biomarker records in a thermokarst lake in Arctic Alaska journal July 2016
Near-surface permafrost aggradation in Northern Hemisphere peatlands shows regional and global trends during the past 6000 years journal January 2018
Bacterial community structure across environmental gradients in permafrost thaw ponds: methanotroph-rich ecosystems journal March 2015
Organic-matter quality of deep permafrost carbon – a study from Arctic Siberia journal January 2015
Methane and carbon dioxide emissions from 40 lakes along a north–south latitudinal transect in Alaska journal January 2015
Observation-based modelling of permafrost carbon fluxes with accounting for deep carbon deposits and thermokarst activity journal January 2015
Metagenomic analyses of the late Pleistocene permafrost – additional tools for reconstruction of environmental conditions journal January 2016
Yedoma Ice Complex of the Buor Khaya Peninsula (southern Laptev Sea) journal January 2017
Reviews and syntheses: Changing ecosystem influences on soil thermal regimes in northern high-latitude permafrost regions journal January 2018
Greenhouse gas production in degrading ice-rich permafrost deposits in northeastern Siberia journal January 2018
Carbon and nitrogen pools in thermokarst-affected permafrost landscapes in Arctic Siberia journal January 2018
Lability classification of soil organic matter in the northern permafrost region journal January 2020
Methane and carbon dioxide emissions from 40 lakes along a north–south latitudinal transect in Alaska journal January 2014
Co-occurrence patterns in aquatic bacterial communities across changing permafrost landscapes journal January 2015
Reviews and Syntheses: Effects of permafrost thaw on arctic aquatic ecosystems journal January 2015
Carbon dynamics in highly heterotrophic subarctic thaw ponds journal July 2015
Atmospheric methane control mechanisms during the early Holocene journal July 2016
Shifted energy fluxes, increased Bowen ratios, and reduced thaw depths linked with drainage-induced changes in permafrost ecosystem structure journal January 2017
Simulating soil organic carbon in yedoma deposits during the Last Glacial Maximum in a land surface model journal May 2016
Bacterial communities and greenhouse gas emissions of shallow ponds in the High Arctic journal August 2014
Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Stocks Along a Thermokarst Lake Sequence in Arctic Alaska journal May 2019
Shallow carbon storage in ancient buried thermokarst in the South Kara Sea journal September 2018
The uncertain climate footprint of wetlands under human pressure journal March 2015
Isotopic insights into methane production, oxidation, and emissions in Arctic polygon tundra journal June 2016
Paleolimnology of thermokarst lakes: a window into permafrost landscape evolution journal June 2017
Remote sensing quantifies widespread abundance of permafrost region disturbances across the Arctic and Subarctic text January 2019
Organic matter characteristics in yedoma and thermokarst deposits on Baldwin Peninsula, west Alaska text January 2020
Reviews and syntheses: Effects of permafrost thaw on Arctic aquatic ecosystems journal January 2015
Carbon dynamics in highly heterotrophic subarctic thaw ponds journal January 2015
Permafrost soils and carbon cycling journal January 2014
Global wetland contribution to 2000–2012 atmospheric methane growth rate dynamics text January 2017
Geographic and seasonal variation of dissolved methane and aerobic methane oxidation in Alaskan lakes journal January 2015
Climate-sensitive northern lakes and ponds are critical components of methane release journal January 2016
Carbon and nitrogen pools in thermokarst-affected permafrost landscapes in Arctic Siberia text January 2019
Geographic and seasonal variation of dissolved methane and aerobic methane oxidation in Alaskan lakes journal January 2015
Co-occurrence patterns in aquatic bacterial communities across changing permafrost landscapes journal January 2016
Organic matter characteristics in yedoma and thermokarst deposits on Baldwin Peninsula, west Alaska journal January 2018
Permafrost soils and carbon cycling journal January 2015
Simulating soil organic carbon in yedoma deposits during the Last Glacial Maximum in a land surface model text January 2016
Observation-based modelling of permafrost carbon fluxes with accounting for deep carbon deposits and thermokarst activity other January 2015
Organic-matter quality of deep permafrost carbon text January 2019
A synthesis of the arctic terrestrial and marine carbon cycles under pressure from a dwindling cryosphere journal January 2017
Comparative carbon cycle dynamics of the present and last interglacial journal April 2016
Sediment and carbon accumulation in a glacial lake in Chukotka (Arctic Siberia) during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene: combining hydroacoustic profiling and down-core analyses journal August 2021

Similar Records

Paleoenvironmental analyses of an organic deposit from an erosional landscape remnant, Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska
Journal Article · Sun Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2005 · Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology · OSTI ID:1776462
+4 more
A synthesis of methane dynamics in thermokarst lake environments
Journal Article · Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Earth-Science Reviews · OSTI ID:1776462
+5 more
Source Characterization and Temporal Variation of Methane Seepage from Thermokarst Lakes on the Alaska North Slope in Response to Arctic Climate Change
Technical Report · Sun Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · OSTI ID:1776462

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES