Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Activation of old carbon by erosion of coastal and subsea permafrost in Arctic Siberia

Nature volume 489, pages 137–140 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The future trajectory of greenhouse gas concentrations depends on interactions between climate and the biogeosphere1,2. Thawing of Arctic permafrost could release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere in this century3. Ancient Ice Complex deposits outcropping along the ∼7,000-kilometre-long coastline of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS)4,5, and associated shallow subsea permafrost6,7, are two large pools of permafrost carbon8, yet their vulnerabilities towards thawing and decomposition are largely unknown9,10,11. Recent Arctic warming is stronger than has been predicted by several degrees, and is particularly pronounced over the coastal ESAS region12,13. There is thus a pressing need to improve our understanding of the links between permafrost carbon and climate in this relatively inaccessible region. Here we show that extensive release of carbon from these Ice Complex deposits dominates (57 ± 2 per cent) the sedimentary carbon budget of the ESAS, the world’s largest continental shelf, overwhelming the marine and topsoil terrestrial components. Inverse modelling of the dual-carbon isotope composition of organic carbon accumulating in ESAS surface sediments, using Monte Carlo simulations to account for uncertainties, suggests that 44 ± 10 teragrams of old carbon is activated annually from Ice Complex permafrost, an order of magnitude more than has been suggested by previous studies14. We estimate that about two-thirds (66 ± 16 per cent) of this old carbon escapes to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, with the remainder being re-buried in shelf sediments. Thermal collapse and erosion of these carbon-rich Pleistocene coastline and seafloor deposits may accelerate with Arctic amplification of climate warming2,13.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Erosion of Ice Complex deposits on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.
Figure 2: Carbon isotope compositions and contribution of organic carbon sources to sediment accumulation on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.
Figure 3: Biogeochemical signals of Ice Complex organic matter degradation on Muostakh Island.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Friedlingstein, P. et al. Climate-carbon cycle feedback analysis: results from the C4MIP model intercomparison. J. Clim. 19, 3337–3353 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Solomon, S. D. et al. (eds) Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007)

  3. Gruber, N. et al. in The Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Humans, Climate and the Natural World, (eds Field, C. B. & Raupach, M. R. ) 45–76 (Island Press, 2004)

  4. Zimov, S. A., Schuur, E. A. G. & Chapin, F. S., III Permafrost and the global carbon budget. Science 312, 1612–1613 (2006)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Schirrmeister, L. et al. Sedimentary characteristics and origin of the Late Pleistocene Ice Complex on north-east Siberian Arctic coastal lowlands and islands – a review. Quat. Int. 241, 3–25 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Soloviev, V. A., Ginzburg, G. D., Telepnev, E. V. & Mikhaluk, Y. N. Cryothermia of Gas Hydrates in the Arctic Ocean (VNIIOkeangeologia, 1987)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Shakhova, N. et al. Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. Science 327, 1246–1250 (2010)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Tarnocai, C. et al. Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 23, GB2023 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schuur, E. A. G. et al. The effect of permafrost thaw on old carbon release and net carbon exchange from tundra. Nature 459, 556–559 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rivkina, E., Gilichinsky, D., Wagener, S., Tiedje, J. & McGrath, J. Biogeochemical activity of anaerobic microorganisms from buried permafrost sediments. Geomicrobiol. J. 15, 187–193 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dutta, K., Schuur, E. A. G., Neff, J. C. & Zimov, S. A. Potential carbon release from permafrost soils of Northeastern Siberia. Glob. Change Biol. 12, 2336–2351 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Richter-Menge, J., Overland, J. E., eds. Arctic Report Card 2010, http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard (2010)

  13. Dmitrenko, I. A. et al. Recent changes in shelf hydrography in the Siberian Arctic: potential for subsea permafrost instability. J. Geophys. Res. 116, C10027 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Stein, R. & Macdonald, R. W. The Organic Carbon Cycle in the Arctic Ocean (Springer, 2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Mastepanov, M. et al. Large tundra methane burst during onset of freezing. Nature 456, 628–630 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Nicolsky, D. & Shakhova, N. Modeling sub-sea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf: the Dmitry Laptev Strait. Environ. Res. Lett. 5, 015006 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Romanovskii, N. N., Hubberten, H.-W., Gavrilov, A. V., Eliseeva, A. A. & Tipenko, G. S. Offshore permafrost and gas hydrate stability zone on the shelf of East Siberian Seas. Geo-Mar. Lett. 25, 167–182 (2005)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Grigoriev, M. N. Cryomorphogenesis and Lithodynamics of the Coastal-shelf Zone of the Seas of Eastern Siberia. Doctoral thesis, Yakutsk Melnikov Permafrost Inst. (2008)

  19. Semiletov, I. P. The failure of coastal frozen rock as an important factor in the biogeochemistry of the Arctic shelf water. Dokl. Earth Sci. 369, 1140–1143 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Rachold, V. et al. Coastal erosion vs riverine sediment discharge in the Arctic Shelf seas. Int. J. Earth Sci. 89, 450–460 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Vonk, J. E. et al. Molecular and radiocarbon constraints on sources and degradation of terrestrial organic carbon along the Kolyma paleoriver transect, East Siberian Sea. Biogeosciences 7, 3153–3166 (2010)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Overduin, P. P. et al. The evolution and degradation of coastal and offshore permafrost in the Laptev and East Siberian Seas during the last climatic cycle. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 426, 97–110 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Keil, R. G., Dickens, A. F., Arnarson, T., Nunn, B. L. & Devol, A. H. What is the oxygen exposure time of laterally transported organic matter along the Washington margin? Mar. Chem. 92, 157–165 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Vonk, J. E., van Dongen, B. E. & Gustafsson, Ö. Selective preservation of old organic carbon fluvially released from sub-Arctic soils. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L11605 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Wegner, C. et al. Suspended particulate matter on the Laptev Sea shelf (Siberian Arctic) during ice-free conditions. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 57, 55–64 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Dudarev, O. V., Semiletov, I. P., Charkin, A. N. & Botsul, A. I. Deposition settings on the continental shelf of the East Siberian Sea. Dokl. Earth Sci. 409, 1000–1005 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Sánchez-García, L. et al. Inventories and behavior of particulate organic carbon in the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 25, GB2007 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Lantuit, H. et al. Towards a calculation of organic carbon release from erosion of Arctic coasts using non-fractal coastline datasets. Mar. Geol. 257, 1–10 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Razumov, S. O. Rates of coastal thermoabrasion as a function of climate and morphological characteristics of the coast. Geomorphology 3, 88–94 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Romanovskii, N. N. Fundamentals of the Cryogenesis of the Lithosphere (Moscow University Press, Moscow, 1993)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank all ISSS-08 colleagues and crew, in particular M. Kruså, P. Andersson and V. Mordukhovich, who helped with sampling. The ISSS program is supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Research Council, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Russian Foundation of Basic Research, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and the Nordic Council of Ministers (Arctic Co-Op and TRI-DEFROST programs). Ö.G. and L.S.-G. acknowledge an Academy Research Fellow grant from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences and an EU Marie Curie grant, respectively. N.S. and I.P.S. acknowledge grants from the US National Science Foundation and the NOAA OAR Climate Program Office.

Author information

Author notes

  1. J. E. Vonk, L. Sánchez-García, B. E. van Dongen & V. Alling

    Present address: Present addresses: Geological Institute, ETH-Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland (J.E.V.); Catalan Institute of Climate Sciences (IC3), C/Doctor Trueta 203, 08005, Barcelona, Spain (L.S.-G.); School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK (B.E.v.D.); Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Sognsveien 72, 0855, Oslo, Norway (V.A.).,

  2. J. E. Vonk and L. Sánchez-García: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Environmental Science (ITM) and the Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius väg 8, SE-11418, Stockholm, Sweden,

    J. E. Vonk, L. Sánchez-García, B. E. van Dongen, V. Alling, A. Andersson & Ö. Gustafsson

  2. Pacific Oceanological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Baltiiskaya 43, 690041, Vladivostok, Russia,

    D. Kosmach, A. Charkin, I. P. Semiletov, O. V. Dudarev & N. Shakhova

  3. International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska, PO Box 757335, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7335, USA,

    I. P. Semiletov & N. Shakhova

  4. Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark,

    P. Roos

  5. Geological Institute, ETH-Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland,

    T. I. Eglinton

Authors
  1. J. E. Vonk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L. Sánchez-García
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. B. E. van Dongen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. V. Alling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. D. Kosmach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A. Charkin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. I. P. Semiletov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. O. V. Dudarev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. N. Shakhova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. P. Roos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. T. I. Eglinton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. A. Andersson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Ö. Gustafsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors except P.R., T.I.E. and A.A. collected samples. Preparations for bulk organic carbon analyses, stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon analyses were made by J.E.V. (sediments) and L.S.-G. (Ice Complex samples). Radiocarbon analyses on sediments were facilitated by T.I.E. L.S.-G. analysed lipid biomarkers in Muostakh Island samples. A.A. was responsible for the Monte Carlo simulations. Radiochronological measurements on sediment cores were made by P.R. and at Stockholm University. J.E.V. performed data analyses and flux calculations. J.E.V., L.S.-G. and Ö.G. wrote the paper, with input from N.S., I.P.S. and all other authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ö. Gustafsson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Figures 1-5, Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Tables 1-10 (see contents for more details). (PDF 5937 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vonk, J., Sánchez-García, L., van Dongen, B. et al. Activation of old carbon by erosion of coastal and subsea permafrost in Arctic Siberia. Nature 489, 137–140 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11392

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11392

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing