Eroding permafrost coastlines export significant quantities of organic carbon (OC) to the marine environment, similar in magnitude to riverine particulate OC fluxes to the Arctic Ocean. Moreover, erosion rates are predicted to increase due to warming temperatures, declines in sea ice, and increasing waves. While erosion primarily mobilizes organic matter in the particulate form, this material can be leached to dissolved organic matter (DOM). This DOM may be incorporated by microbial communities and fuel marine food webs or decomposed to form greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Many studies show that permafrost-derived organic matter can be rapidly decomposed in soils and freshwater, but few studies examine the fate of permafrost organic matter in seawater. To address this knowledge gap, we designed a laboratory experiment to leach coastal soils and permafrost in seawater and examine the composition and biodegradability of leached DOM. Coastal soil/sediment was cored near Drew Point, Alaska in 2019, representing three horizons found within rapidly eroding permafrost bluffs: seasonally thawed active layer soils, Holocene terrestrial soils and/or lacustrine sediments, and late-Pleistocene relict marine sediments. To measure dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaching yields, we placed soil/sediments in Beaufort Sea seawater for 24 hours before filtering to remove particulates. To measure biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC), we conducted an aerobic incubation experiment following the methods suggested by Vonk et al. (2015). Briefly, leachates were incubated at approximately room temperature for 26 and 90 days to measure DOC loss due to remineralization and/or incorporation into microbial biomass. Additionally, we used chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) measurements and ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) to examine the initial leachate DOM composition.
References:
Vonk, J. E., Tank, S. E., Mann, P. J., Spencer, R. G. M., Treat, C. C., Striegl, R. G., et al. (2015). Biodegradability of dissolved organic carbon in permafrost soils and waterways: a meta-analysis. Biogeosciences Discussions, 12(11), 8353-8393. https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-12-8353-2015