RESEARCH ARTICLE · Biogeosciences · 2020

A revised pan-Arctic permafrost soil Hg pool based on Western Siberian peat Hg and carbon observations

Artem G. Lim, Martin Jiskra, Jeroen E. Sonke, Sergey V. Loiko, Natalia P. Kosykh, Покровский Олег Сергеевич

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Abstract. Natural and anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions are sequestered in terrestrial soils over short, annual, to long, millennial time scales, before Hg mobilization and run-off impacts wetland and coastal Ocean ecosystems. Recent studies have used Hg to carbon (C) ratios, RHgC, measured in Alaskan permafrost mineral and peat soils, together with a northern soil carbon inventory, to estimate that these soils contain large amounts, 184 to 755 Gg of Hg in the upper 1 m. However, measurements of RHgC on Siberian permafrost peatlands are largely missing, leaving the size of estimated northern soil Hg budget, and its fate under arctic warming scenarios uncertain. Here we present Hg and carbon data for 6 peat cores, down to mineral horizons at 1.5–4 m depth, across a 1700 km latitudinal (56 to 67° N) permafrost gradient in the Western Siberian lowlands (WSL). Hg concentrations increase from south to north in all soil horizons, reflecting enhanced net accumulation of atmospheric gaseous Hg by the vegetation Hg pump. The RHgC in WSL peat horizons decreases with depth from 0.38 Gg Pg−1 in the active layer to 0.23 Gg Pg−1 in continuously frozen peat of the WSL. We estimate the Hg pool (0 1 m) in the permafrost-affected part of WSL peatlands to be 9.3 ± 2.7 Gg. We review and estimate pan-arctic organic and mineral soil RHgC to be 0.19 and 0.77 Gg Pg−1, and use a soil carbon budget to revise the northern soil Hg pool to be 67 Gg (37–88 Gg, interquartile range (IQR)) in the upper 30 cm, 225 Gg (102–320 Gg) in the upper 1 m, and 557 Gg (371–699 Gg) in the upper 3 m. Using the same RHgC approach, we revise the global upper 30 cm soil Hg pool to contain 1078 Gg of Hg (842–1254 Gg, IQR), of which 6 % (67 Gg) resides in northern permafrost soils. Additional soil and river studies must be performed in Eastern and Northern Siberia to lower the uncertainty on these estimates, and assess the timing of Hg release to atmosphere and rivers.

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