Timing and drivers of mid- to late Holocene ice-wedge polygon development in the Western Canadian Arctic

Ice-wedge polygon formation and development from low-centred to high-centred types are thought to be either linear processes acting on long time-scales or rapid shifts between different regimes. We analyzed six sediment cores from three ice-wedge polygons on the Yukon Coastal Plain to examine the timing and drivers of these dynamics. All sites developed from shallow lakes or submerged polygon environments to low-centred polygons before rapid degradation and drying during the last century. We found that ice-wedge polygon initiation was linked to moderate climatic cooling during the mid-Holocene combined with drainage of lakes. The further conversion to high-centred polygons appeared to have been a rapid process linked to modern climatic warming. Continued warming may thus lead to increasing ice-wedge melt on larger scales and subsequent degradation of ice-wedge polygons, especially if paired with increasing geomorphic disturbances caused by thermokarst and thermo-erosion

Depositional modes and lake-level variability at Lake Towuti, Indonesia, during the past ~29 kyr BP

Lake Towuti (2.5°S, 121.5°E) is a long-lived, tectonic lake located on the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and in the center of the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP). Lake Towuti is connected with upstream lakes Matano and Mahalona through the Mahalona River, which constitutes the largest inlet to the lake. The Mahalona River Delta is prograding into Lake Towuti’s deep northern basin thus exerting significant control on depositional processes in the basin. We combine high-resolution seismic reflection and sedimentological datasets from a 19.8-m-long sediment piston core from the distal edge of this delta to characterize fluctuations in deltaic sedimentation during the past ~29 kyr BP and their relation to climatic change. Our datasets reveal that, in the present, sedimentation is strongly influenced by deposition of laterally transported sediments sourced from the Mahalona River Delta. Variations in the amount of laterally transported sediments, as expressed by coarse fraction amounts in pelagic muds and turbidite recurrence rates and cumulative thicknesses, are primarily a function of lake-level induced delta slope instability and delta progradation into the basin. We infer lowest lake-levels between ~29 and 16, a gradual lake level rise between ~16 and 11, and high lake-levels between ~11 and 0 kyr BP. Periods of highest turbidite deposition, ~26 to 24 and ~18 to 16 kyr BP coincide with Heinrich events 2 and 1, respectively. Our lake-level reconstruction therefore supports previous observations based on geochemical hydroclimate proxies of a very dry last glacial and a wet Holocene in the region, and provides new evidence of millennial-scale variations in moisture balance in the IPWP

Stabilization of mineral-associated organic carbon in Pleistocene permafrost

Ice-rich Pleistocene-age permafrost is particularly vulnerable to rapid thaw, which may quickly expose a large pool of sedimentary organic matter (OM) to microbial degradation and lead to emissions of climate-sensitive greenhouse gases. Protective physico-chemical mechanisms may, however, restrict microbial accessibility and reduce OM decomposition; mechanisms that may be influenced by changing environmental conditions during sediment deposition. Here we study different OM fractions in Siberian permafrost deposited during colder and warmer periods of the past 55,000 years. Among known stabilization mechanisms, the occlusion of OM in aggregates is of minor importance, while 33-74% of the organic carbon is associated with small, <6.3 µm mineral particles. Preservation of carbon in mineral-associated OM is enhanced by reactive iron minerals particularly during cold and dry climate, reflected by low microbial CO2 production in incubation experiments. Warmer and wetter conditions reduce OM stabilization, shown by more decomposed mineral-associated OM and up to 30% higher CO2 production. This shows that considering the stability and bioavailability of Pleistocene-age permafrost carbon is important for predicting future climate-carbon feedback

Holocene glacier fluctuations and environmental changes in sub-Antarctic South Georgia inferred from a sediment record from a coastal inlet

The sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia provides terrestrial and coastal marine records of climate variability, which are crucial for the understanding of the drivers of Holocene climate changes in the sub-Antarctic region. Here we investigate a sediment core (Co1305) from a coastal inlet on South Georgia using elemental, lipid biomarker, diatom and stable isotope data to infer changes in environmental conditions and to constrain the timing of Late glacial and Holocene glacier fluctuations. Due to the scarcity of terrestrial macro-fossils and relict organic matter in the sediments, age control was obtained by compound-specific radiocarbon dating of mostly marine derived n-C16 fatty acids. A basal till layer recovered in Co1305 was likely deposited during an advance of local glaciers during the Antarctic cold eversal. After glacier retreat an oligotrophic lake occupied the site, which transitioned to a marine inlet around 8.0±0.9 ka due to relative sea level rise. From 7.0±0.6 to 4.0±0.4 ka reduced vegetation coverage in the catchment as well as high siliciclastic input and deposition of ice rafted debris indicate glacier advances in the terrestrial catchment and likely in the adjacent fjord. A second, less extensive period of glacier advances occurred in the late Holocene, after 1.8±0.3 ka

Environmental change during MIS4 and MIS 3 opened corridors in the Horn of Africa for <i>Homo sapiens</i> expansion

Archaeological findings, numerical human dispersal models and genome analyses suggest several time windows in the past 200 kyr (thousands of years ago) when anatomically modern humans (AMH) dispersed out of Africa into the Levant and/or Arabia. From close to the key hominin site of Omo-Kibish, we provide near continuous proxy evidence for environmental changes in lake sediment cores from the Chew Bahir basin, south Ethiopia. The data show highly variable hydroclimate conditions from 116 to 66 kyr BP with rapid shifts from very wet to extreme aridity. The wet phases coincide with the timing of the North African Humid Periods during MIS5, as defined by Nile discharge records from the eastern Mediterranean. The subsequent record at Chew Bahir suggests stable regional hydrological setting between 58 and 32 kyr (MIS4 and 3), which facilitated the development of more habitable ecosystems, albeit in generally dry climatic conditions. This shift, from more to less variable hydroclimate, may help account for the timing of later dispersal events of AMH out of Africa

Microbial methane cycling in sediments of Arctic thermokarst lagoons

Thermokarst lagoons represent the transition state from a freshwater lacustrine to a marine environment, and receive little attention regarding their role for greenhouse gas production and release in Arctic permafrost landscapes. We studied the fate of methane (CH4) in sediments of a thermokarst lagoon in comparison to two thermokarst lakes on the Bykovsky Peninsula in northeastern Siberia through the analysis of sediment CH4 concentrations and isotopic signature, methane-cycling microbial taxa, sediment geochemistry, lipid biomarkers, and network analysis. We assessed how differences in geochemistry between thermokarst lakes and thermokarst lagoons, caused by the infiltration of sulfate-rich marine water, altered the microbial methane-cycling community. Anaerobic sulfate-reducing ANME-2a/2b methanotrophs dominated the sulfate-rich sediments of the lagoon despite its known seasonal alternation between brackish and freshwater inflow and low sulfate concentrations compared to the usual marine ANME habitat. Non-competitive methylotrophic methanogens dominated the methanogenic community of the lakes and the lagoon, independent of differences in porewater chemistry and depth. This potentially contributed to the high CH4 concentrations observed in all sulfate-poor sediments. CH4 concentrations in the freshwater-influenced sediments averaged 1.34 ± 0.98 μmol g−1, with highly depleted δ13C-CH4 values ranging from −89‰ to −70‰. In contrast, the sulfate-affected upper 300 cm of the lagoon exhibited low average CH4 concentrations of 0.011 ± 0.005 μmol g−1 with comparatively enriched δ13C-CH4 values of −54‰ to −37‰ pointing to substantial methane oxidation. Our study shows that lagoon formation specifically supports methane oxidizers and methane oxidation through changes in pore water chemistry, especially sulfate, while methanogens are similar to lake conditions