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Assessment of frozen ground organic carbon pool on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

  • Soils, Sec 2 • Global Change, Environ Risk Assess, Sustainable Land Use • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Under rapid climate change, soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamic in frozen ground may significantly influence terrestrial carbon cycles. The aim of this study was to investigate the storage, spatial patterns, and influencing factors of SOC in frozen ground on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which known as the earth’s Third Pole.

Materials and methods

Using the observed edaphic data from China’s Second National Soil Survey, we estimated the SOC storage (SOCS) of frozen ground (including permafrost, seasonally, and short time frozen ground) on the plateau with a depth of 0–3 m. Furthermore, the effect of vegetation and climate factors on spatial variance of SOC density (SOCD) was analyzed.

Results and discussion

The SOCD decreased from the southeastern to the northwestern part of the plateau, and increased with shorten of freezing duration. SOCS of permafrost, seasonally, and short time frozen ground were calculated as 40.9 (34.2–47.6), 26.7 (24.1–29.4), and 6 (5.6–6.4) Pg, making a total of 73.6 (63.9–83.3) Pg in 0–3 m depth on the plateau. Normalized difference vegetation index and mean annual precipitation could significantly affect the spatial distribution of SOC in permafrost and seasonally frozen ground.

Conclusions

The soil in plateau frozen ground contained substantial organic carbon, which could be affected by plant and climate variables. However, the heterogeneous landform may make the fate of carbon more complicated in the future.

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Acknowledgements

The authors give special thanks to Ms. Wan Xiong for her editing and valuable comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDB-SSW-DQC007), the National Key R & D Program of China (2016YFC0501802), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570480, 41571220).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Lin Jiang, Huai Chen, Qiuan Zhu, Yanzheng Yang, Mingxu Li & Changhui Peng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Lin Jiang, Qiuan Zhu, Yanzheng Yang, Mingxu Li & Changhui Peng

  3. Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China

    Lin Jiang, Huai Chen, Dan Zhu & Yixin He

  4. Zoige Peatland and Global Change Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hongyuan, 624400, Sichuan, China

    Lin Jiang, Huai Chen, Dan Zhu & Yixin He

  5. Department of Biology Science, Institute of Environment Sciences, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Changhui Peng

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  1. Lin Jiang
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Correspondence to Huai Chen.

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Jiang, L., Chen, H., Zhu, Q. et al. Assessment of frozen ground organic carbon pool on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. J Soils Sediments 19, 128–139 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2006-3

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