Holocene Terrestrial Permafrost Contributes More Highly Reactive Organic Matter to The Laptev Sea Shelf Than Pleistocene Permafrost

2025 · doi:10.22541/au.174180436.68467115/v1
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The study measured bulk organic matter composition, isotopic signatures, and thermogravimetric properties to infer organic-matter reactivity across different terrestrial permafrost materials (Holocene and Pleistocene deposits and their water-soluble leachates) and compared these proxies with Laptev Sea shelf surface sediments and western Laptev Sea sediment cores. The authors found that bulk organic matter from terrestrial Pleistocene permafrost had lower reactivity than Holocene permafrost, and while Pleistocene leachates were slightly more reactive and had younger radiocarbon ages than their corresponding bulk fractions, they still showed lower reactivity than Holocene. In the eastern Laptev shelf, a greater contribution from Pleistocene permafrost-derived organic matter corresponded to relatively older radiocarbon ages and reduced surface-sediment organic-matter reactivity relative to central and western areas, with cross-shelf gradients also observed. Downcore results indicated that declining reactivity was driven mainly by degradation during cross-shelf transport rather than after burial, and the paper is explicitly noted as a preprint and not peer reviewed, so findings may be preliminary. The paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

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Abstract

Warming can release carbon from organic matter (OM) initially freeze-locked in circumarctic permafrost. The extent of this carbon release depends on OM reactivity. Our understanding of how OM reactivity varies across different terrestrial permafrost types and how it changes during transport from land to marine shelves remains limited. In this study, we measured bulk organic, isotopic and thermogravimetric properties as proxies of OM reactivity on various materials, including bulk deposits and water-soluble fractions (leachates) from terrestrial Holocene and Pleistocene permafrost, bulk surface sediments from the Laptev Sea, and sediment cores from the western Laptev Sea. Bulk OM from terrestrial Pleistocene permafrost exhibited lower reactivity compared to Holocene permafrost. Leachates from terrestrial Pleistocene permafrost displayed slightly higher OM reactivity and younger radiocarbon ages than their corresponding bulk fractions but these values remained lower than those of Holocene permafrost. On the eastern Laptev Sea shelf, a higher contribution of Pleistocene permafrost-derived OM resulted in relatively old radiocarbon ages and reduced OM reactivity in surface sediments compared to the central and western Laptev Sea shelf. A cross-shelf gradient in OM reactivity was observed in the central and western Laptev Sea, with a rapid decrease near the coast followed by a more gradual decline offshore. Downcore analyses revealed that this reduction in OM reactivity reflects primarily degradation during cross-shelf transport rather than after burial. Our results advance the understanding of OM reactivity differences between Pleistocene and Holocene permafrost, as well as changes in terrestrial permafrost OM reactivity during transport and after burial.
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Abstract

Warming can release carbon from organic matter (OM) initially freeze-locked in circumarctic permafrost. The extent of this carbon release depends on OM reactivity. Our understanding of how OM reactivity varies across different terrestrial permafrost types and how it changes during transport from land to marine shelves remains limited. In this study, we measured bulk organic, isotopic and thermogravimetric properties as proxies of OM reactivity on various materials, including bulk deposits and water-soluble fractions (leachates) from terrestrial Holocene and Pleistocene permafrost, bulk surface sediments from the Laptev Sea, and sediment cores from the western Laptev Sea. Bulk OM from terrestrial Pleistocene permafrost exhibited lower reactivity compared to Holocene permafrost. Leachates from terrestrial Pleistocene permafrost displayed slightly higher OM reactivity and younger radiocarbon ages than their corresponding bulk fractions but these values remained lower than those of Holocene permafrost. On the eastern Laptev Sea shelf, a higher contribution of Pleistocene permafrost-derived OM resulted in relatively old radiocarbon ages and reduced OM reactivity in surface sediments compared to the central and western Laptev Sea shelf. A cross-shelf gradient in OM reactivity was observed in the central and western Laptev Sea, with a rapid decrease near the coast followed by a more gradual decline offshore. Downcore analyses revealed that this reduction in OM reactivity reflects primarily degradation during cross-shelf transport rather than after burial. Our results advance the understanding of OM reactivity differences between Pleistocene and Holocene permafrost, as well as changes in terrestrial permafrost OM reactivity during transport and after burial. Information & Authors Information Version history Peer review timeline Published Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences Version of Record13 Oct 2025Published Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License.

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Authors Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 242views 133downloads Citations Download citation Tsai-Wen Lin, Gernot Nehrke, Hendrik Grotheer, et al. Holocene Terrestrial Permafrost Contributes More Highly Reactive Organic Matter to The Laptev Sea Shelf Than Pleistocene Permafrost. Authorea. 12 March 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174180436.68467115/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174180436.68467115/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

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