Molecular Evidence for Pervasive Riverine Export of Soil Organic Matter from the Central Himalaya

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Molecular Evidence for Pervasive Riverine Export of Soil Organic Matter from the Central Himalaya

EGU2020-9017 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9017 EGU General Assembly 2020 © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Molecular evidence for pervasive riverine export of soil organic matter from the Central Himalaya Lena Märki1, Maarten Lupker1, Ananta Gajurel2, Hannah Gies1, Negar Haghipour1,3, Sean Gallen4, Christian France-Lanord5, Jérôme Lavé5, and Timothy Eglinton1 1ETH Zurich, Geological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland ([email protected]) 2Tribhuvan University, Department of Geology, Kathmandu, Nepal 3ETH Zurich, Ion Beam Physics, Zurich, Switzerland 4Colorado State University, Department of Geosciences, Fort Collins, USA 5CNRS – Université de Lorraine, Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France Soil erosion in high mountain ranges plays an important role in redistributing soil organic carbon across landscapes and may influence the global climate on different timescales [1, 2]. Here, we investigate the dynamics of soil organic matter export in the steep mountain belt of the Himalaya by tracing the provenance of soil-derived lipids in riverine sediments from nested catchments with areas ranging from 370 to 57700 km2. Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are a suite of lipids that occur ubiquitously in soils [3, 4]. Their isomer distribution depends on environmental parameters such as the mean annual temperature of the local environment [3]. In this study, we explore the use of brGDGT distributions as a proxy for the altitudinal provenance of soil organic matter in riverine sediments of the Central Himalaya of Nepal. BrGDGT distributions in soils collected along an altitudinal profile, spanning elevations from 200 to 4450 m asl, yield a robust calibration of soil signatures as a function of elevation. This calibration is then used to trace the provenance of soil organic matter exported from their catchments and entrained in suspended sediments of rivers draining the Central Himalaya. We show that brGDGT compositions of fluvial sediments accurately reflect the mean elevation of the soil-cover in their respective watersheds. The type of land-cover does not seem to have a significant influence on the export of organic matter at a catchment scale. We, therefore, conclude that soil organic matter mobilization in the Himalaya occurs pervasively, and is currently insensitive to anthropogenic perturbations. [1] Stockmann et al., 2013 – Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 164 [2] France-Lanord & Derry, 1997 – Nature, 390 [3] Weijers et al., 2007 – Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 71 [4] Schouten et al., 2013 – Organic Geochemistry, 54 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Article of a Given In- with Postdepositional Erosion
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 769–787, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-769-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Timing of exotic, far-traveled boulder emplacement and paleo-outburst flooding in the central Himalayas Marius L. Huber1,a, Maarten Lupker1, Sean F. Gallen2, Marcus Christl3, and Ananta P. Gajurel4 1Geological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland 2Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA 3Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP), Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland 4Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal acurrent address: Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRPG, 54000 Nancy, France Correspondence: Marius L. Huber ([email protected]) Received: 28 February 2020 – Discussion started: 20 March 2020 Revised: 21 July 2020 – Accepted: 11 August 2020 – Published: 22 September 2020 Abstract. Large boulders, ca. 10 m in diameter or more, commonly linger in Himalayan river channels. In many cases, their lithology is consistent with source areas located more than 10 km upstream, suggesting long trans- port distances. The mechanisms and timing of “exotic” boulder emplacement are poorly constrained, but their presence hints at processes that are relevant for landscape evolution and geohazard assessments in mountainous regions. We surveyed river reaches of the Trishuli and Sunkoshi, two trans-Himalayan rivers in central Nepal, to improve our understanding of the processes responsible for exotic boulder transport and the timing of em- placement. Boulder size and channel hydraulic geometry were used to constrain paleo-flood discharge assuming turbulent, Newtonian fluid flow conditions, and boulder exposure ages were determined using cosmogenic nu- clide exposure dating.
[Show full text]
Sediment Transport to the Laptev Sea-Hydrology and Geochemistry of the Lena River
Sediment transport to the Laptev Sea-hydrology and geochemistry of the Lena River V. RACHOLD, A. ALABYAN, H.-W. HUBBERTEN, V. N. KOROTAEV and A. A, ZAITSEV Rachold, V., Alabyan, A., Hubberten, H.-W., Korotaev, V. N. & Zaitsev, A. A. 1996: Sediment transport to the Laptev Sea-hydrology and geochemistry of the Lena River. Polar Research 15(2), 183-196. This study focuses on the fluvial sediment input to the Laptev Sea and concentrates on the hydrology of the Lena basin and the geochemistry of the suspended particulate material. The paper presents data on annual water discharge, sediment transport and seasonal variations of sediment transport. The data are based on daily measurements of hydrometeorological stations and additional analyses of the SPM concentrations carried out during expeditions from 1975 to 1981. Samples of the SPM collected during an expedition in 1994 were analysed for major, trace, and rare earth elements by ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Approximately 700 h3freshwater and 27 x lo6 tons of sediment per year are supplied to the Laptev Sea by Siberian rivers, mainly by the Lena River. Due to the climatic situation of the drainage area, almost the entire material is transported between June and September. However, only a minor part of the sediments transported by the Lena River enters the Laptev Sea shelf through the main channels of the delta, while the rest is dispersed within the network of the Lena Delta. Because the Lena River drains a large basin of 2.5 x lo6 km2,the chemical composition of the SPM shows a very uniform composition.
[Show full text]
1 Lena Kolarska-Bobińska Completed Transformation: Integration Into the European Union for the Countries of Central and Eastern
Lena Kolarska-Bobiska Completed Transformation: integration into the European Union For the countries of Central and Eastern Europe full integration with the European Union will constitute the crowning moment of their as yet unfinished economic and political transformation. The EU integration process will also become a crucial driving force for changes of the social structure, institutions and group interests whose new framework have been emerging since the fall of the Communist system. This fact that integration into the EU is the final stage of transformation of the candidate countries and not merely a process of adapting to external conditions makes the present enlargement quite different to anything experienced before. When Sweden or Austria sought to join the Western European community their societies had a stable social structure and well-formed and effectively functioning democratic and financial institutions. In their case integration meant no more than adaptation of well developed and stable social systems to some new norms and circumstances and not as in the former Communist run countries the continuation of radical political and social changes. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are countries were a new social order and social structures are emerging. As integration is a driving force for change and is dictating its direction it will have an basic impact on the final character of those societies. In this paper I would focus on the social changes which Poland faces as a result of the integration process and their impact on the evolution of attitudes to membership in the European Union. THE FIRST STAGE OF TRANSFORMATION: FROM ANOMY TO ADAPTATION (1989-1997) The changes in Poland followed a slightly different pattern from those in Hungary or the Czech Republic.
[Show full text]
Moisture Origin As a Driver of Temporal Variabilities of The
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-942 Preprint. Discussion started: 6 January 2020 c Author(s) 2020. CC BY 4.0 License. Moisture origin as a driver of temporal variabilities of the water vapour isotopic composition in the Lena River Delta, Siberia Jean-Louis Bonne1, Hanno Meyer2, Melanie Behrens1, Julia Boike2,3, Sepp Kipfstuhl1, Benjamin Rabe1, Toni Schmidt2, Lutz Schönicke2, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen4, Martin Werner1 5 1Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, 27515 Germany 2Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Potsdam, 14401, Germany 3Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10099, Germany 4Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, 5020, Norway Correspondence to: Jean-Louis Bonne ([email protected]), Martin Werner ([email protected]) 10 Abstract. In the context of the Arctic amplification of climate change affecting the regional atmospheric hydrological cycle, it is crucial to characterize the present-day’s moisture sources of the Arctic. The isotopic composition is an important tool to enhance our understanding of the drivers of the hydrological cycle, due to the different molecular characteristics of water stable isotopes during phase change. This study introduces two years of continuous in situ water vapour and precipitation isotopic observations conducted since July 2015 in the east-Siberian Lena delta, at the research station on the Samoylov 15 Island. The vapour isotopic signals are dominated by variations at the seasonal and synoptic time scales. Diurnal variations of the vapour isotopic signals are masked by synoptic variations, indicating low variations of the amplitude of local sources at the diurnal scale in winter, summer and autumn.
[Show full text]
Late Quaternary Sedimentation History of the Lena Delta Georg Schwamborna,*, Volker Racholda, Mikhail N
Quaternary International 89 (2002) 119–134 Late Quaternary sedimentation history of the Lena Delta Georg Schwamborna,*, Volker Racholda, Mikhail N. Grigorievb a Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany b Permafrost Institute, Russian Academyof Sciences, 677018 Yakutsk, Yakutia, Russia Abstract Core and outcrop analysis from Lena mouth deposits have been used to reconstruct the Late Quaternary sedimentation history of the Lena Delta. Sediment properties (heavy mineral composition, grain size characteristics, organic carbon content) and age determinations (14C AMSand IR-OSL)are applied to discriminate the main sedimentary units of the three major geomorphic terraces, which form the delta. The development of the terraces is controlled by complex interactions among the following four factors: (1) Channel migration. According to the distribution of 14C and IR-OSL age determinations of Lena mouth sediments, the major river runoff direction shifted from the west during marine isotope stages 5–3 (third terrace deposits) towards the northwest during marine isotope stage 2 and transition to stage 1 (second terrace), to the northeast and east during the Holocene (first terrace deposits). (2) Eustasy. Sea level rise from Last Glacial lowstand to the modern sea level position, reached at 6–5 ka BP, resulted in back-filling and flooding of the palaeovalleys. (3) Neotectonics. The extension of the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge into the Laptev Sea shelf acted as a halfgraben, showing dilatation movements with different subsidence rates. From the continent side, differential neotectonics with uplift and transpression in the Siberian coast ridges are active. Both likely have influenced river behavior by providing sites for preservation, with uplift, in particular, allowing accumulation of deposits in the second terrace in the western sector.
[Show full text]
The Russian Far East
TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND CONSTRAINT S IN THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS : Chapter 5 : TILE RUSSIAN FAR EAS T AUTHOR : HOLLY STRAND THE NATIONAL COUNCI L FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE VIII PROGRA M 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, N .W . Washington, D .C. 20036 PROJECT INFORMATION :* CONTRACTOR : San Diego State University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Philip R . Pryde COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 807-04 DATE : July 27, 1994 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Individual researchers retain the copyright on work products derived from research funded b y Council Contract. The Council and the U.S. Government have the right to duplicate written reports and other materials submitted under Council Contract and to distribute such copies within th e Council and U .S. Government for their own use, and to draw upon such reports and materials fo r their own studies; but the Council and U.S. Government do not have the right to distribute, o r make such reports and materials available, outside the Council or U.S. Government without th e written consent of the authors, except as may be required under the provisions of the Freedom o f Information Act 5 U.S.C. 552, or other applicable law . The work leading to this report was supported in part by contract funds provided by the National Council fo r Soviet and East European Research, made available by the U. S. Department of State under Title VIII (the Soviet - Eastern European Research and Training Act of 1983) . The analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those ofthe author. NCSEER NOTE This report is part of a Council funded research project entitled Environmenta l Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republics .
[Show full text]
Sino-Russian Gas Connections and Impacts
THE JAMES A. BAKER III INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY OF RICE UNIVERSITY JAPANESE ENERGY SECURITY AND CHANGING GLOBAL ENERGY MARKETS: AN ANALYSIS OF NORTHEAST ASIAN ENERGY COOPERATION AND JAPAN’S EVOLVING LEADERSHIP ROLE IN THE REGION SINO-RUSSIAN GAS CONNECTIONS AND IMPACTS XIAOJIE XU PETROSTRATEGICSTUDIES BEIJING, CHINA PREPARED IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN ENERGY STUDY SPONSORED BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE JAMES A. BAKER III INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RICE UNIVERSITY – MAY 2000 Sino-Russian Gas Connections and Impacts CONTENT INTRODUCTION CHANGING ENERGY PICTURE IN NORTHEAST ASIA 1. Energy Demands 2. New Hydrocarbon Sources SEARCHING FOR COOPERATION 1. Quests for Russian Resources - Japan - South Korea - North Korea and Mongolia - China 2. Sino-Russian Gas Cooperation - Gas import options and routes - E&P joint ventures in Russia - Extensive cooperation - Financial arrangements - Environmental protection - Governmental coordination - Risk management GEOPOLITICS 1. Geopolitical impacts 2. Geopolitical comparison CONCLUSIONS 1. Prospects 2. Strategic Choices ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS REFERENCE 2 Sino-Russian Gas Connections and Impacts INTRODUCTION Northeast Asia (N. E. Asia), a sub-region on the Eurasian continent, is strategically significant both geographically and economically. The region has a history of strife including the Russian occupation of Japanese northern islands, the separation of the Koreas as result of Korean War and the Japanese invasion of China during the World War II. Economic connections and political cooperation in this region was minimal during the entire Cold War. Energy producing countries did not export to key consumers in the region. Russian Siberia is bestowed with huge hydrocarbon resources and serves as a large non- OPEC producer competing with OPEC.
[Show full text]
Lost in Annexation?
Lost in Annexation? The Causes of Russia’s Foreign Policy Choices in Crimea Anno 2014 Árni Þór Sigurðsson Lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í alþjóðasamskiptum Félagsvísindasvið 2015 Lost in Annexation? The Causes of Russia’s Foreign Policy Choices in Crimea Anno 2014 Árni Þór Sigurðsson Lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í alþjóðasamskiptum Leiðbeinandi: Alyson J.K. Bailes Stjórnmálafræðideild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands Júní 2015 Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í alþjóðasamskiptum og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Árni Þór Sigurðsson 2015 3007604579 Reykjavík, Ísland 2015 To my children, Arnbjörg Soffía, Ragnar Auðun, and Sigurður Kári ABSTRACT Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 marked a dramatic turning point in East-West relations. Likewise, it signalled a watershed in Russia’s policy in the near abroad, most importantly with Ukraine, with whom Russia has shared fate and fortune through centuries. What may have caused Russia’s resort to such an assertive move against its brother nation, violating international law in many people’s opinion, and jeopardising its renommé in world politics? The two nations’ common history and culture, and extensively shared identity, were in full play in this ‘Borderland’ crisis, and so were concrete concerns of geopolitics as the Black Sea region is of utmost significance for Russia. This study examines continuity and change in Russian foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, and inter alia considers the role of President Putin. While traditional realist balance-of-power analysis might appear to fit the Crimea case, Russia’s foreign policy choices cannot be fully explained or understood unless due weight is accorded to the historical and ideational context, in keeping with constructivist tenets.
[Show full text]
Archaeological Institute of Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Japan. E-Mail: [email protected]
A HISTORY OF RUSSIAN ACTIVITIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST Kazuo Morimoto1 INTRODUCTION How many Japanese have a concrete image if he or she is asked about Siberia? Most Japanese may have vague images of the Trans Siberia Railroad, a vast wilderness with white birch, or the miserable fate of Japanese prisoners of war after the defeat of the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria. As the vast Siberia lies just across the Sea of Japan, the Japanese sometimes consider it as a neighboring country. After the Second World War, this region was in a vulnerable situation because the interests of various big powers such as the United States, Russia and China concentrated attention on Northeast Asia during the Cold War. This geo-political situation led the Japanese people and government to conceive of Siberia as a place very far from Japan. Although they are Japan’s neighbors, most Japanese do not have close feelings toward China and Russia, whereas they do feel close ties to America which is quite far across the Pacific Ocean. Basically, among the Japanese there still remains an attitude of indifference to China and Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian economics and politics took steps towards 'perestroika' and their previously closed trade and diplomacy were opened to the Western world. In October 1993, Russian President Yeltsin visited Japan and signed the Tokyo Declaration regarding the Kuril Islands issue and the Economic Declaration for promoting economic investment from Japan. At the meeting of the Keizai Doyukai on 24 July 1997, Japanese Prime Minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, proposed "Eurasian Diplomacy" which suggested a new Japanese economic strategy towards Russia and the Central Asia with long-term perspective.
[Show full text]
Burlington House
Sustainable Resource Development in the Himalaya HiHimalaHimalaya Oral Programme Tuesday 24 June 2014 10.00 Opening Ceremony 12.00 Lunch and posters 14.00 Traversing Disciplinary Borders: Greening Social Development through Interdisciplinary Approaches – Lessons for the Himalayas? Professor Lena Dominelli, Durham University Session theme: The geological framework of the Himalaya Chair: Mr Nic Bilham, Geological Society of London Structural framework of the Himalayas with emphasis on balanced cross 14.30 sections Professor Dilip Mukhopadhyay, IIT Roorkee Geochemical and isotopic constraints on magmatic rocks – some constraints on collision based on new SHRIMP data Professor Talat Ahmed, University of Kashmir Petrogenesis and economic potential of the Early Permian Panjal Traps, Kashmir, India Mr Greg Shellnut, National Taiwan Normal University Earth surface processes and landscape evolution in the Himalaya Professor Lewis Owen, Cincinnati University 16.30 Tea and posters 17.00 Panel discussion Moderator: Shri BD Thappa, Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India 18.00 Close of day Sustainable Resource Development in the Himalaya HiHimalaHimalaya Wednesday 25 June 2014 Session theme: Living in a changing environment Chair: Dr Bindra Thusu, UCL/IERT, University of Jammu 9.00 Short subject presentations Impact of tourism on ecology of Chagthang with special reference to birds Deskyong Namgyal, GDC Kargil Seabuckthorn-next generation eco-friendly crop for fragile Himalayan ecosystem Amjad Ali, Degree College Kargil Conservation &
[Show full text]
Siberian Platform: Geology and Natural Bitumen
Siberian Platform: Geology and Natural Bitumen Resources By Richard F. Meyer and Philip A. Freeman U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006–1316 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Mark Myers, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 2006 For product and ordering information: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS Suggested citation: Meyer, R.F., Freeman, P.A., 2006, Siberian platform: Geology and natural bitumen resources: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1316, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1316/. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report. CONTENTS Summary 1 Introduction 1 Geology 2 Resources 6 References 11 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Sedimentary basins of the Siberian Platform, Russia 23 TABLES Table 1. Siberian Platform name equivalents 19 Table 2. Bitumen resources of Siberian Platform 20 Table 3. Oil fields of the Siberian Platform 22 i Siberian Platform: Geology and Natural Bitumen Resources Richard F. Meyer and Philip A. Freeman Summary: The Siberian platform is located between the Yenisey River on the west and the Lena River on the south and east.
[Show full text]
Essay 1: the First Half of the 20Th Century on the Eastern and Western Frontiers - by Malcolm B
Essay 1: The first half of the 20th century on the eastern and western frontiers - by Malcolm B. Roberts Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, the frontiersmen in both the Russian Far East (RFE) and the Territory of Alaska built large scale rail projects, found and developed minerals and harvested wildlife for food, hides and fur. The newcomers mostly ignored or marginalized the indigenous tribes while Christian and Communist “missionaries” set out to replace traditional shamanism with other belief systems. (See Essay 3 – “Indigenous peoples on the 20th century frontiers”). Both the Alaska Territory and the RFE were thousands of miles from their national capitals and yet were funded and dominated by their respective federal bureaucracies. Gold played a major role on the frontiers, sparking a world renowned stampede to Alaska and providing substantial funding for the Soviet regime. The Russian Revolution led to a clash of ideologies between the so-called East and West that cut off communications. Many of the coastal cities and villages became military ports and outposts. The tension diminished when the Soviet Union and America joined forces in World War II, but the separation widened again as a result of the “Ice Curtain” that kept these next door neighbors isolated from one another for nearly 40 years. Excitement and tension At the dawn of the 20th century, as the sun crossed the zigzagging international dateline where the Eastern and Western frontiers meet, excitement and tension were in the air on both sides of the Bering Sea. An enormous workforce continued to slog its way across the great, mostly flat midsection of the virtually unpopulated Russian continent as they built the Trans Siberian Railroad, the longest in history (construction: 1881–1917).
[Show full text]