Biogeosciences, 16, 4261–4275, 2019 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4261-2019 © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Stable isotope signatures of Holocene syngenetic permafrost trace seabird presence in the Thule District (NW Greenland) Sebastian Wetterich1, Thomas A. Davidson2, Anatoly Bobrov3, Thomas Opel1, Torben Windirsch1, Kasper L. Johansen4, Ivan González-Bergonzoni5, Anders Mosbech4, and Erik Jeppesen2 1Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany 2Department of Bioscience, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark 3Department of Soil Science, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia 4Department of Bioscience, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark 5Departamento del Agua, CENUR Litoral Norte, Universidad de la República, Paysandú, Uruguay Correspondence: Sebastian Wetterich (
[email protected]) Received: 28 February 2019 – Discussion started: 10 April 2019 Revised: 17 September 2019 – Accepted: 30 September 2019 – Published: 11 November 2019 Abstract. Holocene permafrost from ice wedge polygons in tation was studied at the little auk site and provides the first the vicinity of large seabird breeding colonies in the Thule stable-water isotopic record from Greenland with mean δ18O District, NW Greenland, was drilled to explore the relation of −18:0 ± 0:8 ‰, mean δD of −136:2 ± 5:7 ‰, mean d ex- between permafrost aggradation and seabird presence. The cess of 7:7 ± 0:7 ‰, and a δ18O-δD slope of 7.27, which is latter is reliant on the presence of the North Water Polynya close to those of the modern Thule meteoric water line. The (NOW) in the northern Baffin Bay.