Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T20:50:23.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Age of Soils in Oases of East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2016

E Zazovskaya ,
N Mergelov ,
V Shishkov ,
A Dolgikh ,
V Miamin ,
A Cherkinsky  and
S Goryachkin
E Zazovskaya*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Radiocarbon Dating & Electronic Microscopy, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
N Mergelov
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
V Shishkov
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Radiocarbon Dating & Electronic Microscopy, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
A Dolgikh
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
V Miamin
Affiliation:
Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Department of Biology, Minsk, Belarus
A Cherkinsky
Affiliation:
University of Georgia, Center for Applied Isotope Studies, Athens, GA, USA
S Goryachkin
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: zaszovsk@gmail.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses radiocarbon dating results for soils and soil-like systems in the East Antarctic oases, including Schirmacher, Thala Hills, and Larsemann Hills. The organic matter of endolithic and hypolithic systems, soils of wind shelters, and soils under moss-algae vegetation were dated along with micro- and macroprofiles. Organic matter pools formed under extreme climatic conditions and originated not from vascular plants but from cryptogamic organisms, and photoautotrophic microbes have been identified within the oases of the East Antarctica. The organic matter of the most of East Antarctic soils is young and cannot reach a steady state because of the high dynamism in the soil cover due to active erosion. The oldest soil organic matter in East Antarctica was found in the soils formed in wind shelters and endolithic soil-like systems under the protection of consolidated rock surfaces. According to our data, the maximal duration for the formation of organic matter profiles within the oases of East Antarctica is ~500 yr, which is similar to the age determined for High Arctic soils in Eurasia. The absence of older soils, comparable with the Holocene deglaciation, can be due to the extreme conditions resulting in occasional catastrophic events that destroyed the soil organic horizons.

Keywords

Antarcticasoilssoil-like systemsorganic carbon14C datingextreme environment
Type
Cosmogenic Isotopes in Studies of Soil Dynamics
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 2: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , April 2017 , pp. 489 - 503
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

Abakumov, EV. 2010. The sources and composition of humus in some soils of West Antarctica. Eurasian Soil Science 43(5):499–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aleksandrov, MV. 1985. Landscape Structure and Mapping of Oases Enderby Land. Moscow: Gidrometeoizdat. 152 p. In Russian.Google Scholar
Balks, MR, López-Martínez, J, Goryachkin, SV, Mergelov, NS, Schaefer, CEGR, Simas, FNB, Almond, PC, Claridge, GGC, McLeod, M, Scarrow, J. 2013. Windows on Antarctic soil landscape relationships: comparison across selected regions of Antarctica. In: Hambrey MJ, Barker PF, Barrett PJ, Bowman V, Davies B, Smellie JL, Tranter M, editors. Antarctic Palaeoenvironments and Earth-Surface Processes. Special Publications, 381. London: Geological Society of London. p 397–410.Google Scholar
Beilke, AJ, Bockheim, JG. 2013. Carbon and nitrogen trends in soil chronosequences of the Transantarctic Mountains. Geoderma 197–198:117–125.Google Scholar
Beyer, L. 2000. Properties, formation, and geo-ecological significance of organic soils in the coastal region of East Antarctica (Wilkes Land). Catena 39(2):79–93.Google Scholar
Beyer, L, Blume, HP, Sorge, C, Schulten, HR, Erlenkeuser, H, Schneider, D. 1997. Humus composition and transformation in a Pergelic Cryohemist of coastal Antarctica. Arctic and Alpine Research 29(3):358–365.Google Scholar
Beyer, L, White, DM, Pingpank, K, Bölter, M. 2004. Composition and transformation of soil organic matter in Cryosols and Gelic Histosols in coastal eastern Antarctica (Casey Station, Wilkes Land). In: Kimble JM, editor. Cryosols. Berlin: Springer. p 525–556.Google Scholar
Blume, HP, Beyer, L, Bölter, M, Erlenkeuser, H, Kalk, E, Kneesch, S, Pfisterer, U, Schneider, D. 1997. Pedogenic zonation of the southern circum-polar region. Advances in Geoecology 30:69–90.Google Scholar
Bockheim, JG, editor. 2015. The Soils of Antarctica. Basel: Springer International. 322 p.Google Scholar
Bockheim, JG, Balks, MR, McLeod, M. 2006. ANTPAS Guide for Describing, Sampling, Analyzing and Classifying Soils of the Antarctic Region. Earth. URL: http://erth.waikato.ac.nz/antpas/.Google Scholar
Bokhorst, S, Huiskes, A, Convey, P, Aerts, R. 2007. Climate change effects on organic matter decomposition rates in ecosystems from the maritime Antarctic and Falkland Islands. Global Change Biology 13(12):2642–2653.Google Scholar
Bölter, M, Kandeler, E. 2004. Microorganisms and microbial processes in Antarctic soils. In: Kimble JM, editor. Cryosols. Berlin: Springer. p 557–572.Google Scholar
Dolgikh, AV, Mergelov, NS, Abramov, AA, Lupachev, AV, Goryachkin, SV. 2015. Soils of Enderby Land. In: Bockheim JG, editor. The Soils of Antarctica. Basel: Springer International. p 45–63.Google Scholar
Goryachkin, SV, Cherkinsky, AE, Chichagova, OA. 2000. The soil organic carbon dynamics in high latitudes of Eurasia using 14C data and the impact of potential climate change. In: Lal R, Kimble JM, Stewart BA, editors. Global Climate and Cold Regions Ecosystems. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers. p 145–161.Google Scholar
Goryachkin, SV, Gilichinskii, DA, Mergelov, NS, Konyushkov, DE, Lupachev, AV, Abramov, AA, Zazovskaya, EP. 2012. Soils of Antarctica: first results, problems, and prospects of the study. In: Kasimov NS, Gerasimova MI, editors. Geochemistry of Landscapes and Soil Geography (on the 100th Jubilee of M.A. Glazovskaya). Moscow: Nauka. p 365–392. In Russian.Google Scholar
Hodgson, DA, Noon, PE, Vyverman, W, Bryant, CL, Gore, DB, Appleby, P, Gilmour, M, Verleyen, E, Sabbe, K, Jones, VJ, Ellis-Evans, JC, Wood, PB. 2001. Were the Larsemann Hills ice-free through the Last Glacial Maximum? Antarctic Science 13(4):440–454.Google Scholar
Hogg, AG, Hua, Q, Blackwell, PG, Niu, M, Buck, CE, Guilderson, TP, Heaton, TJ, Palmer, JG, Reimer, PJ, Reimer, RW, Turney, CSM, Zimmerman, SRH. 2013. SHCal13 Southern Hemisphere calibration, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1889–1903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, DW, Sparrow, AD, Gregorichm, EG, Elberling, B, Novis, P, Fraser, F, Greenfield, LG. 2009. Isotopic evidence for the provenance and turnover of organic carbon by soil microorganisms in the Antarctic dry valleys. Environmental Microbiology 11(3):597–608.Google Scholar
Hopkins, DW, Newsham, KK, Dungait, AJ. 2014. Primary production and links to carbon cycling in Antarctic. In: Cowan DA, editor. Antarctic Terrestrial Microbiology. Berlin: Springer. p 233–249.Google Scholar
Hua, Q, Barbetti, M, Rakowski, AJ. 2013. Atmospheric radiocarbon for the period 1950–2010. Radiocarbon 55(4):2059–2072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IUSS Working Group. 2014. World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. World Soil Resources Reports No. 106. Rome: FAO. 192 p.Google Scholar
Johnston, CG, Vestal, R. 1991. Photosynthetic carbon incorporation and turnover in Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial communities: Are they the slowest growing communities on earth? Applied and Environmental Microbiology 57(8):2308–2311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mergelov, NS. 2014. Soils of the wet valleys in Larsemann and Vestfold Hills (Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica). Eurasian Soil Science 47(9):845–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mergelov, NS, Goryachkin, SV, Shorkunov, IG, Zazovskaya, EP, Cherkinsky, AE. 2012. Endolitic pedogenesis and rock varnish on massive crystalline rocks in East Antarctica. Eurasian Soil Science 45:901–917.Google Scholar
Mergelov, NS, Konyushkov, DE, Lupachev, AV, Goryachkin, SV. 2015. Soils of MacRobertson Land. In: Bockheim JG, editor. The Soils of Antarctica. Basel Springer International. p 65–86.Google Scholar
Mergelov, NS, Shorkunov, IG, Targulian, VO, Dolgikh, AV, Abrosimov, KN, Zazovskaya, EP, Goryachkin, SV. 2016. Soil-like patterns inside the rocks: structure, genesis, and research techniques. In: Frank-Kamenetskaya OV, Panova EG, Vlasov DY, editors. Biogenic-Abiogenic Interactions in Natural and Anthropogenic Systems. Basel: Springer International. p 205–222.Google Scholar
Miura, H, Maemoku, H, Morikawi, K, Seto, K, Moriwaki, K. 1998. Late Quaternary East Antarctic melting event in the Soya coast region based on stratigraphy and oxygen isotopic ratio of fossil molluscs. Polar Geoscience 11:260–274.Google Scholar
Němec, M, Wacker, L, Gäggeler, H. 2010. Optimization of the graphitization process at AGE-1. Radiocarbon 52(2–3):1380–1383.Google Scholar
Riffenburgh, B, editor. 2007. Encyclopedia of the Antarctic. New York: Routledge. 1272 p.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff. 2010. Keys to Soil Taxonomy. 11th edition. Washington, DC: USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service. 372 p.Google Scholar
Squire, AH, Hodgson, DA, Keely, J. 2005. Evidence of late Quaternary environmental change in a continental east Antarctic lake from lacustrine sedimentary pigment distributions. Antarctic Science 17(3):361–376.Google Scholar
Sun, HJ, Friedmann, EI. 1999. Growth on geological time scales in the Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial community. Geomicrobiology Journal 16(2):193–202.Google Scholar
Takada, M, Miura, H, Zwartz, DP. 1998. Radiocarbon and thermoluminescence ages in the Mt Riiser-Larsen area, Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Polar Geoscience 11:239–248.Google Scholar
Tedrow, JCF. 1991. Pedologic linkage between the cold desert of Antarctica and the polar deserts of the high Arctic. In: Contributions of Antarctic Research II, Antarctic Research Series 53. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. p 1–17.Google Scholar
Verkulich, SR, Pushina, ZV, Sokratova, IN, Tatur, A. 2011. Change of glaciation in Schirmacher Oasis (East Antarctica) from the end of the Late Pleistocene. Ice and Snow 2(114):116–122. In Russian.Google Scholar
Wacker, L, Němec, M, Bourquin, J. 2010. A revolutionary graphitisation system: fully automated, compact and simple. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268(7–8):931–934.Google Scholar
Zakharov, VG, Andreev, MP, Solomina, ON. 1988. Changes in glaciation in the area of Amery Ice Shelf (East Antarctica) according to lichenometric data. In: Kotlyakov VM, editor. Antarctica. Moscow: Nauka. p 130–139. In Russian.Google Scholar
Zazovskaya, E, Fedorov-Davydov, D, Sedov, S. 2014. Soils of the Schirmacher Oasis (Queen Maud Land): genesis and classification. In: SCAR Open Science Conference SCAR Open Science Conference & COMNAP Symposium Success through International Cooperation. Auckland, New Zealand. p 272.Google Scholar
Zazovskaya, EP, Fedorov-Davydov, DG, Alekseeva, TV, Dergacheva, MI. 2015. Soils of Queen Maud Land. In: Bockheim JG, editor. The Soils of Antarctica. Basel: Springer International. p 21–44.Google Scholar
Zwartz, DP, Miura, H, Takada, M, Moriwaki, K. 1998. Holocene lake sediments and sea-level change at Mt Riiser-Larsen. Polar Geoscience 11:249–259.Google Scholar