TY - THES A1 - Grosse, Guido T1 - Characterisation and evolution of periglacial landscapes in Northern Siberia during the Late Quaternary : remote sensing and GIS studies T1 - Charakterisierung und Evolution periglazialer Landschaften in Nordsibirien während des Spätquartärs : Fernerkundungs- und GIS-Studien N2 - About 24 % of the land surface in the northern hemisphere are underlayed by permafrost in various states. Permafrost aggradation occurs under special environmental conditions with overall low annual precipitation rates and very low mean annual temperatures. Because the general permafrost occurrence is mainly driven by large-scale climatic conditions, the distribution of permafrost deposits can be considered as an important climate indicator. The region with the most extensive continuous permafrost is Siberia. In northeast Siberia, the ice- and organic-rich permafrost deposits of the Ice Complex are widely distributed. These deposits consist mostly of silty to fine-grained sandy sediments that were accumulated during the Late Pleistocene in an extensive plain on the then subaerial Laptev Sea shelf. One important precondition for the Ice Complex sedimentation was, that the Laptev Sea shelf was not glaciated during the Late Pleistocene, resulting in a mostly continuous accumulation of permafrost sediments for at least this period. This shelf landscape became inundated and eroded in large parts by the Holocene marine transgression after the Last Glacial Maximum. Remnants of this landscape are preserved only in the present day coastal areas. Because the Ice Complex deposits contain a wide variety of palaeo-environmental proxies, it is an excellent palaeo-climate archive for the Late Quaternary in the region. Furthermore, the ice-rich Ice Complex deposits are sensible to climatic change, i.e. climate warming. Because of the large-scale climatic changes at the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene, the Ice Complex was subject to extensive thermokarst processes since the Early Holocene. Permafrost deposits are not only an environmental indicator, but also an important climate factor. Tundra wetlands, which have developed in environments with aggrading permafrost, are considered a net sink for carbon, as organic matter is stored in peat or is syn-sedimentary frozen with permafrost aggradation. Contrary, the Holocene thermokarst development resulted in permafrost degradation and thus the release of formerly stored organic carbon. Modern tundra wetlands are also considered an important source for the climate-driving gas methane, originating mainly from microbial activity in the seasonal active layer. Most scenarios for future global climate development predict a strong warming trend especially in the Arctic. Consequently, for the understanding of how permafrost deposits will react and contribute to such scenarios, it is necessary to investigate and evaluate ice-rich permafrost deposits like the widespread Ice Complex as climate indicator and climate factor during the Late Quaternary. Such investigations are a pre-condition for the precise modelling of future developments in permafrost distribution and the influence of permafrost degradation on global climate. The focus of this work, which was conducted within the frame of the multi-disciplinary joint German-Russian research projects "Laptev Sea 2000" (1998-2002) and "Dynamics of Permafrost" (2003-2005), was twofold. First, the possibilities of using remote sensing and terrain modelling techniques for the observation of periglacial landscapes in Northeast Siberia in their present state was evaluated and applied to key sites in the Laptev Sea coastal lowlands. The key sites were situated in the eastern Laptev Sea (Bykovsky Peninsula and Khorogor Valley) and the western Laptev Sea (Cape Mamontovy Klyk region). For this task, techniques using CORONA satellite imagery, Landsat-7 satellite imagery, and digital elevation models were developed for the mapping of periglacial structures, which are especially indicative of permafrost degradation. The major goals were to quantify the extent of permafrost degradation structures and their distribution in the investigated key areas, and to establish techniques, which can be used also for the investigation of other regions with thermokarst occurrence. Geographical information systems were employed for the mapping, the spatial analysis, and the enhancement of classification results by rule-based stratification. The results from the key sites show, that thermokarst, and related processes and structures, completely re-shaped the former accumulation plain to a strongly degraded landscape, which is characterised by extensive deep depressions and erosional remnants of the Late Pleistocene surface. As a results of this rapid process, which in large parts happened within a short period during the Early Holocene, the hydrological and sedimentological regime was completely changed on a large scale. These events resulted also in a release of large amounts of organic carbon. Thermokarst is now the major component in the modern periglacial landscapes in terms of spatial extent, but also in its influence on hydrology, sedimentation and the development of vegetation assemblages. Second, the possibilities of using remote sensing and terrain modelling as a supplementary tool for palaeo-environmental reconstructions in the investigated regions were explored. For this task additionally a comprehensive cryolithological field database was developed for the Bykovsky Peninsula and the Khorogor Valley, which contains previously published data from boreholes, outcrops sections, subsurface samples, and subsurface samples, as well as additional own field data. The period covered by this database is mainly the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, but also the basal deposits of the sedimentary sequence, interpreted as Pliocene to Early Pleistocene, are contained. Remote sensing was applied for the observation of periglacial strucures, which then were successfully related to distinct landscape development stages or time intervals in the investigation area. Terrain modelling was used for providing a general context of the landscape development. Finally, a scheme was developed describing mainly the Late Quaternary landscape evolution in this area. A major finding was the possibility of connecting periglacial surface structures to distinct landscape development stages, and thus use them as additional palaeo-environmental indicator together with other proxies for area-related palaeo-environmental reconstructions. In the landscape evolution scheme, i.e. of the genesis of the Late Pleistocene Ice Complex and the Holocene thermokarst development, some new aspects are presented in terms of sediment source and general sedimentation conditions. This findings apply also for other sites in the Laptev Sea region. N2 - Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde im Rahmen der multidisziplinären Deutsch-Russischen Verbundprojekte "Laptev See 2000" (1998-2002) und "Dynamik des Permafrost" (2003-2005) erstellt. Etwa 24 % der Landoberfläche der Erde sind von Permafrost unterlagert. Die ausgedehntesten Permafrostgebiete befinden sich heute in Sibirien. In Nordostsibirien, das während der letzten Eiszeit nicht von Inlandeismassen bedeckt bedeckt war, lagerten sich während dieser Zeit mächtige eisreiche Permafrostsedimente ab. Die durch den nacheiszeitlichen Meeresspiegelanstieg um ca. 120 Meter nur noch in den heutigen Küstengebieten erhaltenen Ablagerungen sind zum Teil hervorragende Paläoklimaarchive, die verschiedenste fossile organische Überreste der Eiszeitlichen Fauna und Flora konserviert haben. Aber auch die Sedimente und das enthalten Grundeis enthalten Klimainformationen z.B. die aus Mineralogie, Ablagerungsmilieu oder geochemischer und isotopenchemischer Zusammensetzung gewonnen werden können. Der hohe Eisgehalt in den Sedimenten führte mit Beginn der holozänen Warmzeit zur Bildung von Thermokarst und Thermo-Erosion, d.h. zu starken Zersetzungserscheinungen durch Auftauen und Erosion. Thermokarst beschreibt das Schmelzen des Grundeises und die gleichzeitig stattfindende tiefe Absenkung der betroffenen Landoberfläche. Thermokarst geht mit der Bildung von Thermokarstseen einher, deren Wasserkörper ein zusätzlicher Wärmespeicher ist und das Auftauen des darunter liegenden Permafrost verstärken kann. In Sibirien, aber auch anderen Regionen der Arktis, sind weite Gebiete von Thermokarst betroffen. Der Einfluss dieser klimabedingten großräumigen Landschaftsveränderungen in Permafrostgebieten auf den lokalen, regionalen und auch globalen Stoff- und Energiehaushalt ist bisher nur wenig untersucht. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Charakterisierung und Evolution von periglazialen Landschaften im nordsibirischen Laptevsee-Gebiet, die seit dem Beginn des Holozän von solchen klimatisch bedingten Veränderungen betroffen sind, und liefert damit ein Puzzleteil zum einen für die Rekonstruktion der Landschaft und Landschaftsentwicklung als auch Vorraussetzungen für das Verständnis der großräumig wirkenden geologischen und geomorphologischen Veränderungsprozesse. Die generellen Schwerpunkte, für die die vorliegende Arbeit Informationen liefert, sind die Charakterisierung von periglazialen Relief- und Oberflächentypen und die Bestimmung ihrer räumlichen Verbreitung, die Identifizierung und Quantifizierung einzelner geologischer und geomorphologischer Prozesse in diesen Landschaften, und die Rekonstruktion der Entwicklung periglazialer Landschaften im Spätquartär für Schlüsselgebiete im Küstengebiet der nordsibirischen Laptevsee. Um diese generellen Schwerpunkte zu erreichen, werden verschiedene Einzelziele in der Arbeit verfolgt: Die Entwicklung and Anwendung von Satellitenfernerkundungstechniken zur Analyse periglazialer Landschaften in Nordsibirien. Dazu werden hochauflösende Corona-Satellitendaten und multispektrale Landsat-7 Satellitendaten verwendet. Die Untersuchung von Satellitenbildern, mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Oberflächen, die von der Zersetzung des eisreichen Permafrosts betroffen sind Die Entwicklung von hochauflösenden digitalen Geländemodellen für die geomorphologische Analyse in zwei Schlüsselgebieten Die räumliche Untersuchung der gewonnenen Daten mit Hilfe von geographischen Informationssystemen, mit einem Schwerpunkt auf Form, Verteilung und Außmaß von holozänem Thermokarst Das Sammeln und Auswerten von Felddaten, mit Schwerpunkt auf Oberflächeneigenschaften periglazialer Landschaften und der Zusammensetzung der Permafrostablagerungen Die Anwendung der gewonnenen Daten zur Unterstützung, Verbesserung und Ausweitung der lokal gewonnenen Felddaten und Paläoumweltrekonstruktionen, sowie die datengestützte Entwicklung von Vorstellungen zur Landschaftsgenese Weite, Permafrost-dominierte Küstentiefländer der heutigen Laptevsee in Nordost-Sibirien sind durch die spätpleistozänen Ablagerungen des Eiskomplex aufgebaut. Diese zumeist schluffig bis mittelsandigen Ablagerungen sind durch einen sehr großen Eisgehalt in Form von verteiltem Grundeis und großer syngenetischer Eiskeile, sowie einem relativ hohen Anteil an organischen Resten gekennzeichnet. Mit Beginn der holozänen Klimaerwärmung kam es zur weitläufigen Bildung von Thermokarst. KW - Dauerfrostboden KW - Periglazial KW - Periglazialgeomorphologie KW - Sibirien KW - Fernerkundung KW - Optische Fernerkundung KW - Geomorphologie KW - Permafrost KW - Thermokarst KW - Sibirien KW - Klimawandel KW - Siberia KW - Global change KW - Geomorphology Y1 - 2005 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-5544 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palagushkina, Olga A1 - Wetterich, Sebastian A1 - Biskaborn, Boris A1 - Nazarova, Larisa B. A1 - Schirrmeister, Lutz A1 - Lenz, Josefine A1 - Schwamborn, Georg A1 - Grosse, Guido T1 - Diatom records and tephra mineralogy in pingo deposits of Seward Peninsula, Alaska JF - Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences N2 - Vast areas of the terrestrial Subarctic and Arctic are underlain by permafrost. Landscape evolution is therefore largely controlled by climate-driven periglacial processes. The response of the frozen ground to late Quaternary warm and cold stages is preserved in permafrost sequences, and deducible by multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental approaches. Here, we analyse radiocarbon-dated mid-Wisconsin Interstadial and Holocene lacustrine deposits preserved in the Kit-1 pingo permafrost sequence combined with water and surface sediment samples from nine modern water bodies on Seward Peninsula (NW Alaska) to reconstruct thermokarst dynamics and determine major abiotic factors that controlled the aquatic ecosystem variability. Our methods comprise taxonomical diatom analyses as well as Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA). Our results show, that the fossil diatom record reflects thermokarst lake succession since about 42 C-14 kyr BP. Different thermolcarst lake stages during the mid-Wisconsin Interstadial, the late Wisconsin and the early Holocene are mirrored by changes in diatom abundance, diversity, and ecology. We interpret the taxonomical changes in the fossil diatom assemblages in combination with both modern diatom data from surrounding ponds and existing micropalaeontological, sedimentological and mineralogical data from the pingo sequence. A diatom based quantitative reconstruction of lake water pH indicates changing lake environments during mid-Wisconsin to early Holocene stages. Mineralogical analyses indicate presence of tephra fallout and its impact on fossil diatom communities. Our comparison of modern and fossil diatom communities shows the highest floristic similarity of modern polygon ponds to the corresponding initial (shallow water) development stages of thermolcarst lakes. We conclude, that mid-Wisconsin thermokarst processes in the study area could establish during relatively warm interstadial climate conditions accompanied by increased precipitation due to approaching coasts, while still high continentality and hence high seasonal temperature gradients led to warm summers in the central part of Beringia. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Microalgae assemblages KW - Palaeoenvironments KW - Thermokarst KW - Late Quaternary KW - Permafrost Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.04.006 SN - 0031-0182 SN - 1872-616X VL - 479 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heslop, J. K. A1 - Anthony, K. M. Walter A1 - Grosse, Guido A1 - Liebner, Susanne A1 - Winkel, Matthias T1 - Century-scale time since permafrost thaw affects temperature sensitivity of net methane production in thermokarst-lake and talik sediments JF - The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man N2 - Permafrost thaw subjects previously frozen soil organic carbon (SOC) to microbial degradation to the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Emission of these gases constitutes a positive feedback to climate warming. Among numerous uncertainties in estimating the strength of this permafrost carbon feedback (PCF), two are: (i) how mineralization of permafrost SOC thawed in saturated anaerobic conditions responds to changes in temperature and (ii) how microbial communities and temperature sensitivities change over time since thaw. To address these uncertainties, we utilized a thermokarst-lake sediment core as a natural chronosequence where SOC thawed and incubated in situ under saturated anaerobic conditions for up to 400 years following permafrost thaw. Initial microbial communities were characterized, and sediments were anaerobically incubated in the lab at four temperatures (0 °C, 3 °C, 10 °C, and 25 °C) bracketing those observed in the lake's talik. Net CH4 production in freshly-thawed sediments near the downward-expanding thaw boundary at the base of the talik were most sensitive to warming at the lower incubation temperatures (0 °C to 3 °C), while the overlying sediments which had been thawed for centuries had initial low abundant methanogenic communities (< 0.02%) and did not experience statistically significant increases in net CH4 production potentials until higher incubation temperatures (10 °C to 25 °C). We propose these observed differences in temperature sensitivities are due to differences in SOM quality and functional microbial community composition that evolve over time; however further research is necessary to better constrain the roles of these factors in determining temperature controls on anaerobic C mineralization. KW - Carbon KW - Lake sediments KW - Methane KW - Permafrost KW - Talik KW - Temperature sensitivity Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.402 SN - 0048-9697 SN - 1879-1026 VL - 691 SP - 124 EP - 134 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -