Sergey Zimov
Encyclopedia
Sergei Zimov is a Russia
n scientist who serves as the Director of the Northeast Science Station and is one of the founders of Pleistocene Park
. He is best known for his work in advocating the theory that human overhunting of large herbivores during the Pleistocene
caused Siberia’s grassland-steppe ecosystem
to disappear and for raising awareness as to the important roles permafrost
and thermokarst
lakes play in the global carbon cycle
.
, Sakha Republic, Russia
. He studied and received his degree in geophysics
from Far East State University, located in Vladivostok, Russia
.
Zimov founded the Northeast Science near Cherskii in 1977. Twelve years later, in 1988, he initiated the Pleistocene Park
project. In 1991, Sergei Zimov was awarded the Wolf Vishniac Award at the 4th International Society for Environmental Biochemistry Conference.
Sergei Zimov is the director of the Northeast Science Station. Located near Cherskii, Russia
on the mouth of the Kolyma River
, 150 kilometers south of the Arctic Ocean
, the station serves as a year-round base for international Arctic research. Founded in 1977, the Northeast Science Station boasts three laboratories, a network of field sites, tools for data analysis and communication, transportation, accommodation for visiting researchers, and a year round staff of six. A barge floating on the Kolyma River serves as a traveling dormitory and laboratory.
and Dr. Katey Walter-Anthony
, Sergei Zimov has published a series a collection of scientific papers exposing the importance of permafrost
and high-latitude carbon dioxide
and methane
emissions in the global carbon cycle
. These papers identified methane ebullition from thermokarst
lakes to be a significant source of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas
.
Permafrost is a large global carbon reservoir which has remained frozen throughout much of the Holocene
. Due to recent climate change
, the permafrost is beginning to thaw, releasing stored carbon and forming thermokarst lakes. When the thawed permafrost enters the thermokarst lakes, its carbon is converted into carbon dioxide and methane and released into the atmosphere. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the methane emissions from thermokarst lakes have the potential to initiate a positive feedback cycle
in which increased atmospheric methane concentrations lead to amplified global climate change, which in turn leads to more permafrost thaw and more methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
Zimov initiated the Pleistocene Park project in 1988 in Northeast Siberia near the Northeast Science Station in Cherskii, Republic of Sakha, Russia. Pleistocene Park seeks to test the hypotheses that large herbivore
s maintained the Pleistocene
tundra
steppe
and that overhunting
by humans caused both the animals and Pleistocene ecosystem to vanish.
The grassland-steppe ecosystem
which dominated Siberia during the Pleistocene disappeared 10,000 years ago and was replaced by mossy and forested tundra
. Concurrently, many of the large herbivores who roamed Siberia during the Pleistocene, including mammoth
s, woolly rhinoceros
es, bison
, horse
s, musk oxen, elk
, saiga
, and yak
s, vanished from the region. Today, reindeer
and moose
are the only surviving large herbivores to roam Siberia. Zimov and colleagues believe that human
s, with their constantly improving technology, overhunted the large herbivores and led to their extinction and extirpation. Without herbivores grazing and trampling over the land, mosses, shrubs, and trees were able to take over and replace the grassland ecosystem.
At Pleistocene Park, Zimov is attempting to recreate the Pleistocene
grasslands to demonstrate that the grasslands would have persisted into the Holocene
if humans did not overhunt the herds of Pleistocene herbivores which roamed and maintained the ecosystem. He has demonstrated that grasses take over the landscape 1–2 years after mosses are anthropogenically removed. According to Zimov, re-introducing large herbivores to Siberia would initiate a positive feedback loop
promoting the reestablishment of grassland ecosystems: “The animals, their hooves, they disturb the moss and let grasses grow instead. The soil dries out, the animals deposit their fertilizer, the grass grows more, and more animals can graze.”
Current efforts in the park include reintroducing surviving Pleistocene megafauna into the fenced enclosure until they reach densities to change the vegetation and soil to a steppe grassland ecosystem. Pleistocene Park currently covers an area of 160 square kilometers and contains less than 100 large mammals representing six major herbivore species (horses, moose, reindeer, muskox, elk, and bison). Zimov’s goal for Pleistocene Park is to increase the number of large herbivores to 20 per square kilometer then begin reintroducing predators, including wolves
, bear
s, and Siberian tigers.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n scientist who serves as the Director of the Northeast Science Station and is one of the founders of Pleistocene Park
Pleistocene Park
Pleistocene Park is a nature reserve south of Chersky in the Sakha Republic in northeastern Siberia, where an attempt is being made to recreate the northern steppe grassland ecosystem that flourished in the area during the last ice age.-Goals:...
. He is best known for his work in advocating the theory that human overhunting of large herbivores during the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
caused Siberia’s grassland-steppe ecosystem
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
to disappear and for raising awareness as to the important roles permafrost
Permafrost
In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
and thermokarst
Thermokarst
Thermokarst is a land surface characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws, that occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps...
lakes play in the global carbon cycle
Carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth...
.
Biography, Life, and Work
Sergei Zimov is a Russian scientist who resides in CherskiiChersky (settlement)
Chersky is an urban locality and the administrative center of Nizhnekolymsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Kolyma River east of Yakutsk. Population:...
, Sakha Republic, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. He studied and received his degree in geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
from Far East State University, located in Vladivostok, Russia
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
.
Zimov founded the Northeast Science near Cherskii in 1977. Twelve years later, in 1988, he initiated the Pleistocene Park
Pleistocene Park
Pleistocene Park is a nature reserve south of Chersky in the Sakha Republic in northeastern Siberia, where an attempt is being made to recreate the northern steppe grassland ecosystem that flourished in the area during the last ice age.-Goals:...
project. In 1991, Sergei Zimov was awarded the Wolf Vishniac Award at the 4th International Society for Environmental Biochemistry Conference.
Northeast Science Station
Coordinates: 69 degrees 30 minutes North latitude, 161 degrees 30 minutes East longitudeSergei Zimov is the director of the Northeast Science Station. Located near Cherskii, Russia
Chersky (settlement)
Chersky is an urban locality and the administrative center of Nizhnekolymsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Kolyma River east of Yakutsk. Population:...
on the mouth of the Kolyma River
Kolyma River
The Kolyma River is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia. Itrises in the mountains north of Okhotsk and Magadan, in the area of and...
, 150 kilometers south of the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
, the station serves as a year-round base for international Arctic research. Founded in 1977, the Northeast Science Station boasts three laboratories, a network of field sites, tools for data analysis and communication, transportation, accommodation for visiting researchers, and a year round staff of six. A barge floating on the Kolyma River serves as a traveling dormitory and laboratory.
Permafrost and Methane
In collaboration with Dr. Terry ChapinF. Stuart Chapin III
F. Stuart Chapin III is a professor of Ecology at the Department of Biology and Wildlife of the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska...
and Dr. Katey Walter-Anthony
Katey Walter
Katey M. Walter is an Alaskan aquatic ecologist and biogeochemist researching carbon and nutrient cycling between terrestrial and aquatic systems, and the cryosphere and atmosphere.-Background:...
, Sergei Zimov has published a series a collection of scientific papers exposing the importance of permafrost
Permafrost
In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
and high-latitude carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
and methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
emissions in the global carbon cycle
Carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth...
. These papers identified methane ebullition from thermokarst
Thermokarst
Thermokarst is a land surface characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws, that occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps...
lakes to be a significant source of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
.
Permafrost is a large global carbon reservoir which has remained frozen throughout much of the Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
. Due to recent climate change
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, the permafrost is beginning to thaw, releasing stored carbon and forming thermokarst lakes. When the thawed permafrost enters the thermokarst lakes, its carbon is converted into carbon dioxide and methane and released into the atmosphere. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the methane emissions from thermokarst lakes have the potential to initiate a positive feedback cycle
Positive feedback
Positive feedback is a process in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. That is, A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A. In contrast, a system that responds to a perturbation in a way that reduces its effect is...
in which increased atmospheric methane concentrations lead to amplified global climate change, which in turn leads to more permafrost thaw and more methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
Pleistocene Park
For more information see Pleistocene ParkPleistocene Park
Pleistocene Park is a nature reserve south of Chersky in the Sakha Republic in northeastern Siberia, where an attempt is being made to recreate the northern steppe grassland ecosystem that flourished in the area during the last ice age.-Goals:...
Zimov initiated the Pleistocene Park project in 1988 in Northeast Siberia near the Northeast Science Station in Cherskii, Republic of Sakha, Russia. Pleistocene Park seeks to test the hypotheses that large herbivore
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
s maintained the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
and that overhunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
by humans caused both the animals and Pleistocene ecosystem to vanish.
The grassland-steppe ecosystem
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
which dominated Siberia during the Pleistocene disappeared 10,000 years ago and was replaced by mossy and forested tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
. Concurrently, many of the large herbivores who roamed Siberia during the Pleistocene, including mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
s, woolly rhinoceros
Woolly Rhinoceros
The woolly rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived the last glacial period. The genus name Coelodonta means "cavity tooth"...
es, bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s, musk oxen, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, saiga
Saiga Antelope
The saiga is a Critically Endangered antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathians and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in North America during the Pleistocene...
, and yak
Yak
The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population...
s, vanished from the region. Today, reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
and moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
are the only surviving large herbivores to roam Siberia. Zimov and colleagues believe that human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s, with their constantly improving technology, overhunted the large herbivores and led to their extinction and extirpation. Without herbivores grazing and trampling over the land, mosses, shrubs, and trees were able to take over and replace the grassland ecosystem.
At Pleistocene Park, Zimov is attempting to recreate the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
grasslands to demonstrate that the grasslands would have persisted into the Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
if humans did not overhunt the herds of Pleistocene herbivores which roamed and maintained the ecosystem. He has demonstrated that grasses take over the landscape 1–2 years after mosses are anthropogenically removed. According to Zimov, re-introducing large herbivores to Siberia would initiate a positive feedback loop
Positive feedback
Positive feedback is a process in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. That is, A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A. In contrast, a system that responds to a perturbation in a way that reduces its effect is...
promoting the reestablishment of grassland ecosystems: “The animals, their hooves, they disturb the moss and let grasses grow instead. The soil dries out, the animals deposit their fertilizer, the grass grows more, and more animals can graze.”
Current efforts in the park include reintroducing surviving Pleistocene megafauna into the fenced enclosure until they reach densities to change the vegetation and soil to a steppe grassland ecosystem. Pleistocene Park currently covers an area of 160 square kilometers and contains less than 100 large mammals representing six major herbivore species (horses, moose, reindeer, muskox, elk, and bison). Zimov’s goal for Pleistocene Park is to increase the number of large herbivores to 20 per square kilometer then begin reintroducing predators, including wolves
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
, bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s, and Siberian tigers.
Selected Publications
- Walter, K.M., M. E. Edwards, G. Grosse, S. A. Zimov, F. S. Chapin III. "Thermokarst Lakes as a Source of Atmospheric CH4 During the Last Deglaciation." Science 318.5850 (2007): 633-636. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/318/5850/633
- This paper estimates that 33-87% of high-latitude increases in atmospheric methaneMethaneMethane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
originate from thermokarstThermokarstThermokarst is a land surface characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws, that occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps...
lakes. It is suggested that sediments which have been frozen since the PleistocenePleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
, called yedomaYedomaYedoma is an organic-rich Pleistocene-age loess permafrost with ice content of 50–90% by volume. The amount of carbon trapped in this type of permafrost is much more prevalent than originally thought and may be about 500 Gt, that is almost 100 times the amount of carbon released into the air each...
, will have high methane-releasing potential as they thaw due to climate changeGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
.
- This paper estimates that 33-87% of high-latitude increases in atmospheric methane
- Walter, K.M., S. A. Zimov, J. P. Chanton, D. Verbyla & F. S. Chapin III. "Methane bubbling from Siberian thaw lakes as a positive feedback to climate warming." Nature 443.7107 (2006): 71-75. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7107/abs/nature05040.html
- This paper quantifies methaneMethaneMethane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
emissions from thermokarstThermokarstThermokarst is a land surface characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws, that occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps...
lakes in North SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Most of the methane is sourced to thawing permafrostPermafrostIn geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
from the lake margins.
- This paper quantifies methane
- Zimov, S.A. "Pleistocene Park: Return of the Mammoth's Ecosystem." Science 308.5723 (2005): 796-798. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/308/5723/796.pdf
- This essay outlines the concept behind Pleistocene ParkPleistocene ParkPleistocene Park is a nature reserve south of Chersky in the Sakha Republic in northeastern Siberia, where an attempt is being made to recreate the northern steppe grassland ecosystem that flourished in the area during the last ice age.-Goals:...
, Sergei Zimov’s research site in which he seeks to demonstrate that human overhunting of Pleistocene megafaunaMegafaunaIn terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...
led to the disappearance of the Pleistocene’s grassland-steppeSteppeIn physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
ecosystem.
- This essay outlines the concept behind Pleistocene Park
- Zimov S.A., S.P. Daviodov, G.M. Zimova, A.I. Davidova, F.S. Chapin III, M.C. Chapin, J.F. Reynolds. "Contribution of Disturbance to Increasing Seasonal Amplitude of Atmospheric CO2." Science 284.5422 (1999): 1973. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;284/5422/1973
- This paper suggests that increasing high-latitude ecological disturbances such as fireFireFire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
s and grazingGrazingGrazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
contribute to the long-term increase in atmospheric carbon dioxideCarbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
.
- This paper suggests that increasing high-latitude ecological disturbances such as fire
- Zimov, S.A., E.A.G. Schuur, F. S. Chapin III. "Permafrost and the Global Carbon Budget." Science 312.5780 (2006): 1612-1613. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5780/1612
- This paper contends that permafrostPermafrostIn geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
represents a significant global carbon sink. As climate changeGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
causes permafrost to thaw, the stored carbonCarbonCarbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
will be released and amplify global climate change.
- This paper contends that permafrost
- Zimov S.A., Y.V. Voropaev, I.P. Semiletov, S.P. Davidov, S.F. Prosiannikov, F.S. Chapin III, M.C. Chapin, S. Trumbore, S. Tyler. "North Siberian Lakes: A methane source fueled by Pleistocene carbon." Science 277.5327 (1997): 800. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/277/5327/800?ck=nck
- This paper identifies PleistocenePleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
-aged soils, referred to as yedomaYedomaYedoma is an organic-rich Pleistocene-age loess permafrost with ice content of 50–90% by volume. The amount of carbon trapped in this type of permafrost is much more prevalent than originally thought and may be about 500 Gt, that is almost 100 times the amount of carbon released into the air each...
, as being a major carbonCarbonCarbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
source for methaneMethaneMethane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
emissions from thermokarstThermokarstThermokarst is a land surface characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws, that occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps...
lakes in North Siberia.
- This paper identifies Pleistocene
External links
- The Official Pleistocene Park and Northeast Science Station Website http://www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/
- The Northeast Science Station http://terrychapin.org/station.html