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Biomass-derived provenance dominates glacial surface organic carbon in the western Himalaya

Nizam, Sarwar; Sen, Indra Sekhar; Vinoj, V.; Galy, Valier; Selby, David; Azam, Mohammad F.; Pandey, Satyendra Kumar; Creaser, Robert A.; Agarwal, Avinash Kumar; Singh, Akhilendra Pratap; Bizimis, Michael

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Authors

Sarwar Nizam

Indra Sekhar Sen

V. Vinoj

Valier Galy

Mohammad F. Azam

Satyendra Kumar Pandey

Robert A. Creaser

Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Akhilendra Pratap Singh

Michael Bizimis



Abstract

The origin, transport pathways, and spatial variability of total organic carbon (OC) on the western Himalayan glaciers is poorly understood compared to that of black carbon (BC) and dust, but it is critically important to evaluate the climatic role of OC in the region. Applying the distribution of OC activation energy, 14C activity and radiogenic isotopes of 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb and 206Pb/204Pb in glacial debris and atmospheric particulate matter (PM10 size fraction) we demonstrate that 98.3 ± 1.6% and 1.7 ± 1.6% of the OC in western Himalayan glaciers are derived from biomass and petrogenic sources, respectively. The δ13C and N/C composition shows that the biomass is a complex mixture of C3 vegetation and autochthonous photo-autotrophic inputs modified by heterotrophic microbial activity. The dataset reveals that the studied western Himalayan glacier has negligible contributions from fossil fuel-derived particles, which contrasts to the central and eastern Himalayan glaciers that have significant contributions from fossil fuel sources. We show that this spatial variability of OC sources relates to regional differences in air-mass transport pathways and precipitation regimes over the Himalaya. Moreover, our observation suggests that biomass-derived carbon could be the only primary driver of carbon-induced glacier melting in the western Himalaya.

Citation

Nizam, S., Sen, I. S., Vinoj, V., Galy, V., Selby, D., Azam, M. F., …Bizimis, M. (2020). Biomass-derived provenance dominates glacial surface organic carbon in the western Himalaya. Environmental Science and Technology, 54(14), 8612-8621. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02710

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 25, 2020
Online Publication Date Jun 25, 2020
Publication Date Jul 21, 2020
Deposit Date Jul 3, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Environmental Science and Technology
Print ISSN 0013-936X
Electronic ISSN 1520-5851
Publisher American Chemical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 54
Issue 14
Pages 8612-8621
DOI https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02710

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Copyright Statement
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Environmental science & technology copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02710





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