Cryostratigraphy, carbon and nitrogen content and ¹⁴C dating of permafrost cores from sites across the Canadian Arctic

Sustainability of existing infrastructure and new projects in the Arctic rely on a detailed knowledge of the thermal and geotechnical properties of permafrost, which is required to adopt appropriate maintenance and construction practices and select proper structural and thermal engineering designs. Physical properties of permafrost are also used as input variables for the parameterization in thermal modelling and thaw settlement predictive models.

These data series were obtained following the ADAPT permafrost drilling protocol. For lower latitude sites, the top 2 meters of the permafrost, which do not include the active layer, was sampled. At higher latitudes in the continuous permafrost zone where it was difficult to drill into permafrost, only the first meter of permafrost was drilled. Each ADAPT site had two subsites. At each subsite, two boreholes were drilled into the permafrost table(for a maximum of 4 boreholes per ADAPT site) from the base of one of the three soil pits used for the active layer soil sampling.

The frozen cores were recovered for analysis of physical properties (ground ice content and structure, ground water content, grain-size determination, laboratory tests for thermal conductivity measurements) and carbon content. The top and bottom of each core segments (core segments had a maximum length of 30 cm ) were sub-sampled for C-H -N determination giving a minimum of 4 sub-samples per 30 cm. All sub-samples were analysed at the Centre d'études nordiques (CEN) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory of the CEN, where the total mass content of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and hydrogen (H) were also analysed, by combustion using a LECO CHN628 Elemental Analyzer. All permafrost sub-samples were 1) weighed for the determination of the bulk density of the soil, 2) dried and weighed again to determine the water content, and 3) ground and mixed using a mortar and pestle before a subsample was removed and analyzed. Conventional ¹⁴C dating was done at the CEN Radiocarbon Laboratory, and samples for ¹⁴C-AMS dating were prepared at CEN and dated at the University of California Riverside radiocarbon facility.

Cryostratigraphic analyses were done by X-ray computed tomography scans (CT-scans) of frozen cores with a Siemens Somatom 64 scanner at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-ETE) in Québec City. The CT-Scan method is is a non-destructive (thus preserving sample integrity) approach to determine the physical properties of permafrost in undisturbed samples. The cores were scanned over their entire length with a slice thickness of 0.6 mm. According to the core diameter (100 mm), a pixel resolution of 0.2 x 0.2 mm is provided. By selecting a range of tomographic intensity values corresponding to each of the soil components (sediment, ice and gas), voxel classification and quantification of the soil components are achieved using a MATLAB script, therefore providing the fractional volume of the permafrost samples components (soil phase-diagram).

The cryostratigraphic, carbon, nitrogen, water content, and ¹⁴C data analyses were done on samples from 9 ADAPT sites: Arviat, Beaver Creek, Daring Lake, Vallée des Trois (VDT- Umiujaq), BGR (Umiujaq), SAS (Kuujjuarapik), Ward Hunt Island, Bylot Island and Churchill. Further details on ADAPT Standard Protocols are given at the ADAPT website.

Allard, Michel (Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval)

Lemay, Mickaël (ArcticNet/Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval)

Fortier, Daniel (Université de Montréal)

Grogan, Paul (Queen's University)

Berteaux, Dominique (Université du Québec à Rimouski)

Burn, Christopher (Carleton University)

Doré, Guy (Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval)

Gauthier, Gilles (Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval)

Grant, Robert (University of Alberta)

Henry, Greg (University of British Colombia)

Lamoureux, Scott (Queen's University)

Lévesque, Esther (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières)

Pienitz, Reinhard (Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval)

Roulet, Nigel (McGill University)

Vincent, Warwick F. (Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval)

Wolfe, Brent (Wilfrid Laurier University)

The ADAPT team would like to thank all ADAPT HQPs, field and research assistants from the 15 ADAPT laboratories as well as many close collaborators that contributed to the CHN database in applying the standard protocols all across the Canadian Arctic. A special thank to the CEN’s research assistants, Jonathan Roger, Andrée-Sylvie Carbonneau, Denis Sarrazin, Emmanuel L’Hérault, Guillaume Labrecque, Ariane Beauféray-Marais and Luc Cournoyer for their precious help for the sample and data management.

Nordicana D21 - Teneur en carbone, en azote et en eau de la couche active de sites situés dans l'Arctique canadien / Carbon, nitrogen and water content of the active layer from sites across the Canadian Arctic

CCIN 622 - Bylot Island Climatic Database

CCIN 623 - Breeding activity of avian predators on Bylot Island

CCIN 624 - Small mammal monitoring on Bylot Island

CCIN 625 - Plant primary production and goose grazing impact on Bylot Island

CCIN 710 - Breeding activity of geese on Bylot Island

CCIN 711 - Breeding activity of arctic and red fox on Bylot Island

CCIN 1510 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Pangnirtung

CCIN 1511 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Pond Inlet

CCIN 1870 - Vegetation cover data from Daring Lake, NWT

CCIN 1871 - Berry Monitoring Experiment in Kugluktuk, NU

CCIN 9817 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Umiujaq

CCIN 9818 - Erect woody vegetation change analysis in the vicinity of Umiujaq

CCIN 10011 - Vegetation data at Alexandra Fiord

CCIN 10483 - Thermo-erosion gully GIS in Valley of glacier C-79 on Bylot Island

CCIN 10597 - Soil temperature and moisture recordsnear Daring Lake

CCIN 10615 - Beaver Creek experimental site cryofacies

CCIN 11164 - Beaver Creek permafrost cores CT-scans

CCIN 11165 - Differential Global Positionning System

CCIN 11166 - Beaver Creek experimental site geophysical data

CCIN 11167 - Beaver Creek experimental site snow data

CCIN 11168 - Beaver Creek experimental site soil properties

CCIN 11169 - Surface temperature at Beaver Creek

CCIN 11229 - Impact of gully formation on wetland vegetation on Bylot Island

CCIN 11239 - Erect woody vegetation change analysis in the vicinity of Baker Lake

CCIN 11241 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Kugluktuk

CCIN 11242 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Kangiqsujuaq

CCIN 11244 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Kangiqsualujjuaq

CCIN 11245 - Community-based environmental monitoring: Iqaluit

CCIN 11246 - Berry productivity monitoring: Bylot Island

CCIN 11247 - Berry productivity and environmental monitoring: Daring Lake

CCIN 11669 - Hydrology, limnology, and biogeochemistry of thermokarst lakes in Wapusk National Park

CCIN 11670 - Microbial oxygen dynamics in subarctic permafrost thaw lakes (Kuujjuarapik, Nunavik)

CCIN 11671 - Microbial methane dynamics in subarctic permafrost thaw lakes (Kuujjuarapik, Nunavik)

CCIN 11672 - Metazoan dynamics in subarctic permafrost thaw lakes (Kuujjuarapik, Nunavik)

CCIN 11673 - Microbial diversity in subarctic permafrost thaw ponds (Kuujjuarapik, Nunavik)

CCIN 11674 - Northern Ellesmere Island in the Global Environment (NEIGE)

CCIN 11676 - Siliceous algae communities in thermokarst landscapes, Nunavik

CCIN 11679 - Planktonic cyanobacteria in permafrost thaw lakes (Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik)

CCIN 11681 - Adaptation of transportation infrastructure on thaw sensitive permafrost

CCIN 11684 - Ground temperatures from Herschel Island, Yukon

CCIN 11685 - Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of a permafrost

CCIN 11686 - Structure and function of the plant community

CCIN 11687 - Decomposition of peat and plant material

CCIN 11690 - West River spatial catchment stream sediment and water isotope and chemistry

CCIN 11691 - West river channel overwinter temperature

CCIN 11692 - Sediment surface ejections (clay volcanoes), Cape Bounty

CCIN 11693 - Modelling carbon fluxes of canadian arctic ecosystems

CCIN 11694 - Bacterial diversity in permafrost water tracks, Ward Hunt Island

Published

Version 1.0 (2013-2014) - Updated August 16, 2016