Publication Date:
2024-05-07
Description:
Ice-rich permafrost in the circum-Arctic and sub-Arctic, such as late Pleistocene Yedoma, are especially prone to degradation due to climate change or human activity. When Yedoma deposits thaw, large amounts of frozen organic matter and biogeochemically relevant elements return into current biogeochemical cycles. Building on previous mapping efforts, the objective of this paper is to compile the first digital pan-Arctic Yedoma map and spatial database of Yedoma coverage. Therefore, we 1) synthesized, analyzed, and digitized geological and stratigraphical maps allowing identification of Yedoma occurrence at all available scales, and 2) compiled field data and expert knowledge for creating Yedoma map confidence classes. We used GIS-techniques to vectorize maps and harmonize site information based on expert knowledge.
Hence, here we synthesize data on the circum-Arctic and sub-Arctic distribution and thickness of Yedoma for compiling a preliminary circum-polar Yedoma map.
To harmonize the different datasets and to avoid merging artifacts, we applied map edge cleaning while merging data from different database layers. For the digitalization and spatial integration, we used Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Version: 13.0 x64), Adobe Illustrator CS6 (Version 16.0.3 x64), Avenza MAPublisher 9.5.4 (Illustrator Plug-In) and ESRI ArcGIS 10.6.1 for Desktop (Advanced License). Generally, we followed workflow of figure 2 of the related publication (IRYP Version 2, Strauss et al 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.758360).
We included a range of attributes for Yedoma areas based on lithological and stratigraphic information from the source maps and assigned three different confidence levels of the presence of Yedoma (confirmed, likely, or uncertain). Using a spatial buffer of 20 km around mapped Yedoma occurrences, we derived an extent of the Yedoma domain. Our result is a vector-based map of the current pan-Arctic Yedoma domain that covers approximately 2,587,000 km², whereas Yedoma deposits are found within 480,000 km² of this region. We estimate that 35% of the total Yedoma area today is located in the tundra zone, and 65% in the taiga zone. With this Yedoma mapping, we outlined the substantial spatial extent of late Pleistocene Yedoma deposits and created a unique pan-Arctic dataset including confidence estimates.
Keywords:
Alaska North Slope; Aldan River outcrop Mamontova Gora; Allaikha_Yedoma; Arctic Ocean; Area/locality; AWI_Perma; Ayon; base of ice complex; Batagai_2014; Batagai_Kunitsky_2010; Batagay, Yakutia; Beaver_Creek; Belkovsky; Binary Object; BLOSSOM; Blossom Cape; Bolshoy_Lyakhovsky_Island_1999; Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, NE Siberia; Buor_Khaya_2010; Buor Khaya; Bykovsky_Peninsula; Cape_Anisii_Kotelnii_Island_2002; Cape_Maly_Chukochy; Cape Mamontov Klyk, Laptev Sea; Central_Yakutia; Central Yakutia; Chukotka, Russia; climate feedbacks; Coast_of_the_East-Siberian_Sea; Col-3_Colville_River_2009; Col-5_Colville_River_2009a; Col-5_Colville_River_2009b; Comment; CRREL; DATE/TIME; Dresvyanyi_Island; Duvanny_Yar; Duvanny_Yar_2008; Duvanny_Yar_2009; Duvannyi_Yar; Duvanny Yar, Yakutia; East Siberian Sea; Elgene_Kyuele_2010a; Elgene_Kyuele_2010b; Event label; File format; File name; File type; Geological profile sampling; GEOPRO; Great_Khomus_River; Greenhouse gas source; Identification; Investigator; IPA_Yedoma_Action_Group; Itkillik_River; Itkillik_River_2012a; Itkillik_River_2012b; Itkillik River Outcrop, Alaskan North Slope; Khaptashin_Yar; Khardang; Kitluk_River_Seward_Peninsula_2010; Klondike_area; Kolyma Lowland, NE Siberia; Konstantinovskoye; Kotelnii Island, NE Siberia; Kurugnakh_2002; Kurugnakh_2008; Kurungnakh; Kurungnakh_Island_Lena-Delta_2005; Kurungnakh Island, Lena Delta, Siberia; Kychchyma; KYT; Kytalyk; Kytalyk, Indigirka lowlands, Siberia; Lake El'gene Kyuele, central Siberian Plateau; Late Pleistocene; LATITUDE; Lena-Amga_Rivers; Lena-Anabar Lowland, NE Siberia; Lena Delta, NE Siberia; Lena Delta, Siberia, Russia; Lesser_Chaun_Strait; LONGITUDE; Maly_Lyakhovsky_Island; Mamontov_Klyk_2011; Mamontova_Gora_2001; Mamontovy_Gora_Aldan_River_2001; Mamontovy_Khayata; Mamontovy_Klyk_2003; Molotlovskiy_Kamen; MULT; Multiple investigations; Muostakh_2012; Muostakh Island, Laptev Sea; Mys_Chukochi_2009a; Mys_Chukochi_2009b; N_Yakutia; Nagym; Nagym_Lena; Northern_Bykovsky_Peninsula_2014; Northern_Seward_Peninsula; NW Chukotka; Old_Allaikha; Oyagoss_Yar_2002; Palisades; Permafrost; Permafrost Research; PETA-CARB; Plakhino; Rapid Permafrost Thaw in a Warming Arctic and Impacts on the Soil Organic Carbon Pool; Rauchua_river_bank_2011; Rauhua_River; Russkoe; Sakha Republic, Russia; Seward Peninsula, Alaska; Sobo_Sise_2014; Sobo_Sise_Lena-Delta_2014; Sobo-Sise_Cliff; Sobo Sise Island, Lena Delta; SSC; Stolboboy_Island_2002; Stolbovoy Island, NE Siberia; Syrdakh_1976; Syrdakh, Central Yakutia; Tabaga_2013a; Tabaga_2013b; Tabaga, Central Yakutia; Tanda; thermokarst; The Yedoma Region: A Synthesis of Circum-Arctic Distribution and Thickness; Tube_Dispenser_Lake_Cherskii_2007; Tyungyulyu_alas; Ust_Rauchua_coast_2014; Uste-Omolon_Yar; Vankina_River_mouth; Vault_Creek_Tunnel; Vilyui_River; Yana-Indigirka Lowland, NE Siberia; Yedoma; Yedoma_IRYP
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 1124 data points
