Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area
Tags: physical sciences, sediment, organic carbon, lake chemistry
| Principal Investigator: | Lattaud, Julie (2) |
| Licence Number: | 16994 |
| Organization: | ETH Zurich |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2022
|
| Issued: | Mar 28, 2022 |
| Project Team: | Lisa Broeder, Marco Bolandini, Maarten Lupker, Thomas Bosse-Demers |
Objective(s): To study the dynamics of deltaic lake ecosystems over the past century through the application of recently developed molecular (lipid biomarker) and isotopic (radiocarbon and stable isotopes) proxies to lake sedimentary records.
Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5187. The project will study the dynamics of deltaic lake ecosystems over the past century through the application of recently developed molecular (lipid biomarker) and isotopic (radiocarbon and stable isotopes) proxies to lake sedimentary records. This will unravel the impact of old carbon input into aquatic ecosystems. Radiocarbon analysis of different biomarkers will be analysed to trace the different pools of carbon in aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, the effect of the human-induced warming of the last century will be studied via analysis of sediment cores from multiple deltaic lakes Sampling is planned for late winter (March/April 2022), when the lakes in the Delta are still frozen. This facilitates coring (through the ice) since no floating platform needs to be transported. It also enables access via ice roads/skid-oo. Lake sediment cores of different lengths (around 0.5m) will be obtained using simple push core. Aquatic and terrestrial biomarkers such as such as higher plant waxes (n-alkanes), biomarkers for soil and river bacteria, the branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether lipids and microbial phospholipids fatty acids will be quantified. Subsequently, the radiocarbon composition of these compounds will be obtained in order to understand the different sources and storage of carbon in these three lakes. The results of this project will be published in international open access peer-reviewed journals. Results will be presented at international conferences. Data will be deposited in open access data repositories, for example MOSAIC (for radiocarbon compositions) and PANGEA. The research team have strong contact with Natural Resources Canada to build a communication plan for the local community such as visiting school during subsequent sampling campaign and visit to Aurora Research Institute. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from March 25, 2022 to April 07, 2022
