Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Stocks Across Hillslopes Underlain by Continuous Permafrost in the Northern Arctic Foothills, Alaska, United States

Abstract

ABSTRACTConstraining the variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stocks across hillslopes in Low Arctic permafrost‐affected landscapes remains a significant challenge for improving global estimates of permafrost SOC stocks. We investigated SOC and TN stocks across hillslopes at two sites in the Arctic Foothills of Alaska, United States (Happy Valley and Sagwon Hills). Average SOC and TN stocks for the 0–1‐m depth interval were high (52.0 ± 15.1 kg C m−2 and 2.74 ± 0.82 kg N m−2) and linearly related (R2 = 0.74, p < 0.0001). Unlike soils of other permafrost and nonpermafrost landscapes, variability was greatest within rather than between hillslope positions. Furthermore, SOC and TN stocks in the surface 1 m did not exhibit strong patterns by hillslope position and were only weakly associated with major geomorphic parameters that typically predict SOC and TN stocks well in other landscapes. Although sampling at upper hillslope positions was largely limited to depths of less than 1.5 m due to the presence of coarse fragments in reworked glacial till, deeper observations at lower hillslope positions (footslopes, toeslopes, and basins) revealed significantly larger SOC stocks (92.0 ± 18.0 kg C m−2 at 2 m; 117.1 ± 10.4 kg C m−2 at 3 m). The unique small‐scale variability in ice content, cryoturbation, patterned ground, and organic layer thickness on these broad, Low Arctic sites contributes to the relatively homogeneous distribution of SOC and TN stocks across hillslope positions in the top 1 m, but a future focus on deeper sampling may reveal greater differences in SOC and TN stocks.