Pan-Arctic patterns in black carbon sources and fluvial discharges deduced from radiocarbon and PAH source apportionment markers in estuarine surface sediments

A pan-arctic geospatial picture of black carbon (BC) characteristics was obtained from the seven largest arctic rivers by combining with molecular combustion markers (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and radiocarbon (C-14) analysis. The results suggested that the contribution from modern biomass burning to BC ranged from low in the Yukon (8%) and Lena (5%) Rivers to high in the Yenisey River (88%). The Mackenzie River contributed almost half of the total arctic fluvial BC export of 202 kton a(-1) (kton = 10(9) g), with the five Russian-Arctic rivers contributing 10-36 kton a(-1) each. The C-14-based source estimate of fluvially exported BC to the Arctic Ocean, weighted by the riverine BC fluxes, amount to about 20% from vegetation/biofuel burning and 80% from C-14-extinct sources such as fossil fuel combustion and relict BC in uplifted source rocks. Combining these pan-arctic data with available estimates of BC export from other rivers gave a revised estimate of global riverine BC export flux of 26 x 10(3) kton a(-1). This is twice higher than a single previous estimate and confirms that river export of BC is a more important pathway of BC to the oceans than direct atmospheric deposition.