Black carbon deposition and storage in peat soils of the Changbai Mountain, China

Black carbon (BC) is produced by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass and emissions are influenced by human activities. Due to its refractory nature and long half-life times, BC contributes to carbon sequestration in soils. Here, we investigated BC concentrations and storage in peatlands of the Changbai Mountains (Northeast China) and reconstructed historical trends of deposition fluxes from four peat cores. Results showed that there were no significant differences of BC deposition fluxes in different cores sampled at similar altitudes, but BC deposition fluxes at low altitudes were stronger influenced by human activities than those at high altitudes. During the last 150 years, more BC was emitted by increasing anthropogenic sources, and therefore the BC deposition fluxes accordingly increased. Total BC storage in peat soils of the Changbai Mountains was estimated to 1.61 Tg (5.13 Gg C km− 2) and a deposition flux of 3.30 Gg yr− 1 of BC was calculated. The high BC deposition fluxes the fact that about 5% of carbon storage in peatland could be regarded as BC support that BC represents an important fraction of carbon storage in peatland ecosystems.