Abstract

This data set consists of bulk soil characteristics as well as carbon and nutrient mineralization rates of active layer soils manually collected from the field in August, 2012, frozen, and then thawed and incubated across a range of temperatures in the laboratory for 28 day periods in 2013-2015. The soils were collected from four replicate polygons in each of the four Areas (A, B, C, and D) of Intensive Site 1 at the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) Arctic site near Barrow, Alaska. Soil samples were coincident with the established Vegetation Plots that are located in center, edge, and trough microtopography in each polygon. Data included are (1) thickness of the organic layer, (2) bulk soil characteristics including carbon, nitrogen, gravimetric water content, bulk density, and pH in 5-cm depth increments and also by soil horizon, (3) carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus mineralization rates for soil horizons incubated aerobically (and in one case both aerobically and anaerobically) for 28 days at temperatures that included 2, 4, 8, and 12 degrees C. Additional soil and incubation data are forthcoming. They will be available when published as part of another paper that includes additional replicate analyses. Dataset DOI: 10.5440/1185213; https://doi.org/10.5440/1185213

Authors

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Dataset Citation

Colleen Iversen, Holly VanderStel, Richard Norby, Victoria Sloan, Joanne Childs, Deanne Brice, Jason Keller, Ariane Jong, Mallory Ladd, Stan Wullschleger. 2015. Active Layer Soil Carbon and Nutrient Mineralization, Barrow, Alaska, 2012. Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments Arctic Data Collection, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. Dataset accessed on [INSERT_DATE] at https://doi.org/10.5440/1185213.

Dates

2012-07-31 - 2012-08-03

Geographic Location

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Methodology

At peak growing season in late July, 2012, we manually collected soil cores to the permafrost boundary across gradients of polygonal tundra and microtopographic position on the Barrow Environmental Observatory. Soil samples were collected using a 5.08-cm diameter hammer corer or a tundra knife (to sample 10 cm by 10 cm soil columns) when soil was too wet to retrieve an intact soil sample. Cores were collected in each of four polygon types (poorly defined, low, flat, and high-centered), from the trough, edge, or center microtopographic locations within each polygon (n = 4 polygon types by 4 replicate polygons of each type by 3 microtopographic positions = 48 total soil cores). These locations were within the previously established Vegetation Plots. Upon removal from the soil, the thickness of the organic layer was determined as the boundary where soil became largely mineral in texture. The cores were then sectioned into 5 cm increments, placed in separate bags, and kept on blue ice while in the field. When the organic/mineral transition fell within a 5 cm increment, the organic matter and mineral soil were treated separately. Cores were frozen at -20 degrees C before shipping to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where they were frozen at -20 degrees C until processing. Given the large number of soil depth increments, processing and month-long soil incubations were performed serially on each replicate polygon (in January 2013, June and September of 2014, and January 2015). For each replicate incubation study, core increments were first thawed overnight at 4 degrees C, then plant material (green moss, fine roots, and rhizomes) was removed and soils were homogenized by hand (organic horizons) or by sieving the soil through an 8-mm sieve (mineral horizons).

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