Recent Carbon Accumulation Rates in Ombrotrophic Peatlands on the North Shore of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, Quebec, Canada

In Eastern Canada, permafrost reached its southernmost extent for the Holocene during the Little Ice Age. Recent warming and degradation along the southern limit of the discontinuous permafrost zone is altering the microtopography, hydrology and carbon cycling in ombrotrophic peatlands; this trend is projected to continue. However, the understanding of multi-decadal and centennial scale change in peatlands is limited. This study aims to quantify changes in carbon accumulation rates for the last millennium in ombrotrophic peatlands from three regions along the North Shore of the Gulf of the St Lawrence, Canada. In each region, three peatlands were cored and 3-4 microforms were sampled per peatland. This replication allows changes in accumulation rates to be examined on two scales: 1) between regions along a N-S climatic gradient, and 2) within peatlands in the same region along a microtopography gradient. Recent carbon accumulation rates for last 150-200 years were calculated with lead-210 dates. Some initial estimates are also available for the last millennium using radiocarbon dates. Carbon accumulation rates were higher for all sites in the southernmost region, with sphagnum hummocks having the recent highest accumulation rates overall. In more northern peatlands, rates were found to differ between microforms, and between sites. This variability may be due to local differences in wind exposure and winter snow cover between sites. A high-resolution (0.5 cm) multi-proxy analysis using testate amoebae and plant macrofossils will be performed around key periods of accumulation change to evaluate peatland sensitivity and carbon accumulation to hydrological change.