CONTENT AND VARIATIONS OF STABLE CARBON AND NITROGEN ISOTOPES IN THE POLYGONAL PEAT BOGS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF NOVY PORT, YAMAL PENINSULA

Vasil’chuk, A. C.¹, Vasil’chuk, Yu. K.¹, Budanceva, N. A.¹, Ginzburg, A. P.², Litvinskii, V. A.³

1. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russian Federation)
2. Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino, Russian Federation)
3. Borissiak Paleontological Institute (Moscow, Russian Federation)

The article was received on October 23, 2025

Bibliographic description: Vasil’chuk A. C., Vasil’chuk Yu. K., Budantseva N. A., Ginzburg A. P., Litvinskii V. A. Content and variations of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the polygonal peat bogs near the village of Novy Port, Yamal Peninsula. Arctic: Ecology and Economy, 2026, vol. 16, no. 2.

Abstract:  The authors studied polygonal peat bogs on the first and second lagoon-marine terraces in shrub tundra near the village of Novy Port in the south-east of the Yamal Peninsula. They determined the radiocarbon age of the peat, the contents of organic carbon and nitrogen, as well as the isotopic composition of these elements in the peat. The chronology of the peat bogs formation was established: their growth occurred between 8,840 and 7,050 cal BP on the second terrace, and between 9,820 and 7,670 cal BP on the first. According to 14C dates, the rate of peat accumulation ranged from 0.6 to 1.9 millimeters per year. Global cooling that occurred 8.2 ka BP was mainly expressed in a decrease in nitrogen mineralization due to lower temperatures in winter and during the transitional seasons, but it was not recorded in the summer season in the southern part of the Yamal Peninsula. The boundary between the Greenland and Northgrippian periods is located at a depth between 0.4 and 0.50 meters in peat on the second terrace and between 0.7 and 0.8 meters on the first. The absence of a transition layer indicates maximum peat thaw due to global warming.

Keywords: Holocene, polygonal peat bog, dynamics of biogenic elements, paleoclimate, radiocarbon, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, event 8ka, Yamal

Funding:  The research was supported by Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 23-17-00082).

Acknowledgements: The authors express our gratitude to L. P. Kuzyakin, R. V. Lobov and D. M. Bogatova for their assistance in the field research. 

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