Permafrost soils were determined to be heterogeneous in functional group composition and photo reactivity both intra-watershed and interwatershed. There were no statistically significant trends observed within the permafrost soils based on radiocarbon dating of the soil material. Leachability of organic matter and metals depends primarily on the pH and ionic strength of the leaching material, however aliphatic functional groups remained for the majority absorbed onto the soil matrix and did not release into the leaching media.
This study determined that during winter there was a significant difference in functional group composition, photoreactivity, and metal composition. Winter isolated organic matter showed differences in functional group composition with decreased aromatic content and increased photoreactivity for reactive oxygen species. Winter also observed statistical differences in select metal concentrations thermokarst lake waters. Metal sources were observed to be majority from lateral flow through active layer and thawing permafrost layers. Conditions underneath of the ice were deemed to be a statistically important piece to the geochemical cycle.
In addition, optical indices allowed for the determination of permafrost influence on surface waters through the use of statistical analysis to observe correlations between permafrost degradation and these analyses. Additionally, metal concentrations were observed to have the highest concentrations in the 75 – 100% frozen permafrost underlain thermokarst lake due to the potential of high metal concentrations leaching in from lateral flow through actively thawing permafrost.
