View source for Yedoma

{{About|a type of permafrost soil|the rural localities in Russia|Yedoma (rural locality)}}
{{Expand Finnish|topic=sci|date=March 2012}}

'''Yedoma''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|ɛ|d|ə|m|ə}} ({{langx|ru|е́дома}}) is an organic-rich (about 2% carbon by mass) [[Pleistocene]]-age [[permafrost]] with ice content of 50–90% by volume.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Walter KM, Zimov SA, Chanton JP, Verbyla D, Chapin FS |title=Methane bubbling from Siberian thaw lakes as a positive feedback to climate warming |journal=Nature |volume=443 |issue=7107 |pages=71–75 |date=September 2006 |pmid=16957728 |doi=10.1038/nature05040 |bibcode=2006Natur.443...71W |s2cid=4415304 }}</ref> Yedoma are abundant in the cold regions of eastern [[Siberia]], such as northern [[Sakha Republic|Yakutia]], as well as in [[Alaska]] and the [[Yukon]].<ref name="SDY">{{cite journal| doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.07.007 | volume=172 | title=Deep Yedoma permafrost: A synthesis of depositional characteristics and carbon vulnerability | year=2017 | journal=Earth-Science Reviews | pages=75–86 | vauthors=Strauss J, Schirrmeister L, Grosse G, Fortier D, Hugelius G, Knoblauch C, Romanovsky V, Schädel C, von Deimling S, Thomas , Schuur EA, Shmelev D, Ulrich M, Veremeeva A| bibcode=2017ESRv..172...75S | doi-access=free | hdl=21.11116/0000-0003-3BCF-3 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>
==Characteristics==
[[Image:Поездка в Майю 03.06.2018 (03).jpg|thumb|''Alas'' landscape in [[Megino-Kangalassky District]], Yakutia]]
The landscape of yedoma areas is of glacier plains and hills with shallow depressions known as [[Alas (geography)|alas]].<ref>S. V. Tomirdiaro, ''Evolution of lowland landspapes in Northeastern Asia during late Quaternary time.''</ref> Yedoma usually form in [[lowland]]s or stretches of land with rolling hills where ice wedge polygonal networks are present, in stable relief features with accumulation zones of poor drainage, severe cold and arid [[continental climate]] zones resulting in scanty vegetation cover, intense [[periglacial]] weathering processes, as well as the proximity of sediment sources, such as low mountain ranges and foothills.<ref name="SDY"/>

The amount of [[carbon]] trapped in this type of permafrost is much more prevalent than originally thought and may be about 210 to 500 [[Gigatonne|Gt]],<ref>Zimov SA, Schuur EAG, Chapin III SF. 2006. Permafrost and the Global Carbon Budget. Science 312(16),1612-1613.</ref> that is a multiple of the amount of carbon released into the air each year by the burning of [[fossil fuel]]s.<ref>{{cite news |author=Seth Borenstein |title=Scientists Find New Global Warming "Time Bomb" |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=7 September 2006 |url=http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/arctic/permafrost_melting.htm |access-date=6 November 2007 |archive-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725221326/http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/arctic/permafrost_melting.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thawing yedoma is a significant source of [[atmospheric methane]] (about 4 [[Megatonne|Tg]] of {{chem|CH|4}} per year).

The Yedoma region currently occupies an area of more than one million square kilometers from northeast Siberia to Alaska and [[Canada]], and in many regions is tens of meters thick. During the [[Last Glacial Maximum]], when the global sea level was 120 m lower than that of today, similar deposits covered substantial areas of the exposed northeast Eurasian continental shelves. At the end of the last [[ice age]], at the [[Pleistocene]]–[[Holocene]] transition, thawing yedoma and the resulting [[thermokarst]] lakes may have produced 33 to 87% of the high-latitude increase in atmospheric [[methane]] concentration.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Walter KM, Edwards ME, Grosse G, Zimov SA, Chapin FS |title=Thermokarst lakes as a source of atmospheric {{chem|CH|4}} during the last deglaciation |journal=Science |volume=318 |issue=5850 |pages=633–6 | date=October 2007 |pmid=17962561 |doi=10.1126/science.1142924 |bibcode=2007Sci...318..633W |s2cid=31630756 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Siberia}}
* [[Alas (geography)]]
* [[Baydzharakh]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Frederick West (1996), ''American Beginnings'' The University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|0-226-89399-5}}, p52
*Velichko 1984, p141, Chapter 15, Tomirdiaro: Periglacial Landscapes and loessa Accumulation in the late pleistocene arctic and subarctic
*K. M. Walter, S. A. Zimov, J. P. Chanton, D. Verbyla & F. S. Chapin III, "Methane bubbling from Siberian thaw lakes as a positive feedback to climate warming", Nature, 443, 71-75, 2006
*[http://www.apex.geo.su.se/apex-updates-projects-2007/past-permafrost.html Lutz Schirrmeister, IPY, From the beginning of the Pliocene cooling to the modern warming] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220052812/http://www.apex.geo.su.se/apex-updates-projects-2007/past-permafrost.html |date=2010-12-20 }} – Past Permafrost Records in Arctic Siberia PAST PERMAFROST, Original IPY project no: ID 15,2011, APEX - Arctic Palaeoclimate and its EXtremes
*Rutter&Velichko (1997) "Quaternary of northern eurasia: Late pleistocene and holocene landscapes, stratigraphy and environments, Nat W. Rutter, editor-in-chief, Guest editors A. A. Velichko et al., Vols 41/42 July/August 1997, {{ISSN|1040-6182}}
*Late Quaternary environments of Soviet Union, A.A. Velichko, engl edition Wright&Narnosky, pp176-177, University of Minnesota Publ, Longman, London 1984, {{ISBN|0-582-30125-4}}
*{{cite journal | doi = 10.1029/2002JD002559 | volume=108 | title=Climate change and Arctic ecosystems: 2. Modeling, paleodata-model comparisons, and future projections | year=2003 | journal=Journal of Geophysical Research | vauthors=Kaplan JO | issue=D19 | page=8171 | bibcode=2003JGRD..108.8171K | url=https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/5990/1/Kap2003a.pdf | doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal | vauthors = Walter KM, Edwards ME, Grosse G, Zimov SA, Chapin II | year = 2007 | title = Thermokarst Lakes as a Source of Atmospheric CH4 During the Last Deglaciation | journal = Science | volume = 318 | issue = 5850| pages = 633–636 | doi = 10.1126/science.1142924 | pmid = 17962561 | bibcode = 2007Sci...318..633W | s2cid = 31630756 }}
* Schirrmeister, L., Fedorov, A. N., Froese, D., Iwahana, G., Van Huissteden, K., Veremeeva, A., eds. (2022). Yedoma Permafrost Landscapes as Past Archives, Present and Future Change Areas. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. [[doi:10.3389/978-2-88976-466-2]]

==External links==
{{Scholia|topic}}
*[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Yedoma-landscape-at-the-western-Laptev-Sea-coastal-plain-in-front-of-the-Pronchishchev_fig1_285886561 Yedoma landscape at the western Laptev Sea coastal plain]
{{Periglacial enviroment}}{{Soil type}}{{Siberia-geo-stub}}

[[Category:Pedology]]
[[Category:Types of soil]]
[[Category:Permafrost]]