Millennial-aged peat carbon outgassed by large humic lakes in the Congo Basin
Abstract Congo Basin lakes Mai Ndombe and Tumba are major CO 2 sources. Here we show that their dissolved inorganic carbon is some 2,170–3,515 14 C years old and partially (39–40%) originates from the surrounding peatlands. This implies a loss pathway for peat carbon, in which microbes respire old carbon within the peat and the resulting CO 2 is transported to the lakes and outgassed, linking these immense ancient stores to the modern carbon cycle.
Authors
- Travis W. Drake (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7564-974X)
- Jordon Hemingway (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8299-2255)
- K. Van Oost
- Six Johan
- Matti Barthel
- Negar Haghipour
- Antoine de Clippele
- Jose N. Wabakanghanzi
Institutions
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Geological Institute (RU)
- UCLouvain (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Geoscience
- Published
- 2026-02-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-01924-3
- Primary Topic
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung