Arctic's Massive Logjam Holds 3.4 Million Tons of Carbon
Scientists have mapped the world's largest known woody deposit, covering 51 square kilometers of the Mackenzie River Delta in Nunavut, Canada, and calculated that the logs store about 3.4 million tons of carbon. The deposit, comprising more than 400,000 miniature caches of wood, is storing about 3.4 million tons of carbon. The total amount of carbon stored in the delta's wood could be about twice as large. The Mackenzie logjam reflects only one basin in the Arctic, so all together, large woody deposits throughout the Arctic could add up to be a significant carbon storage pool, and one we know little about.