Table 1 Chemical composition and organic matter degradation parameters of the active layer (AL) and permafrost (PF) samples at five sites.

From: Determinants of carbon release from the active layer and permafrost deposits on the Tibetan Plateau

Site

Layer

Sample size

Hydrolysable lipids (mg g −1 OC)

Lignin-derived phenols (mg g −1 OC)

Degradation parameters

Cutin-derived compounds

Suberin-derived compounds

Vanillyls

Cinnamyls

Syringyls

ω-C 16 /C 16

(Ad/Al) v

(Ad/Al) s

YY

AL

3

9.9 (9.5–10.4)

31.8 (30.9–32.9)

5.4 (4.7–6.2)

9.3 (7.9–10.4)

5.1 (4.3–5.8)

0.3 (0.3–0.4)

1.0 (0.9–1.1)

1.0 (0.9–1.1)

 

PF

3

4.0 (3.3–5.0)

17.8 (15.7–20.6)

0.8 (0.4–1.1)

0.6 (0.3–0.8)

0.8 (0.4–1.1)

0.2 (0.2–0.3)

0.7 (0.5–0.8)

0.5 (0.4–0.6)

CMH

AL

3

10.3 (9.6–11.6)

32.8 (30.9–35.1)

3.8 (3.8–3.9)

7.3 (5.6–8.3)

4.3 (4.2–4.4)

0.3 (0.3–0.3)

0.6 (0.6–0.6)

0.5 (0.5–0.5)

 

PF

3

11.7 (10.2–12.9)

45.0 (37.0–51.5)

4.3 (4.0–4.5)

9.1 (8.3–9.7)

4.9 (4.5–5.1)

0.2 (0.2–0.3)

0.6 (0.5–0.7)

0.5 (0.4–0.6)

HSX

AL

3

1.9 (1.3–2.4)

6.4 (5.1–7.5)

1.5 (1.3–1.8)

1.0 (0.7–1.4)

1.3 (1.2–1.5)

0.3 (0.3–0.4)

0.6 (0.5–0.7)

0.5 (0.4–0.5)

 

PF

3

0.8 (0.6–1.1)

2.0 (1.4–2.7)

0.9 (0.7–1.1)

0.08 (0.06–0.1)

0.4 (0.4–0.5)

0.6 (0.4–0.8)

0.4 (0.4–0.5)

0.2 (0.1–0.2)

WQ

AL

3

9.6 (9.0–10.3)

41.6 (40.3–43.3)

4.9 (3.8–5.5)

4.5 (2.8–5.5)

3.8 (2.9–4.3)

0.4 (0.4–0.4)

1.0 (1.0–1.0)

0.8 (0.8–0.8)

 

PF

3

2.8 (2.2–3.5)

20.7 (19.7–21.7)

3.0 (2.9–3.1)

1.3 (1.2–1.5)

2.4 (2.3–2.4)

0.6 (0.4–0.7)

0.6 (0.6–0.6)

0.5 (0.5–0.5)

KLSK

AL

3

7.2 (4.6–8.6)

9.6 (8.1–10.7)

6.5 (6.2–6.9)

3.8 (3.0–4.2)

5.9 (5.0–6.9)

0.2 (0.2–0.3)

0.5 (0.4–0.5)

0.4 (0.4–0.5)

 

PF

3

0.08 (0.05–0.10)

7.9 (6.3–9.0)

0.5 (0.4–0.6)

0.07 (0.05–0.09)

0.5 (0.4–0.5)

0.9 (0.8–1.0)

0.3 (0.3–0.3)

0.2 (0.2–0.2)

  1. The five sites are Youyun (YY) and Changmahe (CMH) in Maqin County, Huashixia (HSX) in Maduo County, Wenquan (WQ) in Xinghai County and Kunlunshankou (KLSK) in Geermu. ω-C16/C16 is the ratio of ω-hydroxy C16 acid to the total of ω-hydroxyalkanoic acid, n-alkane-α, ω-dioic acid, and mid-chain-substituted acids with 16 carbons; (Ad/Al)v is the ratio of vanillic acid to vanillin; (Ad/Al)s is the ratio of syringic acid to syringaldehyde. The interquartile range is presented in parentheses.