Congo basin blackwater lakes are releasing ancient carbon into the atmosphere

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 Congo basin blackwater lakes are releasing ancient carbon into the atmosphere

Deep in the Congo Basin, vast peatlands quietly store enormous amounts of Earth’s carbon — but new research suggests this ancient vault may be leaking. Scientists studying Africa’s largest blackwater lakes discovered that significant amounts of carbon dioxide bubbling into the atmosphere come not just from recent plant life, but from peat that has been locked away for thousands of years.

At the confluence of the Fimi and Kasai rivers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, dark water from forest landscapes meets water from the savannahs, colored red by iron oxides. Credit: Matti Barthel / ETH Zurich
Tropical swamps and peatlands are critical players in Earth's carbon cycle and, by extension, the global climate. In regions such as the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin, and the wetlands of Southeast Asia, thick layers of partially decomposed plant material build up over time. Together, these ecosystems lock away roughly 100 gigatonnes of carbon.
At the center of Africa, the Congo Basin contains one of the largest and most significant of these carbon reserves. Although its peatlands and swamps cover just 0.3 percent of the planet's land surface, they store about one third of all carbon held in tropical peatlands worldwide.

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