ETH Zurich-led study finds Congo Basin peatland lakes emit millennia-old carbon

Key facts

• ETH Zurich-led team reports in Nature Geoscience that large blackwater lakes Lac Mai Ndombe and Lac Tumba in the central Congo Basin are releasing ancient peat carbon.
• Radiocarbon dating shows up to 40 per cent of the CO₂ emitted from the lakes originates from peat accumulated over thousands of years.
• The Congo Basin peatlands cover 0.3 per cent of global land surface yet hold one third of all tropical peat carbon.
• Parallel work on Lake Mai Ndombe published in ESS Open Archive finds higher water levels enhance microbial methane breakdown, while lower dry-season levels increase methane emissions.
• Population growth and forest-to-cropland conversion in the Democratic Republic of Congo could lower lake levels and amplify greenhouse-gas release.