Soils of Altitudinal Zones of the Suntar-Khayata Ridge: Morphology,Properties, and Classification

Eurasian Soil Science - For the first time, a detailed diagnostics and classification of soils of the Suntar-Khayata Range have been performed. This study is a continuation of long-term soil...     

Soils of the Verkhoyansk Range in the Area of Arkachan Plateau

Eurasian Soil Science - The vertical zonality of the soil cover of the Verkhoyansk mountainous soil province is discussed. The soils of the landscape-ecological profile in the area of the Arkachan...     

Palevye (pale) soils of Central Yakutia: Genetic specificity,properties, and classification

Permafrost-affected palevye (pale) soils of Central Yakutia are developed from mantle calcareous deposits of different textures and are characterized by the common mica-chloritic association of clay minerals with a higher content of chlorite in comparison with the soils developed from mantle loams and loess-like loams in the European part of Russia. In the pale soils, the distribution of clay minerals in the profile has an even pattern in the loamy variants and a differentiated pattern typical of podzols in the loamy sandy variants. Data on the chemical extracts and Mössbauer spectroscopy indicate that the iron in the pale soils is mainly fixed in silicate minerals. The content of nonsilicate iron represented by the amorphous and weakly crystallized compounds in the pale soils is relatively low. The humus-accumulative horizon in these soils is close to the gray-humus (soddy) AY horizon according to its acid-base characteristics (the soil pH and the degree of base saturation) despite the presence of exchangeable sodium and the shallow occurrence of the calcareous horizon.     

Soils of northern spurs of the Cherskii Ridge in the area of the northern pole of cold: Morphology,properties, and classification

The soils in the area of the northern pole of cold located on the interfluve between the Yana and Adycha rivers within the spurs of Kisilyakh Ridge included in the mountain system of Cherskii Ridge have been studied for the first time. The profile-genetic approach has been applied to describe the soils and determine their classification position. It is found that the major soil types in this region are the soils of the postlithogenic trunk belonging to the orders of lithozems (Cryic Leptosols), gley soils (Gleyic Skeletic Cryosols), and Al–Fe-humus soils (Spodic Skeletic Cryosols). The ecological ranges of altitudinal zones— the taiga zone with various types of lithozems below 630–700 m a.s.l. and the tundra zone with combinations of gley and nongley cryogenic soils above these heights—have been established. The development of gley or nongley soils is specified by the local orogenic and lithological conditions and slope aspect, which, in turn, control the degree of drainage and the presence and character of permafrost. In the profile of mountainous gley soils (gleyzems) with shallow ice-rich permafrost, cryogenic processes and features typical of the analogues of these soils on plains—cryogenic cracking, cryoturbation, solifluction, thixotropy, oxiaquic features above permafrost, saturation of the soil profile with mobile humus, etc.—are typical.