Fertility of soils under spruce forests of the Khibiny Mountains

The development of fertility of soils on different parent rocks is considered for different types of spruce forests in the Khibiny Mountains. The spruce forests of Mts. Kuel??por, Vud??yavrchorr, Chil??mana, and Saami were the objects for the study. The results showed that the fertility level of the soils of the Khibiny Mountains was determined by the combined influence of the parent rock??s composition and the vegetation. The differences in the soil properties are mainly explained by the composition of the parent rocks. The pod-burs differ from the podzols by the higher contents of organic matter, nitrogen, and available nutrients. The podzols are the most acid soils there. The podburs of Mt Kuel??por developing on base-rich parent rocks are the most fertile. The differences in the fertility of the soils on the intrabiogeocenotic (tessera) level are related to the vegetation. The soils of the spruce and tall-grass tesseras are richer in nitrogen, calcium, and manganese as compared to the soils of the dwarf shrub-green moss, low-grass-dwarf shrub-green moss, and tussock grass-dwarf shrub tesseras.     

Genetic features of soils in altitudinal natural zones of the Khibiny Mountains

The plant cover of the Khibiny Mountains is characterized by the well-pronounced altitudinal zonality: high-alpine barrens—lichen, dwarf shrub, and shrub tundra—elfin birch forest—spruce forest. Humic petrozems (Lithic Leptosols) under sparse vegetation are formed on the tops of the mountains. The soils of the tundra zone are represented by podburs on the eluvium of nepheline syenite; smaller areas are occupied by typical cryozems. Humus-illuvial podzols are developed from moraine deposits under elfin birch forests and open spruce woodland. The moraine deposits in the inner valleys of the Khibiny Mountains are enriched in the products of weathering of nepheline syenite. The humus-illuvial podzols developed from them differ from their analogues on plain territories in the higher humus content and less contrasting eluvialilluvial differentiation.     

Soils of the Lena-Angara Plateau in the area of the Kovykta gas condensate field

It is shown that soil-forming rocks—red calcareous silicate Lower Ordovician and Upper Cambrian deposits—play the leading role in the formation of unique long lastingly frozen mountainous taiga soils of Central Siberia. The functional role of the litter horizon forming under dark coniferous forests is analyzed. This horizon is sensitive to the bioclimatic factor. The genetic specificity of the predominating prepodzolic soils, podburs, soddy burozems, and soddy-calcareous soils and of the locally forming shallow pink-colored podzols is shown.     

Zonal features of humus formation in Al-Fe-humus podzols of the Kola Peninsula

Natural zonality manifests itself clearly in the territory of the Kola Peninsula: subzones of southern tundra, forest-tundra (sparse birch forest), and northern taiga replace one other from the north, to the Barents Sea coast, and to the south. Sandy and sandy loamy sediments of glacial, marine, and glaciofluvial origin are parent rocks all over the territory. Al-Fe-humus podzols, the profile of which is characterized by clear differentiation of the chemical composition and organic matter content, were formed on these rocks. There is almost no difference in the particle-size and total chemical composition of the podzols, whereas the content and composition of the humus in the soils of different zones differ significantly, and this is especially obvious in the illuvial horizon. As the climatic severity increases, the humus content in the mineral profile and the organic matter enrichment with nitrogen increase.     

Coevolution of soils and vegetation in the southern taiga (with the Prioksko-Terrasnyi reserve as an example)

A detailed characterization of the relief, parent materials, soils, woody vegetation, and the links between them is given for a small part of the southern taiga zone in the center of the East European Plain. A methodology for determining the vegetation succession patterns on different soils with the use of the selectivity coefficient K is suggested. This coefficient is defined as the ratio between the frequency of occurrence of the given tree species on a given soil and its average frequency of occurrence within the entire analyzed area (in the area of the reserve). The values of K change from 0.2 to 3.6 and indicate positive (K > 1) and negative (K < 1) feedback relationships between the soils and vegetation. Changes in the frequencies of occurrence of different tree species on different soils that took place over 19 years have also been studied. It is shown that spruce has a tendency for settling on podzols, mixed spruce-oak-lime forests tend to develop on podzolized podburs, and lime and oak trees tend to develop on soddy podburs. Birch stands are most often replaced by spruce and pine stands; aspen stands and a part of the birch stands are replaced by lime and oak stands. The ecological plasticity of pine trees and the long age of this tree species ensure the existence of a long transitional succession stage with the predominance of pine. These regularities are important for predicting the further development of forest vegetation.     

Roles of iron and clay in Genesis of acid soils under a humid,temperate climate

The occurence of acid brown soils, podzols and podzolic soils, and the intermediate types of ochreous brown and brown podzolic soils over arenaceous granite in Vosges was closely correlated with the contents of iron rather than with calcium plus magnesium in the parent materials. Acid brown soils were associated with high and podzols and podzolic soils with low contents of iron, the limiting value being near 5 percent. Additional investigations in beech forests of soils derived from a variety of acid rocks indicated that contents of iron and clay in the parent materials controlled the type of humification of litter. With higher contents of iron and clay, humification gave rise to mull. With lower contents, mor or moder was formed. The nature of humification was believed responsible for tilting pedogenesis toward brunification or toward podzolization. In brunification, the clay-iron-humus complexes that are formed tend to be immobile and promote formation of crumbly structure. The “active iron” occurs as films around clay particles and thus links them to humus. In podzolization, on the other hand, the complexes formed are of humus with iron or aluminum but without clay. These are mobile and are translocated downward in profiles to form spodic horizons. The organo-metal complexes in ochreous brown and brown podzolic soils are mobile to only a limited extent. The combined results of these investigations demonstrate that contents of iron and clay rather than calcium in parent materials determine the pathway of pedogenesis from acid rocks under humid, temperate climates.     

The characteristics of cold humid soil formation on the Commander Islands

This article characterizes poorly studied soils of Bering Island (in the Commander Islands) that formed on the derivatives of volcanic-sedimentary rocks and tuffs in a cold oceanic climate. The alfehumic process that is dominant in the island soils has considerable specificity. A high content of nonsilicate forms of iron, aluminum, and aggressive organic matter against a background of small annual precipitation in the form of drizzle leads to a short migration path of alfehumic compounds and their fixation in the organic-accumulative part of the profile in the form of original spherical aggregates. In the distribution of derivatives of rock-containing components that are capable of bleaching (aleurolites and acidic volcanic glass), spatial heterogeneity promotes the formation of combinations and mosaics of podburs and podzols.     

Soils of the northern part of the Subpolar Urals: Morphology, physicochemical properties, and carbon and nitrogen pools

The morphology and physicochemical properties of mountain-tundra and mountain-forest soils of the Subpolar Urals are analyzed. Gleyic humus-illuvial podburs, in combination with humus-illuvial podburs and raw-humus gleyzems, predominate in the mountain-tundra zone; permafrost-affected gleyzems and peat gleyzems with a shallow (30–50 cm) permafrost table are developed on colluvial fans at the foots-lopes. Iron-illuvial podzols, iron-illuvial svetlozems, eluviated burozems, texture-differentiated podzolic soils with a microprofile of a podzol, and gleyed peat-podzolic soils occur in the mountain-forest zone. The organic carbon and nitrogen pools in the soils considerably vary depending on the soil type and local landscape conditions. The organic carbon pool stored in the upper 50 cm of the soil profile varies from 7.7 to 39.3 kg/m² in the mountain-tundra soils and from 6.5 to 11.8 kg/m² in the mountain-forest soils. The corresponding values for the nitrogen pool are 0.4–2.4 and 0.4–0.8 kg/m², respectively.     

Soil cover patterns and land assessment in the Baikal region of Buryatia using the example of the Kabansk district

The soil cover patterns in the Kabansk district (the Baikal region of the Buryat Republic), including the Selenga River delta, are analyzed. A soil map of this area has been developed on a scale of 1 : 500000. Stony organic soils are widespread in the tundra zone. Mountain-meadow soddy soils and tundra podburs (under dwarf pine) are formed at lower heights around lakes and in glacial valleys. Kabansk district includes taiga landscapes on the northern slopes of the Khamar-Daban Ridge with the predominance of podburs, podzols, soddy-taiga soils, and burozems. Agrolandscapes occur in the Nizhneselenginsk meadow-bog and forest-steppe natural region with a predominance of soddy forest, soddy gray forest, meadow, alluvial, meadow-bog, and bog soils. Data on the land evaluation in the agricultural part of the studied region are given.     

Availability of elements in tundra soils on acidic and ultramafic rocks in the Polar Urals

The chemical properties of soils and their particle-size distribution in ecotopes of the Polar Urals mountain tundra were considered in relation with the lithological and geochemical features of the parent rocks. In the soils of ecotopes on the ultramafic massif, the contents of the total Ni (2830 mg/kg) and the total Cr (2327 mg/kg) were found to exceed their clarke values, which suggested the accumulation of these elements by plants and their migration with water. In the soils of the ultramafic massif, the average content of mobile Ni was 46.8 mg/kg, which exceeded the Ni MPC by 11.7 times. The average concentration of mobile Cr in the soils of the massif made up 0.35 MPC. In the soils of geochemical acidic rocks, the contents of mobile Ni and Cr were lower than their MPC levels. A higher content of particles with an average diameter ≥5 μm was found in the soils of the ultramafic massif.     

Ein Vergleich von Eisenpodsolen im östlichen Niedersachsen mit Podsolen unter borealem Nadelwald in Finnland

Iron podzols in eastern Lower Saxony compared with podzols under finnish boreal Pine forests Well developed iron podzols with orange-brown Bs-horizons poor in humus are found in isolated small areas of eastern Lower Saxony. Because of their similarity they were compared with finnish podzols under boreal pine forest. Similar soil morphology, low humus illuviation and unconsolidized Bs-horizons are common to both groups of podzols. Different are the smaller thickness of soil horizons and the higher amounts of Fe-oxides in B-horizons of finnish podzols. Despite high grade of activity (Fe_ox/d) this may be due more to iron oxide formation by silicate weathering (micas) than to podzolization. An interpretation of the german podzols as relics from boreal coniferous forests may be supposed but there is no significant evidence by the considered datas.     

The influence of spruce on acidity and nutrient content in soils of Northern Taiga dwarf shrub–green moss spruce forests

Presently, among the works considering the influence of forest trees on soil properties, the idea that spruce (Picea abies) promotes the acidification of soils predominates. The aim of this work is to assess the effects of spruce trees of different ages and Kraft classes on the acidity and content of available nutrient compounds in the soils under boreal dwarf shrub–green moss spruce forests by the example of forest soils in the Kola Peninsula. The soils are typical iron-illuvial podzols (Albic Rustic Podzols (Arenic)). Three probable ways of developing soils under spruce forests with the moss–dwarf shrub ground cover are considered. The soils under windfall–soil complexes of flat mesodepressions present the initial status. The acidity of organic soil horizons from the initial stage of mesodepression overgrowth to the formation of adult trees changed nonlinearly: the soil acidity reached its maximum under the 30–40-year-old trees and decreased under the trees older than 100 years. The contents of nitrogen and available nutrients increased. The acidity of the mineral soil horizons under the trees at the ages of 110–135 and 190–220 years was comparable, but higher than that under the 30–40-year-old trees. The differences in the strength and trends of the trees’ effect on the soils are explained by the age of spruce trees and their belonging to different Kraft classes.     

Soil cover pattern on the northern macroslope of the Tsagan-Daban Ridge in the Transbaikal region

Regularities of soil distribution in the basin of the Vorovka River on the northern macroslope of the Tsagan-Daban Ridge are discussed, and the grouping of soil cover patterns in this area is suggested. Dissected middle-mountain areas covered by taiga forests are characterized by a combination of predominate soddy podburs with small homogeneous areas of podburs and lithozems. Within the piedmont part of the basin, components of soil combinations are different. The major areas are occupied by sandy soils under dry grassy pine forests; poorly developed soils are formed on recent alluvial and colluvial deposits in the depressions and hollows.     

Soils on hard rocks in the northwest of Russia: Chemical and mineralogical properties,genesis, and classification problems

Soil formation on hard rocks—nepheline syenite, amphibolite, metamorphized gabbro diabase, and their derivatives—was studied in the mountainous tundra and in the northern and middle taiga zones of the Kola Peninsula and Karelia (in the Kivach Reserve). It was found that the soils developing from these rocks could be classified into three groups: (1) petrozems with the O-M profile (the most common variant), (2) podzols and podzolized podburs on the substrates with an admixture of morainic derivatives of acid rocks, and (3) shallow (<5–10 cm) pebbly soils on the substrates without an admixture of allochthonous material (the rarest variant). In soils of the third group, the pedogenic alteration of the mineral matrix does not result in the appearance of phyllosilicates in the fine fractions if these phyllosilicates are initially absent in the rock. In these soils, the protion of the organic matter, and binding of iron released from the weathered silicate minerals into iron-organic complexes) are virtually undifferentiated by the separate soil horizons because of the very low thickness of the soil profiles. These soils have the Oao-BHFao-M profile; it is suggested that they can be classified as leptic podburs. An admixture of morainic material containing phyllosilicate minerals favors a more pronounced differentiation of the modern pedogenic processes by separate soil horizons even in the case of shallow soil profiles; the intense transformation of phyllosilicates takes place in the soils.     

鄂西山地的酸性棕壤和灰棕壤形成条件及理化性质

根据鄂西山地的自然成土条件，分析了酸性棕壤、灰棕壤诊断层和诊断特性，主要理化性质和粘土矿物组成，结果表明：酸性棕壤和灰棕壤同属于亚热带中山上部或亚高山中上部冷湿条件下形成的森林土壤。其理化性质与我国北方同类土壤又有较大差别。     

Buried Late Holocene soils in the Vorkuta River basin (the Bol’shezemel’skaya tundra)

Buried Late Holocene soils have been found in sandy deposits within the eastern part of the Bol’shezemel’skaya tundra in the Vorkuta River basin. The morphology of their profiles and the physicochemical characteristics of these soils make it possible to classify them as soddy podzols. In the upper part of the sandy deposits exposed to the surface, the profiles of recent podburs with a weakly differentiated profile have been formed.     

Soils of the subtaiga landscapes on the northern spurs of the Tsagan-Daban Ridge in the Selenga Mountains

The soil cover patterns in the subtaiga landscapes on the northern spurs of the Tsagan-Daban Ridge in the Selenga Mountains have been studied. Gray-humus lithozems and bedrock outcrops are typical of the steep south-facing slopes under herbaceous pine forests. Soddy iron-illuvial podburs are formed under forest vegetation on gentle slopes of northern and western aspects with a thick mantle of loose colluvial deposits. Dark-humus metamorphic soils occur on the slopes of western and northwestern aspects below 700 m a.s.l. under secondary forb-grassy communities that replaced the initial herbaceous pine forests. Windblown hollows (yardangs) are occupied by humus psammozems under steppe pine forests. The morphological and physicochemical characteristics of these soils are discussed in the paper.     

Types of recent weathering crusts and their global distribution

Recent weathering crusts are defined as those formed and in process of formation under present or closely similar climatic conditions. Such crusts are classified on the basis of their composition and profile form into four types: nonleaching, weak periodic leaching, strong leaching, and freezing. Each but the last of these types is divided into a pair of subtypes according to the intensity of eluvial processes. All subtypes are divided into lithogenic groups reflecting the composition and properties of the parent materials.Recent weathering crusts of the nonleaching, weak periodic leaching, and freezing types are the most extensive and widespread over the world. Crusts of the strong leaching type, especially of the extra-humid subtype, are being formed only to a limited extent at the present time, although they were formed extensively in past geologic periods. Sedimentary parent materials with high proportions of quartz-kaolinite and goethite-gibbsite-kaolinite minerals, inherited from earlier periods, are common in many regions with arid and semi-arid climates at the present time.The potential for intensive weathering under humid and extra-humid, tropical climates has been realized in few recent weathering crusts because of the presence on the land surface of former weathering crusts that were subjected to strong hypergenic processes in the past. Where fresh parent rocks are exposed in small areas under such climates, profound weathering does now occur with the formation of new minerals.     

The influence of relief on the humus content in chernozems

Data on the influence of relief on the humus formation in chemozems are given. The insolation coefficient is proposed for the assessment of the solar energy distribution over the ground surface depending on the slope gradient and aspect. Specific features of the humus accumulation in soils on parent rocks different in texture are estimated using the proposed calculated coefficients.     

Altitudinal distribution of soil fauna in the Khibiny Massif

Data on the taxonomic and trophic composition, population density, and biomass of invertebrates in the soils of the main mountain vegetation zones of the Khibiny Mountains—taiga, subalpine, and alpine—are obtained. The degree of similarity between soil faunal complexes in different vegetation zones within the studied slope is higher than that between zonal biocenoses of Murmansk oblast. The mountain tundra zone differs from the zonal tundra in a higher population density and taxonomic diversity of invertebrates, which are similar to those in the northern taiga podzols. At the same time, invertebrate complexes in the mountain taiga zone are poorer than those in the zonal plain taiga soils. The analysis of invertebrate taxa present in all the studied mountain vegetation zones demonstrates similar effects of the altitudinal and latitudinal zonality on the species composition of invertebrates. A conclusion is made about a higher functional activity of saprotrophs in the high-humus soils enriched in biogenic elements of the Khibiny Mountains in comparison with the functional activity of saprotrophs in the zonal plain podzols.