Prediction of the thawing depth for artificially drained and cultivated peat soils

The analysis of experimental materials obtained in various regions of Russia and Belarus suggests that the thawing depth of plowed peat soils depends on the sum of mean daily air temperatures after the snow melting. The effect of other factors, including the latitudinal position of particular places, the water-physical properties of soils, and their geomorphic position on slopes of different aspects, is concealed by the major role of the heat flux from the atmosphere. The suggested exponential equation to describe this dependence can be applied for prediction of the thawing depth of arable peat soils in the European part of Russia and in West Siberia.