Earth’s Cryosphere, 2010, Vol. XIV, No. 3, p. 52-60

MODERN PROCESSES AND INHERITED PEDOGENIC FEATURES IN SOILS ON MANTLE LOAMS, SOUTHERN TUNDRA

G.V. Rusanova, E.M. Lapteva, A.V. Pastukhov, D.A. Kaverin

Institute of Biology, Komi Science Centre, Ural Branch of RAS, 167982, Syktyvkar, Kommunisticheskya str., 12, Russia, kirienko@ib.komisc.ru

Cryomethamorphic gleyzems formed in silty loams of the Vorkuta river basin are characterized. The main pedogenic processes (cryopedogenesis, gleyzation, migration of mobile compounds) and inherited features have been determined by micromorphology and physical-chemical analyses. Microforms of relict humus and fragments of clay cutans in the middle and lower part of the soil profiles testify to the previous pedogenesis under forests occurred during the Middle Holocene. It has been revealed that the inherited textural clay-illuvial horizons of that period evolved into cryomethamorphic horizons due to the activation of cryogenic processes during the Subboreal period.

Key words: Gleezems, micromorphology, pedogenic processes, inherited features, soil evolution.

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