Soil chemistry and particle size distribution of mountainous tundra soils in the Rai-Iz Massif ...

• Main Authors: Lesovaya, SN, Goryachkin, Sergey V, Polekhovskii, Yu S
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; International Polar Year; IPY; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.815783; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.815783

Gravelly clay loamy and clayey soils developed from the derivatives of ultramafic rocks of the dunite-harzburgite complex of the Rai-Iz massif in the Polar Urals have been studied. They are represented by raw-humus pelozems (weakly developed clayey soils) under conditions of perfect drainage on steep slopes and by the gleyzems (Gleysols) with vivid gley color patterns in the eluvial positions on leveled elements of the relief. The magnesium released from the silicates with the high content of this element (mainly from olivine) specifies the neutral-alkaline reaction in these soils. Cryoturbation, the accumulation of raw humus, the impregnation of the soil mass with humic substances, gleyzation, and the ferrugination of the gleyed horizons are also clearly pronounced in the studied soils. Despite the high pH values, the destruction of supergene smectites in the upper horizons and ferrugination (the accumulation of iron hydroxides) in the microfissures dissecting the grains of olivine, pyroxene, and ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...