Effect of the Wildfires on Sandy Podzol Soils of Nadym Region, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Soil Science
• Main Authors: Evgeny Abakumov, Alexandr Pechkin, Ekaterina Chebykina (Maksimova), Georgii Shamilishvili
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Agriculture (General); S1-972; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; nenets; permafrost; Tundra; Yamalo Nenets
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8846005; https://doaj.org/article/bf2963127eee4c60b08ab1fd865aca33

Active land disturbance of soil and environments appears even in remote landscapes of tundra and forest tundra. Wildfires become a frequent factor of soil degradation and intensification of permafrost degradation, also affecting the global balance of carbon, especially content and distribution of polycyclic aromatic compounds. Mature unaffected by fire sandy-textured podzols soils were investigated in comparison with the same soil strongly affected by surface fire in the end of August 2016 in surroundings of the Pangody settlement, Nadym district, Yamal region. Data obtained showed an intensive morphological transformation of the topsoil layers, decreasing total organic matter and apparently increasing the humus enrichment by nitrogen. Wildfires also result in complete transformation of the fractional composition of the polycyclic aromatic compounds. The sum of PAHs increases intensively as well as benzo(a)pyrene content in soils. Therefore, soils of the cryolithozone become more faced to the wildfires during the last decades. Even one-time fire effect results in serious transformation of soil geochemical state.