Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2020 number 1

A study is made of the characteristic features in the soil chemical composition for the main landscape complexes on Belyi Island (Kara Sea): flat watersheds, slopes of the marine terraces, river and lake valleys, and sea coast layda. Soil samples were examined on content of main trace elements (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb), total organic carbon and nitrogen, par ticle size distribution and ion-salt composition. It was shown that the landscapes refer to three classes of water migration: acids, acid gleyic and salt sulfidic. Soils of the island are characterized mainly by sand texture and low content of trace elements. The mean values of concentration Clarkes (CC) were 0,2, 0,3, 0,4, 0,4, 0,7 and 0,9 for Cr, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn and Hg, respectively. The lowest content of trace elements was recorded for arenosols of watersheds and the marine terrace slopes, where CC = 0,1-0,4. Content of trace elements is related by a positive correlation with the quantity of clay and silt fractions. The study revealed an increase in the concentration of alphitite, water-soluble salts and trace elements in soils of accumulative landscapes. The Zn content in soils of accumulative landscapes is 12,9-28,9 mg/kg, whereas this value increases to 70 mg/kg in accumulative landscapes of laydas and to 92 mg/kg in superaquatic landscapes. The Cu content in accumulative landscapes, in comparison with autonomous landscapes, increases by a factor of 1,4-8,1, and by a factor of 15 in lake sediments. In the vertical soil profile, the distribution of the trace elements is recognized to be dependent from biogenic accumulation and that on the permafrost geochemical barrier. The radial (lateral) distribution of Mn, Fe, Zn and Pb in the gleysols is characterized by the eluvial-illu vial type: the maximum values were recorded in the superficial biogenic and suprapermafrost layers.