The deserts of the Arctic are vast areas covered with glaciers and snow, where extremely sparse vegetation grows. This area is of great interest in cognitive and scientific terms. In the article, the reader will get acquainted with the types and properties of the soils of the Arctic desert.
Characteristic of the natural area
The Arctic Desert is common in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and occupies most of them. The area of distribution of cold deserts is not limited to this. They dominate the Arctic Ocean, on islands, stretch along the coast of Eurasia and Antarctica. The Arctic deserts occupy the northernmost outskirts of Asia and America, they are common on the islands of the Arctic basin.
The climate here is cold, the winter is harsh and long. Summer is short and cold. Seasonal division is conditional - winters are associated with polar nights, and the summer period - with days. The Arctic desert zone is the realm of eternal glaciers and snows. Over the summer they succeedto get rid of the snow cover tiny areas of land. If you ask: “What are the soils in the Arctic deserts?”, The answer is simple - they are undeveloped and can be both marshy and rocky. Only mosses with lichens can grow on them. Plants with flowers are extremely rare.
Arctic desert soil types
Natural zones from the pole to the equator replace each other, respectively, soil types also differ. This article focuses on the arctic desert, where the soil was formed in harsh climatic conditions with very low temperatures in winter.
The Arctic desert does not have favorable climatic conditions. Soil types, respectively, do not differ in diversity. The main soil type in this zone is arctic. They are divided into subtypes: desert-arctic and typical arctic. How strong the soil profile will be depends on the depth of thaw in a given season. The soils are poorly divided into horizons. If the conditions for soil formation were more favorable, then the vegetative peat horizon is well expressed, although the humus horizon is much worse.
Arctic desert soils
They occupy the northern part of the Arctic zone, and the leveled areas are formed by sandy loam and rubble deposits. The Arctic desert, whose soil is not rich in nutrients, has sparse vegetation. Moss, lichens and single flowering plants grow on these soils. Large areas are covered with mounds of stone. desert surfacedivided into polygons by large cracks, about twenty meters wide. The soil profile is thin (up to 40 centimeters), has the following horizons:
- Humus layer. It has a yellowish-brown color. The humus content is one to two percent, light loamy, its structure is fragile granular.
- Transition layer. The power is twenty to forty centimeters. The color of the horizon is brown, yellow-brown or spotted. Sandy loamy, fragile, finely cloddy. It is a defrost border crossing.
- The last horizon is a frozen rock that forms the soil, it is a sandy loamy, gravel, dense layer, usually light brown in color.
There are many low, flooded areas throughout the zone. This is due to the flowing meltwater of glaciers and snowfields. Therefore, under the mosses you can find marsh soils. Here the horizons differ very little. No gleying.
Typical soils of the Arctic
The arctic desert is represented not only by low areas, but also by high plateaus. Soil types here are not very diverse. Desert soils of the Arctic zone coexist with typical soils. The place of their formation are high plateaus, watershed heights, sea terraces. Typical soils are located mainly in the south of the zone under the cover of moss vegetation. Frost cracks and drying cracks abound here. Soils have a thin profile: 40-50 centimeters, and have the following horizons:
- Moss-lichen layer up to three centimeters thick.
- Humus layer brown-brown, loamy. The structure is fragile, granular-lumpy. Characterized by porosity, the presence of cracks, a noticeable uneven transition to the next layer.
- Transitional horizon dense with cracks, loamy, heterogeneous structure, with lumps of different sizes, usually brown.
- The last layer is soil-forming, frozen rock, light brown. Fragments of rocks are often found.
Composition of typical soils
The amount of humus in the upper horizon of these soils is much higher, about eight percent. But its quantity decreases with depth. Studying the properties of the soils of the Arctic deserts, we can say that the dominant component of humus is fulvic acids. The predominant majority here are fulvates, calcium humates. Silty particles are contained in a small amount. Typical soils contain mobile iron.
What characterizes the soil in the Arctic desert?
Depending on the rocks that form the soil, the reaction of the environment is slightly acidic or slightly alkaline. Sometimes the soil contains carbonate and water-soluble s alts. The arctic desert has a harsh, inhospitable climate. The soil is characterized by the absence of gleying, associated with insufficient precipitation, and permafrost processes: cracking, freezing, and soil erosion. Due to the dominant effect of physical weathering, the weathering crust is formed, which representsa roughly detrital, weakly leached structure. All this contributes to the formation of fissure polygons and stone hills.
Formation of soil cover occurs only under vegetation that grows selectively. It depends on the conditions of the relief, moisture, nature of the rocks. A little-studied natural area is the Arctic desert. The soil is of greater interest to scientists. After all, it is on it that there is vegetation that animals feed on. These soils are characterized by a kind of polygonality: they are vertically broken by cracks formed by severe frosts.
Arctic deserts of Russia
This natural area is located in the northernmost part of our country. Moreover, in the highest latitude of the Arctic. From the south it borders on the Wrangel Islands, from the north - on Franz Josef Land. It includes islands, peninsulas and arctic seas.
This zone is characterized by a very harsh climate, influenced by high latitude, low temperatures and heat reflected from snow and ice. The summer period is cold and short. The winter is long, with strong winds, blizzards and fogs. More than eighty-five percent of the territory is covered by glaciers.
The soils of the Arctic deserts in Russia are undeveloped. A significant part of the surface is occupied by placers of stones and eternal glaciers. The most common type of soils are arcto-tundra soils. The soil profile does not differ largepower and depends on the thawing of the soil thickness. The upper horizon consists of peat.
Arctic and Antarctica
These zones occupy vast territories. The Arctic is in the northern polar zone, and the Antarctic (continent of Antarctica) is in the south. They have a lot in common: severe frosts, eternal glaciers, alternating polar days and nights. But there are also differences. The most important thing is that the center of the Arctic is in the ocean, and Antarctica is on the mainland. They have a distinctive feature: eternal glaciers and snow lying almost all year round are the Arctic and Antarctic deserts.
The soils of these zones are thin, the humus layer is poor in humus. The soils of the Antarctic, although in very small quantities, still receive organic matter. They are brought by birds and seals that feed on marine organisms. Scattered vegetation is represented by lichens, mosses, algae and rare flowering plants.
The soil surface of the deserts of the Arctic is characterized by the accumulation of s alts in it. The surface often shows efflorescence. In summer, s alt migration occurs, so the formation of small brackish lakes is not uncommon here.
