Bulk chemical composition of the mountainous meadowy brown soils of the Ukrainian Carpathians and processes of its transformation

Abstract

The features of the bulk chemical composition of mountainous meadowy brown soils and anthropogenically-modified soils of the Svydovets and Chornogora arrays of the Ukrainian Carpathians are investigated. The ratio of the oxides content of the most important chemical elements of the mineral part of mountainous meadowy brown soils and parent material is determined. The basic transformation processes of the mineral part of the studied soils and parent material are established. The peculiarity of the bulk chemical composition of meadow brown soils is the high content of silicon oxides, and the high content of aluminum oxides and iron oxides. Their total content is within 94 %. This indirectly indicates a significant chemical homogeneity of the soil with the parent material. The relative accumulation of SiO2 in the upper genetic horizons of the soil profile is due to the physical disintegration of silicate rocks. Its relative bulk content is gradually reduced from 76.10–77.43 % to 72.28–76.93 % in the transition to a parent material. It was established, that the removal of sesquioxides beyond the boundary of the soil profile leads to the formation of a depleted soil profile on aluminum oxides and iron oxides, as we compare with unchanged parent material. Absolute values of the indicators of leakage factor of alkaline earth metals grow in the direction towards to the parent material. This indicates about intensive development of erosion processes in the upper part of the soil profile. This is due to the physical and chemical disintegration of aluminosilicates and the removal of compounds of disintegration into the lower soil genetic horizons. The analysis of the results of balance of bulk reserves of oxides testified, that during the formation of the mountainous meadowy brown soils of the Ukrainian Carpathians, oxides of trivalent metals (aluminum and iron) and compounds of alkaline earth metals are subjected to removal from the genetic horizons of the soil profile. Quantitative bulk chemical analysis didn’t show any significant differences in the material composition between the mountainous meadowy brown soils and the mountainous meadowy brown anthropogenically altered soil. Key words: mountainous meadow brown soils, bulk chemical composition, Svydovets and Chornogora arrays, Ukrainians Carpathians.