Features of cryogenic environment in soils of continental tundra and arid steppe on the southern Khangai slope under electron microscope

Abstract

Morphoscopic studies were conducted with the aid of SEM and TEM microscopes, on quartz grains and fractions not exceeding 2 μm, on soil samples from the continental tundra, alpine meadow and arid steppe. The aim of these studies was to define the features and properties of the quartz grains and fractions, produced by the environment of the cryoarid continental climate of Central Asia. It has been established that in cold and humid climates processes of cryogenic and hydrothermic splitting occur on the surface of quartz grains and in cold and dry climates processes of cryothermic scalling. The increase in the surface area of disintegrated minerals under continental climate conditions is accompanied by cryochemical coating by mineral-organic compounds.