High Arctic Soils Through the Microscope: Prospect and Retrospect

Abstract

ABSTRACT By coincidence, the centenaries of the foundation of modern soil science, of the publication of the first treatise on microscope study of sediments, and of the International Polar Year all fall in the period 1980–1983. It is generally agreed that those early arctic exploration parties that adapted most closely to the Arctic conditions were most successful. So it is with approaches to the typification and classification of Arctic soils. Classification schemes relying on external factor influences, on a rigid distinction of stable and cryoturbic profiles, or on the absence of features held to be diagnostic of soils of temperate areas are least successful. The techniques of soil micromorphology are particularly useful in interpreting the significance of soil fabrics in Arctic soils of limited depth and marked horizontal heterogeneity. The features of pore development, especially cracks, vesicles and acicular voids, dominate the drying soil in the limited summer period. Banded fabrics, particle grind...