Polygenesis of loamy soils in North-West Siberia in the context of environmental history of the Eurasian Artic region during the Late Quaternary

Abstract

This research provided a model of genesis of soils in North-West Siberia connecting the stages of their development to the main environmental changes over the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. The “soil memory” showed that the studied soils had a complex polygenetic origin. A gleyed paleosol with signs of solifluction found at a depth of 2 m was most probably formed during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 that is the Karginsky interstadial. The following stage, i.e., MIS2 – the Sartanian cryochron was characterized by the eolian sedimentation of silty material. In the Late Sartanian, new soil formation began in the silty parent material, with a strong platy cryogenic aggregation and grain size sorting. The warmer and more humid climate in the early Holocene induced clay illuviation and allowed for the formation of the argic horizon. Finally, the modern climatic conditions have caused ooidal cryogenic aggregation within upper horizons, however recent frost action has not been as strong as it was during the previous cold stage. Additionally, the modern pedogenesis included spodic and stagnic processes as well as clay mineral transformation. We suppose that such a model of soil evolution could be extrapolated to the northern Cis-Ural region, but not to the west in the Baltic region, where the dynamics of pedogenesis were different.