Soil Cover Patterns in the Northern Part of the Area of Aspen–Fir Taiga in the Southeast of Western Siberia S

ISSN 10642293, Eurasian Soil Science, 2015, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 359–372. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2015. Original Russian Text © S.V. Loiko, L.I. Geras’ko, S.P. Kulizhskii, I.I. Amelin, G.I. Istigechev, 2015, published in Pochvovedenie, 2015, No. 4, pp. 410–423. GENESIS AND GEOGRAPHY OF SOILS Soil Cover Patterns in the Northern Part of the Area of Aspen–Fir Taiga in the Southeast of Western Siberia S. V. Loikoa, L. I. Geras’koa, S. P. Kulizhskiia, I. I. Amelinb, and G. I. Istigecheva aTomsk State University, ul. Lenina 36, Tomsk, 634015 Russia bInstitute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Lavrent’eva 6, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia email: [email protected] Received March 19, 2014 Abstract—Soil cover patterns in the northern part of the area of aspen–fir taiga on the Tom’–Yaya interfluve at 170–270 m a.s.l. are analyzed. Landscapes of the subtaiga piedmont province are found at somewhat lower heights. The three major forms of the local mesotopography include virtually flat interfluve surfaces, slopes (that predominate in area), and the network of ravines and small river valleys. Modal soil combinations on the slopes consist of the typical soddypodzolic soils with very deep bleached eluvial horizons and dark gray (or gray) residualhumus gleyic soils with dark humus coatings. With an increase in the degree of drainage of the territory (toward the local erosional network), the portion of gleyic soil subtypes decreases from nearly 100% on the flat interfluves to 10–15% on the slopes; the portion of soils with residual humus features decreases from 80–90 to 10–15%, respectively. These two soil subtypes can be considered intergrades between typical soils of the aspen–fir taiga (soddypodzolic soils with very deep bleached horizons) and dark gray and gray residualhumus soils characteristic of the subtaiga zone in the south of Western Siberia. Keywords: Luvisols, aspen–fir taiga, soil cover, texturedifferentiated soils, soddypodzolic soils, dark gray soils, Western Siberia DOI: 10.1134/S1064229315040067 INTRODUCTION the high degree of alteration of the parent material In 2014, we celebrated the 95th anniversary of the [47] and by the specific microclimate [54]. In compar birth of Vladimir Markovich Fridland, the founder of ison with the typical southern taiga on the Western the theory of soil cover patterns. This theory has Siberian Plain, where Abies sibirica is also one of the proved its efficiency in different natural zones. How major edificators, the total phytomass in the tallherb ever, despite the long period of special studies of soil taiga is 1.5–2.0 times higher, and the reserves of cal cover patterns, they remain poorly studied in vast cium and nitrogen in the phytomass are 1.4–1.8 and regions of Russia. One of these regions in the south of 2.0–2.5 times higher, respectively. The amount of cal Western Siberia is confined to western windward cium entering the soil with plant litter is four times slopes of the foothills of the Altay–Sayan mountain greater. The rate of litter decomposition is very high: system, where specific humid hemiboreal forests are plant litter is completely decomposed in 1.0–1.5 years developed under conditions of the increased precipita [2, 45, 47]. The soils are rich in nutrients. For exam tion because of the barrier effect of the mountains. ple, the phosphorus content in the humus horizons These are aspen–fir forests with tall herbs in the reaches 879–1042 mg/kg, which is close to the upper ground cover; this plant community includes relict limit of the phosphorus content in forest soils [56]. species [20, 27, 34, 53]. The litter horizon is virtually Soddypodzolic soils with extremely deep bleached absent. Geobotanists distinguish between typical horizons (according to [24]) predominate in the soil aspen–fir (dark, Chernevye) forests and aspen–fir cover of the tallherb aspen–fir taiga of the piedmont taiga, in which the portion of boreal species in the zone and on low mountains. Some specific features of plant cover is larger. Among various boreal and hemi these soils were noted by many researchers, which led boreal forests, tallherb forests represent the most to the appearance of numerous “regional” soil names. complicated (in terms of their structure and functions) Thus, these soils were described under the names of ecosystems [3, 44]. The largest area of these forests in deeply podzolized mountainous taiga soils, soddy Russia is confined to the foothills and mountains in pseudopodzolic mountainous taiga soils, soddy deep the south of Siberia. podzolic lessivated mountainous forest soils, light gray The aspen–fir taiga is characterized by the very strongly podzolized soils, and deeply podzolized soils high biological productivity; it is also characterized by of the Altay “Chern” (tallherb aspen–fir forests) [21, 359 360 LOIKO et al. 26, 38, 45, 47]. The soils of tallherb aspen–fir taiga results of the soil cover study in the northern ecotone are devoid of the litter horizon and are not subjected to of the tallherb aspen–fir taiga. A factorgenetic winter freezing; a characteristic feature of these soils is scheme of the soil cover development, the dominant the development of active soil water flows above the sur and subdominant components of the soil cover, and face of the illuvial horizon [18, 25–27, 36, 45, 47, 51]. their spatial relationships are discussed. According to the World Reference Base for Soil Resources [58], they can be classified as Albic Stagnic Luvisols (Clayic, Cutanic). In recent years, several OBJECTS AND METHODS works devoted to the genesis, evolution, and classifi The soils and soil cover patterns were studied in the cation of these soils have been published [57, 59, 60, northern part of the Kuznetsk Alatau area of tallherb 62, 63]. In our study, we consider the genesis and com aspen–fir taiga ecosystems extending to the north of the position of the soil cover with the dominant participa Kuznetsk Alatau Ridge (up to 57° N) within the upper tion of these soils. part of the Tom’–Yaya interfluve [8, 30, 51]. In this The morphology and analytical properties of the region, the tallherb aspen–fir taiga ecosystems occupy soils of the tallherb aspen–fir taiga and some aspects the highest positions of the relief (up to 270 m a.s.l.) of their functioning have been studied sufficiently well amidst the subtaiga zone occupying lower positions. In [21, 25, 26, 28, 37–39, 42, 43, 45, 47]. However, the the north, these ecosystems are bordered by typical reasons (factors) of the specificity of these soils remain southern taiga ecosystems. Thus, we studied a latitudi insufficiently studied; a comparative genetic and geo nal ecotone between the subtaiga, southern taiga, and graphic analysis of these soils in different regions has tallherb aspen–fir taiga. Lower parts of the Tom’–Yaya yet to be performed, and data on the soil cover patterns interfluve are occupied by the zonal subtaiga herba with participation of these soils are virtually absent. ceous–grassy pine–broadleaved (birch, aspen, alder) Some ideas on the diversity of particular soils in the forests developing on gray and dark gray soils in the soil cover can be found in the works by Trofimov [47] autonomous positions. In the central part of the inter and Petrov [37, 38]. Thus, it was shown that the pedo fluve with higher elevations (>170–200 m a.s.l.), the genesis in the tallherb aspen–fir taiga may follow the subtaiga ecosystems are replaced by the tallherb podzolic and burozemic (brown forest) types. Pod aspen–fir taiga [8]. zolic soils are confined to the areas with brown silty The calcareous loesslike clayey mantle with rela clay mantle loams and clays. These substrates predom tively homogeneous properties in the studied region inate in the considered region and cover the middle serves as the parent material [35]. This substrate is and lower parts of slopes. They have an eolian genesis characterized by the dominance of the clay (30–50%) with further redeposition by various slope processes, and coarse silt (40–50%) fractions. At a depth of 3– during which the eolian sediments were enriched with 5 m, it is underlain by the lacustrine–bog lowcarbon the debris of local bedrocks [4, 13, 35, 42, 52]. ate Taiginsk clay overlying the products of weathering Burozems (brown taiga soils, Cambisols) tend to and disintegration of bedrock slates. develop from the bedrock residuum and colluvial deposits without the cover of brown loams and clays. The mean annual temperature is –1.0°C, and the mean annual precipitation reaches 700–750 mm; the Though it is generally believed that the soil cover precipitationtopotential evaporation ratio (accord under the tallherb aspen–fir forests is relatively ing to Ivanov) is 1.3. The soils virtually do not freeze in homogeneous, special studies performed in the area of the winter because of the very deep (60–80 cm; >1 m the Mountain Shoria and Kuznetsk Alatau ranges have in the snowy winters) snow cover. The vegetation dif proved the diversity of the soil components: elu fers from the typical tallherb aspen–fir taiga of the vozems, soddy eluvozems, soddypodzolic and pod low mountains in the greater phytocenotic role of zolic soils, burozems and dark burozems, darkhumus Abies sibirica, somewhat lower height and phytomass soils, and grayhumus soils have been described there. of tall herbs, and less diverse relict species. The morphology and properties of the very deep bleached horizons differ in different parts of the area The mesotopography of the studied area is repre of tallherb aspen–fir taiga. For example, the humus sented by three major landforms (Fig.

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