A. V. Dolgikh

Soils and cultural layers in Velikii Novgorod.

Urban pedosediments (cultural layers) dating back to the 10th–11th centuries AD and soddypodzolic soils buried under them were studied in two archaeological excavations in Velikii Novgorod. Stages of their development were described. It was found that the buried soddy-podzolic soils at the latest stages of their development were cultivated or were formed under meadow vegetation. Weakly developed garden soils were described in the thickness of urban pedosediments. The lowermost organic cultural layers in Velikii Novgorod were waterlogged and represented peatlike mass with well-preserved wood remains. The oxidation of organic matter, gleyzation, and vivianite formation were described in them. The upper mineral layers were enriched in brick debris and building lime. The processes of organic matter mineralization, alkalization, calcification, zoogenic turbation, and biogenic structuring were clearly manifested in this part. Soil solutions infiltrated from the cultural layers caused some alkalization of the buried soddy-podzolic soil. Diagenetic carbonates and vivianite appeared in some loci within the eluvial and the upper part of the illuvial horizon of this soil. The entire cultural layer was subjected to contamination with heavy metals.

Anthropogenic evolution of dark gray forest-steppe soils in the southern part of the Central Russian Upland

A sequence of dark gray forest soils developing under a virgin broadleaved forest and under croplands used for 100 and 150 years was studied in the southern part of the forest-steppe zone on the Central Russian Upland. The application of multiple study methods for these objects made it possible to trace the evolutionary changes in the soil properties during the 150-year-long period of regular plowing. Several important trends in the soil development under the impact of the cultivation were revealed: (a) an increase in the thickness of the humus layer (according to the measurements at 20 points for each of the objects), (b) an increase in the amount of mole tunnels, (c) a decrease in the coefficient of the textural differentiation of the soil profile (with respect to the clay content), (d) an increase in the contents and reserves of the major nutrients upon a stable pool of humus in the upper meter, and (e) some alkalization and carbonization of the profile. Powdery accumulations of carbonates and whitish calcareous coatings on the faces of prismatic peds appeared at a depth of more than 130 cm. The plowed soils contained thin deep fissures, the surface of which was covered by dark-colored clayey-humus coatings at the depth of 50–110 cm. The radiocarbon age of the humus in these coatings was 500–1000 years younger than the age of the humus in the soil mass between the fissures. This set of features attests to the evolution of the plowed dark gray forest soils into chernozems under the impact of plowing.

Experimental studies and physically substantiated model of carbon dioxide emission from the exposed cultural layer of Velikii Novgorod

The results of quantitative assessment and modeling of carbon dioxide emission from urban pedolithosediments (cultural layer) in the central part of Velikii Novgorod are discussed. At the first stages after the exposure of the cultural layer to the surface in archaeological excavations, very high CO2 emission values reaching 10–15 g C/(m2 h) have been determined. These values exceed the normal equilibrium emission from the soil surface by two orders of magnitude. However, they should not be interpreted as indications of the high biological activity of the buried urban sediments. A model based on physical processes shows that the measured emission values can be reliably explained by degassing of the soil water and desorption of gases from the urban sediments. This model suggests the diffusion mechanism of the transfer of carbon dioxide from the cultural layer into the atmosphere; in addition, it includes the equations to describe nonequilibrium interphase interactions (sorption–desorption and dissolution–degassing of CO2) with the first-order kinetics. With the use of statistically reliable data on physical parameters—the effective diffusion coefficient as dependent on the aeration porosity, the effective solubility, the Henry constant for the CO2 sorption, and the kinetic constants of the CO2 desorption and degassing of the soil solution—this model reproduces the experimental data on the dynamics of CO2 emission from the surface of the exposed cultural layer obtained by the static chamber method.

Bacterial communities in the soils of cryptogamic barrens of East Antarctica (the Larsemann Hills and Thala Hills oases)

Bacterial communities from the soils of cryptogamic barrens in the Thala Hills and Larsemann Hills oases of East Antarctica were examined. The total number of bacteria in the studied soils was no higher than 108 cells per gram of soil, which is an order of magnitude lower than the values typically found in the soils of temperate regions. The portion of viable cells reached 60% and more, which attests to the high tolerance of the bacteria to the impact of adverse environmental factors. The maximum values of the total number and viability of the bacteria were found in the fine earth material immediately under the stony pavement. For the first time, the high content of the filterable forms of bacteria (FFB) was found. In some of the samples, their portion reaches 70–80% of the total number of bacterial cells. Data on the high numbers and viability of the bacterial cells and on the phylogenetic and morphological diversity of FFB allow us to attribute the latter to the pool of bacterial cells ensuring their preservation under unfavorable environmental conditions. The concentrations and total pools of bacterial biomass in the studied soils are much lower than those in the zonal soils of temperate regions. Bacterial communities in the studied soils combine the high tolerance toward the adverse environmental factors (as seen from the high portion of viable cells, the formation of the nanoforms of bacteria, and the participation of bacteria in the subaerial biofilms) with the low total number and biomass of the bacterial cells

Soils and cultural layers of ancient cities in the south of European Russia

Antique cities in the south of European Russia are characterized by a considerable thickness of their cultural layers (urbosediments) accumulated as construction debris and household wastes. Under the impact of pedogenesis and weathering in dry climate of the steppe zone, these sediments have acquired the features of loesslike low-humus calcareous and alkaline deposits. They are also enriched in many elements (P, Zn, Ca, Cu, Pb, As) related to the diverse anthropogenic activities. The soils developed from such urbosediments can be classified as urbanozems (Urban Technosols), whereas chernozems close to their zonal analogues have developed in the surface layer of sediments covering long-abandoned ancient cities. Similar characteristics have been found for the soils of the medieval and more recent cities in the studied region. Maximum concentrations of the pollutants are locally found in the antique and medieval urbosediments enriched in dyes, handicrafts from nonferrous metals, and other artifacts. Surface soils of ancient cities inherit the properties and composition of the cultural layer. Even in chernozems that developed under steppe vegetation on the surface of the abandoned antique cities of Phanagoria and Tanais for about 1000—1500 years, the concentrations of copper, zinc, and calcium carbonates remain high. Extremely high phosphorus concentrations in these soils should be noted. This is related to the stability of calcium phosphates from animal bones that are abundant in the cultural layer acting as parent material for surface soils.

Alteration of rocks by endolithic organisms is one of the pathways for the beginning of soils on Earth

Subaerial endolithic systems of the current extreme environments on Earth provide exclusive insight into emergence and development of soils in the Precambrian when due to various stresses on the surfaces of hard rocks the cryptic niches inside them were much more plausible habitats for organisms than epilithic ones. Using an actualistic approach we demonstrate that transformation of silicate rocks by endolithic organisms is one of the possible pathways for the beginning of soils on Earth. This process led to the formation of soil-like bodies on rocks in situ and contributed to the raise of complexity in subaerial geosystems. Endolithic systems of East Antarctica lack the noise from vascular plants and are among the best available natural models to explore organo-mineral interactions of a very old “phylogenetic age” (cyanobacteria-to-mineral, fungi-to-mineral, lichen-to-mineral). On the basis of our case study from East Antarctica we demonstrate that relatively simple endolithic systems of microbial and/or cryptogamic origin that exist and replicate on Earth over geological time scales employ the principles of organic matter stabilization strikingly similar to those known for modern full-scale soils of various climates.

Microbial biomass and biological activity of soils and soil-like bodies in coastal oases of Antarctica

The method of luminescent microscopy has been applied to study the structure of the microbial biomass of soils and soil-like bodies in East (the Thala Hills and Larsemann Hills oases) and West (Cape Burks, Hobbs coast) Antarctica. According to Soil Taxonomy, the studied soils mainly belong to the subgroups of Aquic Haploturbels, Typic Haploturbels, Typic Haplorthels, and Lithic Haplorthels. The major contribution to their microbial biomass belongs to fungi. The highest fungal biomass (up to 790 μg C/g soil) has been found in the soils with surface organic horizons in the form of thin moss/lichen litters, in which the development of fungal mycelium is most active. A larger part of fungal biomass (70–98%) is represented by spores. For the soils without vegetation cover, the accumulation of bacterial and fungal biomass takes place in the horizons under surface desert pavements. In the upper parts of the soils without vegetation cover and in the organic soil horizons, the major part (>60%) of fungal mycelium contains protective melanin pigments. Among bacteria, the high portion (up to 50%) of small filtering forms is observed. A considerable increase (up to 290.2 ± 27 μg C/g soil) in the fungal biomass owing to the development of yeasts has been shown for gley soils (gleyzems) developing from sapropel sediments under subaquatic conditions and for the algal–bacterial mat on the bottom of the lake (920.7 ± 46 μg C/g soil). The production of carbon dioxide by the soils varies from 0.47 to 2.34 μg C–CO2/(g day). The intensity of nitrogen fixation in the studied samples is generally low: from 0.08 to 55.85 ng С2Н4/(g day). The intensity of denitrification varies from 0.09 to 19.28 μg N–N2O/(g day).

Changes in carbon pool and CO2 emission in the course of postagrogenic succession on gray soils (Luvic Phaeozems) in European Russia

An analogous time series of fallow ecosystems (gray soils (Luvic Phaeozems) plowed and fallowed for 2, 7, 20, 60, and more than 120 years) in the broad-leaved forest zone of Orel oblast has been analyzed. Changes in carbon pool and CO2 emission in the course of postagrogenic succession during the vegetation and winter seasons have been estimated. The restoration of ecosystems on Luvic Phaeozems follows regularities revealed in analogous studies of southern taiga Podzols and forest-steppe Chernozems. Analogously to the other studied zonal chronosequences, total annual soil respiration on Luvic Phaeozems reaches the initial level of undisturbed ecosystems simultaneously with the restoration of phytomass reserve, although significantly earlier than the organic carbon reserve in soils is restored. According to regression models, among the zonal fallows in European Russia, including the southern taiga (Podzols), mixed forests (Luvisols), broadleaved forests (Luvic Phaeozems ), forest-steppe (Chernozems) and dry steppe (Calcisol–Solonetz soil complexes), the mean annual soil respiration is maximum in the zone of gray soils and Chernozems. The increase in soil respiration under artificial wetting (Birch effect) on fallows in the broad-leaved forest zone is minimum among the studied zonal chronosequences: 1.1 ± 0.6 (no effect), which corresponds to the optimal hydrothermal conditions in this zone.

Soil-like Patterns Inside the Rocks: Structure, Genesis, and Research Techniques

Microprofiles established due to the activity of endolithic communities inside the solid rocks of East Antarctica were studied with the approaches of soil science. Major products of endolithic rock transformation in situ are the silty-sandy fine earth and abundant organo-mineral films that are formed within the porous space of endolithic system. Such films are the result of interaction between biofilms and mineral surfaces and reflect elemental composition of both components, mainly comprising C, O, Si, Al, Fe, K, Ca, Na, and Mg. Morphology observed on different hierarchical levels and microtomography data indicated that different layers of endolithic system are connected with the fracture network serving for the elements transfer in the subsurface part of solid rocks. Examined profiles in granites with high quartz content had clear eluvial–illuvial differentiation patterns similar to macroprofile of a common Podzol (Spodsol) on loose substrates. It is shown, that subaerial segment of hard rocks is not sealed and is potentially permeable for dissolved products of endolithic weathering and pedogenesis. As a unique result—the soil-like pattern is established inside the massive, crystalline rock. Understanding modern processes in endolithic systems is of fundamental importance to decrypt paleosol record, as such systems may be the closest modern analogues of protosoils that existed on our planet before the higher vascular plants with root systems established.

Active layer monitoring in Antarctica: an overview of results from 2006 to 2015

Monitoring of active layer thawing depth and active layer thickness (ALT), using mechanical pronging and continuous temperature data logging, has been undertaken under the Circumpolar Active Layer ...