The morphology and properties of the soils of permafrost peatlands in the southeast of the Bol’shezemel’skaya tundra are characterized. The soils developing in the areas of barren peat circles differ...

The mean pools of soil carbon were determined for the first time for twelve soil groups (according to the World Reference Base for Soil Resources, 2006) on four test plots with the use of the...

The qualitative and quantitative composition of 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in peat plateaus at the southern boundary of the permafrost zone in northeastern Europe, where degradation of permafrost occurs because of climate warming, has been studied by high-performance liquid chromatography in gradient mode. PAH concentrations vary from 150 to 3700 ng/g with their average content of about 1500 ± 1000 ng/g. The variation of data is primarily due to the large contribution of heavy PAHs.

Based on the data of the plant macrofossil and palynological composition of the peat deposits, the evolution and current state of polygonal peatlands were analyzed at the southern limit of continuous permafrost in the Pur-Taz interfluve. Paleoreconstruction shows that peat accumulation began in the Early Holocene, about 9814 cal. year BP, in the Late Pre-Boreal (PB-2), at a rate of 1 to 1.5 mm year⁻¹. Intensive peat accumulation continued in the Boreal and early Atlantic. The geocryological complex of polygonal peatlands has remained a stable bog system despite the predicted warming and increasing humidity. However, a rather rapid upper permafrost degradation and irreversible changes in the bog systems of polygonal peatlands occur with anthropogenic disturbances, in particular, a change in the natural hydrological regime under construction of linear objects.

An integrated assessment of the ecological state and stability of permafrost peat plateaus in northeastern European Russia has been performed with regard to current climate changes. Analytical...