17/06/2022
Arctic and tundra regions. Soil formation in the polar and subpolar regions is quite specific and is manifested in the dominance of physical weathering over chemical destruction of rocks, which occurs with very passive participation of living organisms whose activities are limited by harsh climatic conditions. Together, this leads to the formation of low-power primitive soils and the dominance of cryogenic microstructures. There is a certain similarity of soil formation in polar and tropical deserts, which is facilitated by close bioclimatic parameters that characterize extreme soil conditions: low rainfall, dry climate, poor vegetation (lichens, lithophilous mosses, green and blue-green algae). Desert soil formation in the Arctic, as well as in the tropics, is manifested in the formation of Fe-Mn crusts (desert tan) and salt crusts of calcium carbonate, gypsum, chlorides and sodium sulfates (due to the introduction of salts from the ocean).
