Soils and Vegetation of the Khaipudyr Bay Coast of the Barents Sea

Abstract

Soils and vegetation of the coastal zone of the Khaipudyr Bay of the Barents Sea have been examined and compared with analogous objects in the Karelian coastal zone of the White Sea. The environmental conditions of these two areas are somewhat different: the climate of the Khaipudyr Bay coast is more severe, and the seawater salinity is higher (32–33‰ in the Khaipudyr Bay and 25–26‰ in the White Sea). The soil cover patterns of both regions are highly variable. Salt-affected marsh soils (Tidalic Fluvisols) are widespread. The complicated mesotopography includes high geomorphic positions that are not affected by tidal water. Under these conditions, zonal factors of pedogenesis predominate and lead to the development of Cryic Folic Histosols and Histic Reductaquic Cryosols. On low marshes, the concentrations of soluble Ca²⁺, K⁺ + Na⁺, Cl^–, and SO^2-₄ ions in the soils of the Khaipudyr Bay coast are two to four times higher than those in the analogous soils of Karelian coast. Cluster analysis of a number of soil characteristics allows separation of three soils groups: soils of low marshes, soils of middle-high marshes, and soils of higher positions developing under the impact of zonal factors together with the aerial transfer and deposition of seawater drops. The corresponding plant communities are represented by coastal sedge cenoses, forb–grassy halophytic cenoses, and zonal cenoses of hypoarctic tundra. It is argued that the grouping of marsh soils in the new substantivegenetic classification system of Russian soils requires further elaboration.