Soils of Different Land Use Categories in the City of Petrozavodsk

Abstract

In the territory of the city of Petrozavodsk, the following categories of land use were distinguished: lands of common use, lands of urban and rural development, natural recreation zone, and reserved land. In each area, soil pits were made, and each full profile was analyzed for its morphological structure and physicochemical properties. Among soils, urbostratozems (Urbic Technosols) predominate, urbistratified natural soils (Plaggic Cambisols, Technic Podzols), and technogenic surface formations are spread to a lesser extent. The undisturbed natural soil cover is preserved in suburban forests and on lands of reserve and rural development. The urban soils differ in their physicochemical properties from the zonal natural soils by the elevated base saturation and high content of mineral nutrients. Heavy metal concentrations are mainly at the level of regional background characteristics. Maximum/tentatively permissible concentrations of lead, copper and zinc are exceeded on the lands of common use, building areas, and in the natural recreational zone of the city, which was influenced in the past by the activity of the city-forming plant.