The agricultural use of soils is limited by their contamination with various compounds and low contents of nutrients. We aimed to study the unique soils of the Yamal Experimental Station to determine their contamination with heavy metals and assess their potential fertility. Established in 1932, the Yamal Experimental Station (Salekhard, Russia) has bred new varieties of vegetable crops in open and protected ground. In August 2021, we made a soil section and 40 pits in a 0–10 cm layer. X-ray fluorescence was used to determine 11 metals and oxides. The qualitative assessment was based on the total soil pollution, soil pollution, and geoaccumulation indexes. Finally, we determined the contents of nutrients. The metals and metal oxides showed regressive-accumulative distribution along the soil profile. The concentrations of all ecotoxicants (except for arsenic) were within the maximum/approximate permissible values. Since arsenic has a high regional background content, its elevated concentrations make the soil suitable for agricultural use if proper quality control is in place. The total soil pollution index classified the level of pollution as “acceptable”. The geoaccumulation index showed the soils as mostly “unpolluted” with metals. The soil pollution index had values below 1, which indicated the absence of pollution. The fallow soils of the Yamal Experimental Station have a high level of potential fertility and are suitable for agricultural reuse according to the soil quality indexes applied. They can also serve as a local geochemical standard that has a long history of agrogenic transformation in cryogenic ecosystems. Taking into account increased concentrations of arsenic, we recommend primary quality control of agricultural products to identify its possible migration in the soil-plant system.

In the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the project “Nomad Education” has been implemented since 2010, aimed at solving the issues of accessibility of education for children of tundra people in the conditions of family, industrial nomadic camps. For 10 years, the attitude towards nomadic education has changed dramatically, in connection with which the paper presents an analysis of the effectiveness of nomadic education in teaching children of indigenous peoples in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug based on a study of the opinions of the nomadic population. This information can be the impetus for the improving the quality of education in nomadic areas. The purpose of the publication is to identify the problematic issues of nomadic education and determine the prospects for the project. The study involved 622 respondents from the indigenous population in 7 municipalities (districts) of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistica 10 and SAS JMP 11 software packages. The results of a survey of the nomadic population on the effectiveness of teaching children in the system of nomadic education are presented. Nomadic education was assessed, risks and potential were identified. The most active supporters of nomadic education were reindeer herders, which is primarily due to the specifics of their nomadic life. Among the main factors affecting the quality of learning of children of the nomadic population, there is a shortage of qualified teachers who speak their native languages and are willing to work in the extreme conditions of nomadic life. Research materials can be useful to methodologists and teachers implementing the project “Nomadic Education” both in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and in other territories of the Russian Arctic.

Soils of archaeological sites are highly interesting objects for multidisciplinary research in various fields of soil science, ecology, archaeology, anthropology and other sciences. Currently, the soils of archaeological sites in the Arctic regions have not been studied sufficiently, although many ancient monuments beyond the polar circle have been found. This work is devoted to the study of morphological and chemical properties of soils of the archaeological site “Settlement Labytnangi 1”, which is located beyond the northern polar circle, near the cities of Labytnangi and Salekhard (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). Development of these territories (according to archaeological research) began in the Eneolithic (Late IV – III millennia BC) and continues to the present day. Soil types on the territory of the monument are represented by soil-like bodies (urbikvazizems), podzols, turbozems, urbo-agrozems and peat soils with inclusions of archaeological and anthropogenic artifacts dating back to the XX century. Most of the studied soils were previously subjected to the processes of cryoturbation, although at present the lower boundary of the active layer of permafrost lies at a depth of 120–130 cm, according to the conducted electrophysical sounding. Significant changes occurred in the acid-base properties of the studied soils. In addition, anthropogenic activity entailed the introduction of biophilic elements and organic matter into the soil profile, in particular phosphorus, which is concentrated in the urbanized soil horizons (phosphorus concentrations above 2 800 mg/kg were recorded). The concentrations of heavy metals in the soils are at/below the conventional background (vicinity of Salekhard and Labytnangi). However, some excess concentrations of copper (up to 87.5 mg/kg), zinc (up to 303.3 mg/kg), lead (up to 76.1 mg/kg), and cadmium (up to 2.1 mg/kg) in the urbanized soil horizons have been detected. According to the results of the work, we can conclude that the soils of the archaeological site were formed under the strong influence of modern and past anthropogenic activity, which determined their morphological structure and chemical characteristics at present.