Abandoned agricultural soils from the central part of the Yamal region of Russia: morphology, diversity, and chemical properties

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The post-anthropogenic and soil cover transformations of former agricultural soils on the abandoned lands in the Russian Arctic territory are poorly investigated due to the active growth of the city complexes and increasing area occupied by agricultural lands. That is lead to an increase in the area of the arable lands surrounding the polar urbanized territories. Today, most of that land allocated for agricultural needs has been abandoned or affected by other types of land use. This study aimed to investigate the abandoned lands surrounding some of the settlements in the central part of the Yamal region. The soil diversity, morphology, and chemical and agrochemical properties were investigated with special reference to the specific transformations that occur to fallow lands under permafrost-affected cryogenic-ecosystem conditions. Analysis of data show that these soils are characterized by features relating to both, previous (and existing), anthropogenic impacts and natural processes such as cryogenic mass transfer. The degradation of the arable humus-enriched horizon was not as pronounced as it has been in more humid boreal environments over recent decades. The organic carbon content in topsoil depends on the land use and varied considerably among the soil types. The former arable topsoil horizon has been stable over time in terms of its morphological features and agrochemical state. Despite the high soil acidity levels, thenutrient content in the anthropogenically impacted soils was still high, even though being abandoned for 20 years.</jats:p>

Agrochemical and Pollution Status of Urbanized Agricultural Soils in the Central Part of Yamal Region

“…Previously published data show that the features of temperature and water soil regimes contribute to the preservation of nutrients for a long time, especially in the topsoil horizons. The high content of available forms of phosphorus (up to 783 mg × kg −1 ), potassium (up to 995 mg × kg −1 ), and nitrogen (up to 57 mg × kg −1 ) was recorded in the vicinity of Salekhard [28,70]. Soils in other countries that practice polar farming have somewhat lower nutrient contents, according to published data.…”

“…The mature soils are characterized by a low level of fertility and acidic pH. Soil diversity is represented by taxonomic groups of gleysols, cryosols, and podzols [28,44].…”

“…Statistical processing of the data obtained showed significant differences in the content of available forms of phosphorus and potassium (p < 0.05) between mature and anthropogenically loaded soils (Table 4). The abandoned agricultural soils of the Arctic region are characterized by a high content of available forms of phosphorus and potassium [28,70]. Previously published data show that the features of temperature and water soil regimes contribute to the preservation of nutrients for a long time, especially in the topsoil horizons.…”

“…For example, the city of Salekhard, built on the bank of the Ob River, stands on alluvial Quaternary sediments rich in clay particles [27]. This made it possible to do agriculture in Arctic conditions [28][29][30]. Now, with increasing urbanization and population density, these soils suitable for agriculture are built up in most Arctic cities.…”

Soils and olericultural practices in circumpolar region of Russia at present and in the past

“…There is no information about the quantity of abandoned agricultural land (Rosreestr, 2008(Rosreestr, -2020. According to the latest published data, abandoned fields are in the city of Salekhard, near the village of Yamgort, and they were also found in the vicinity of the city of Nadym (Abakumov et al, 2020;Nizamutdinov et al, 2021Nizamutdinov et al, , 2022.…”