Marsh soils. Geography of Soils of Russia

Before learning what marsh soils are, it makes sense to recall what "soil" is in general. Many immediately introduced the school class, the teacher of natural history and his words about the solid shell of the Earth - the lithosphere. Its top layer has a unique quality - fertility. This is the soil. The fertile layer was formed over millions of years.

Factors of soil formation

The geography of the soils of Russia is vast, like the country itself. Mother rocks, climate, vegetation, terrain - all these are factors that influence the formation of a fertile layer. On the Russian expanses stretching from the southern mountains to the northern seas, these factors are very different. Accordingly, the land that gives people a harvest is not the same. In the territory there are many climatic zones with different amount of precipitation, illumination, temperature regime, flora and fauna. In Russia you can admire the white silence of the snows and sand dunes, see taiga forests and birch groves, flowering meadows and marshy swamps.

There are anthropogenic landscapes - a person more and more interferes in nature, changing the thickness and quality of the fertile layer (not always for the better). But only one centimeter of humus or humus (of which the "living stratum" consists) is formed 200-300 years! How carefully to treat the soil so that future generations do not remain alone with deserts and swamps!

Variety of soils

There are zonal soils. Their formation is strictly subject to the law of changing flora, fauna, etc. at different latitudes. For example, Arctic soils are common in the North. They are scanty. The formation of even a weak humus layer in permafrost, where only mosses and lichens are present, is impossible. In the subarctic belt - tundra soils. The latter are richer than the Arctic, but are scarce compared to the podzolic lands of the taiga and mixed forests. With a decrease in acidity, the introduction of mineral and organic additives, they allow you to grow many varieties of crops.

There are forest soils, chernozems (the most fertile), desert. All of them are the subject of research of such sciences as geography of soils, etc. These knowledge systems also pay much attention to the study of non-zonal lands, which include bog soils. They can be found in any climatic zone.

Formation of bog soils

The geography of Russian soils contains information that the layers we are discussing in swamps and in boggy forests are formed with stagnant moistening by rains (atmospheric precipitation), surface waters (lakes, rivers, etc.) or underground aquifers (ground sources). Simply put, bog soils are formed under moisture-loving vegetation. The bogs are forest (pine, birch there are very unlike their forest counterparts, they are small, "clumsy"), shrubby (heather, Labrador tea), moss and grass.

The formation of bog soils is facilitated by two processes. Firstly, it is peat formation, when plant residues accumulate on the surface, since they are poorly rotted. Secondly - gleying, when the oxide of iron turns into a nitrous during the biochemical destruction of minerals. This complex natural work was called the "marsh process".

Marshes come, if ...

More often marsh soils are formed during the hydrogenous succession of land. But sometimes in a hot spot with standing water, the river expanses become. For example, this process has been going on for a long time on the great Russian river Volga. Because of the cascade of hydroelectric power stations and reservoirs, it flows more slowly, stagnates. Urgent rescue measures are needed.

Thus, if for some reason the speed of the rivers decreases, they become uncontrolled. Bottom springs, feeding them, are silted. But despite the "cry of nature", people do not care about them. Therefore, there is a great risk of turning the blue arteries of Russia into stagnant swamps.

Characteristics of peat-bog soils

As mentioned above, peat is formed from a dense mass of insufficiently actively decaying remains of bog plants. Although there are places where the process does not happen at all. The upper layer of the earth, covered with "remnant" deposits, is peat-bog soils. Are they suitable for farming? Everything depends on geographical features.

In upland peat soils, a powerful layer of organic matter could theoretically enrich the upper layer of the earth. But it decomposes badly. The active formation of humus is impeded by the high acidity of the medium, its weak bioactivity, which is also called "soil breathing". By the way, this is the name of the process of oxygen absorption by the earth, the release of carbon dioxide, the production by organisms living in the subsoil, and thermal energy. The soil profile of such bogs is primitive. It has two horizons: peat and peat gley. The glue is an earth profile, to which ferrous oxide is given a blue, blue or blue color. Such soils do not differ by living force. For use in agriculture, they are of little use.

Characteristics of bog-podzolic soils

Marsh-podzolic soils can form where the swampy mixed forests with moss-grass cover are spread. Or where there are wet meadows formed when cutting areas covered with trees. How can one distinguish between marsh-podzolic soils and podzolic soils? Everything is very simple.

In bog podzols, there are stable signs of gleying. Outwardly they look like rusty-ocher and blue spots. There are also veins, grafts, piercing all the horizons of the profile. The development of bog-podzolic soils is affected by two types of soil formation: marsh and podzolic. As a result, both peaty horizon and gleying, and podzolic and illuvial layers are observed.

Characteristics of bog-meadow soils

Marsh-meadow soils are formed where the plains and terraces of rivers covered with sedge and reed have depressions. Additional surface humidification is observed (high water for at least 30 days) and simultaneously constant ground feeding at a depth of about 1.5 m.

The zone of aeration is unstable. This is a layer of the earth's crust, located between the day surface and the surface of groundwater. The soils in question are relevant not only for flat plains and terraces of rivers with close groundwater, but also for forest-steppe. They are readily localized sedges, plants from the family of Sitnikov, reeds. The genetic horizons of such lands are differentiated very clearly.

Marsh-meadow soils "live" in an unstable water regime. When the dry period comes, the vegetation of the marshes gives way to meadow, and vice versa. The following picture is observed: the profile of the earth is one, and life on it is different. In the dry period, if the waters are mineralized, salinization of territories occurs. And if the liquid is slightly mineralized, dry swampy ooze forms.

Krasnodar Territory and its soils

The soils of the Krasnodar Territory are diverse. In the Primorsko-Akhtarsky, Slavic, Temryuk districts they are marshy and chestnut, rusty because of the many estuaries and bays. On them, the inhabitants of the Kuban grow vineyards and rice. Soils in the Labinsk and Uspensky regions are podzolic and chernozem. These lands are very fertile. They are suitable for obtaining rich harvests of vegetables, sunflower.

On the Black Sea coast, the soils of the Krasnodar Territory are mountain forest. Here grow magnificent fruit gardens, vineyards. The Azov-Kurgan plain has chernozems everywhere. Knowingly the Kuban is called the granary of Russia. Its soils are so rich in humus that locals often joke: "There is even a stick stuck in the ground here."

During the Second World War, the Nazis loaded black chernozem in railway cars and exported to Germany, realizing what a natural value. It is good that not all fertile layers are ruined by the cruel treatment of people. But even in the presence of large reserves of gifted land, a person must conduct agricultural work carefully. Whether the soil is versatile use or not suitable for the cultivation of swamps, it must be remembered that an unintended interference in the life of natural complexes is dangerous for all living things.