On frozen chernozem genesis and evolution at lacustrine plains in the southern Vitim plateau (Eastern Siberia, Russia)

Abstract

To clarify the probable role of the stage of the post-lake soil in the evolution of clay-illuvial frozen chernozem the studies were carried out in the southern Vitim plateau of Transbaikalia. The research covers soils in the area of ancient currently dried lakes and the lakeside plain of the Yeravninskaya depression. The obtained data evidence the dissimilarity of parent rocks, as well as radical differences in the soils’ characteristics and properties.

Microbial Community in the Permafrost Thaw Gradient in the South of the Vitim Plateau (Buryatia, Russia)

“…Our results showed that soil microbial communities at the Eravna Bazin (Vitim Plateau) were dominated by Actinobacteriota and Alphaproteobacteria, which were partly inconsistent with several studies, which reported that bacterial communities were dominated by Actinobacteriota [30][31][32], Proteobacteria [29,33,34], Bacteroidetes [35] or Proteobacteria, Acidobacteriota and Actinobacteriota [36]. We suppose that these differences are due to the unique conditions of soil formation (mountainous relief, sharply continental climate, permafrost) and the properties of the studied soils, which are formed on the southern border of the permafrost zone of Transbaikalia [3,6,14].…”

“…Sampling depth and number of samples changed across habitats, resulting in 21 soil samples (Table S1). Samples for molecular genetic studies were selected on the basis of previous morphological and geochemical studies [3,5,6,14]. Soil moisture, temperature and pH were synchronously measured using a mobile measurement system for the coupled monitoring of atmospheric and soil parameters (ASMC, Tomsk, Russia), as well as a pH meter (HM Digital, Seoul, Korea).…”

“…The object of our studies was the soil cover of the Darkhituy-Khaimisan transect (Eravninskaya depression, Buryatia). The soils of the transect polygon were well-characterized earlier [3,14].…”