Soils of the East European Plain: description and 5 types, features

The East European Plain occupies a huge area from north to south and from east to west. Its climate is, for the most part, temperate or temperate continental, and therefore natural zonality is clearly manifested. Consider the features of the soils of the East European Plain, common types, their composition, morphological features and properties, plant species diversity.

Features of the soils of the East European Plain

The soils of the Russian Plain, like the vegetation cover, are distributed zonally. In the very north, there is a tundra with coarse-humus gley and gley soils.In the northern part of the taiga, the ground is gley-podzolic, further to the south it turns into podzolic and sod-podzolic. Such soil is also characteristic of mixed forests. In mixed forests and forest-steppe, gray forest soils are formed. Chernozems, ordinary, typical, podzolized are formed in the steppes, chestnut and brown soils, solonchaks and solonetzes - in the Caspian lowland.

Common types

The structure, mechanical and chemical composition and properties of the soils of the East European Plain are very diverse, as they are formed under the influence of different climates.

Tundra coarse humus gleys

Found only in the north of the plains. In the upper layer, organic matter from decomposed moss residues intensively accumulates. Most of the territory of the natural zone is waterlogged, with poor natural runoff, tundra peaty-gley and peat-gley soils appear.From above, they are covered with a bedding 3-5 cm thick, which contains a lot of peat. Next come the humus, illuvial and permafrost layers.

The content of mineral elements in the layers of tundra soils is approximately the same, a large percentage of chemically active forms of silicic acid is found. They are acidic. The upper horizon of the profile contains iron in the non-silicate form. The top layer contains fulvate-type humus, but there is not much of it, and the lower the layer is, the less it is.

Gley-podzolic

This type of soil is also found in the north of the East European Plain. They are combined with marsh soil. Gley-podzolic soils are found in well-drained areas, on the slopes of flat hills. The top layer is represented by peat, then there is a gleyed layer of light color. Below it is an eluvial layer, its thickness is from 3 to 12 cm.

After it comes a transition layer and a textural horizon, which gradually turns into the underlying rock. Due to the low nutrient content, gley-podzolic soils cannot be used in agriculture.

Podzolic

Formed in conditions of high humidity, low temperatures, typical of northern coniferous forests. They consist of several horizons: 3-5 cm of loose litter of moss, coniferous litter, mixed with peat. Then comes the humus-eluvial structureless layer 5-10 cm thick. Next is the podzolic horizon proper, dense, fine-grained, ash-whitish in color, its thickness is 10-20 cm. Below it are two illuvial horizons, dense, structureless, with a thickness of 10 up to 50 cm, the upper one is enriched with humus. A yellowish soil-forming rock with bluish patches of gley.

Podzolic soils, even cultivated, are not fertile, contain only 1-2% of humus in the upper horizon. They are acidic, not saturated with s alts, minerals, have a low degree of absorption, in general, unfavorable physical properties.

Grey Forest

Soils of this type are formed in the forest-steppe zone under the conditions of leaching water regime under broad-leaved and mixed forests with abundant vegetation consisting of different types of grasses. The parent rocks of gray forest soils in the European part of Russia are loess and loam, in Siberia - loam and clay.

Gray forests consist of the following layers: thin forest litter, fine-grained cloddy gray humus horizon, in its upper part the roots of plants form a turf. Then comes the humus-eluvial layer, with a powerful whitish silica powder, which may not be present in dark gray soils. After it, there is a grayish-brown eluvial-illuvial layer of a fine-nutty structure and a brownish-brown illuvial horizon of a prismatic-nutty structure.

Under it, a horizon transitional to the parent rock is found. It is less dense than the previous layer and less structured. It often contains carbonate neoplasms in the form of pseudomycelium and indistinct spots.

Chernozems

Rich in humus, humic acids and s alts give them a dark color. They form under perennial herbaceous vegetation on loam, clay, limestone in a temperate continental climate. The water regime is non-leaching or periodically leaching, the annual alternation of overdrying and moistening is typical, the predominance of positive temperatures.

Humus accumulates from the decay of a large amount of plant residues that remain in the soil every year. In percentage terms, the amount of humus in chernozems with high natural fertility reaches 15%.

Substances left after humification remain in the top layer. In the humus layer, nutrients are fixed in the form of organo-mineral compounds.

Chernozems have excellent water-air properties, lumpy or granular structure, neutral or slightly acidic reaction, the absorbing complex contains up to 70-90% calcium.Good conditions are created in the soil for the development of soil microflora. In terms of economic value, chernozems are considered the best soil, they are distinguished by powerful natural fertility, so most of them are plowed up.

Vegetation

The tundra is dominated by small herbaceous vegetation, mosses and low shrubs. Around the lakes, sedge-cotton grass vegetation grows, mixed with forbs and cereals. Further south, dwarf willows and birches appear mixed with lichens and mosses.

At the southern border of the tundra there is a transitional zone called the forest tundra. Light forest appears here, which consists of Siberian spruce, winding birch and larch. The lowlands are occupied by swamps or dense shrub thickets, consisting of small willows and birches.Lots of berries - blueberries, blueberries, herbs and lichens.

In the taiga of the East European Plain, coniferous forests are common, in the east of the taiga they alternate with mixed and broad-leaved forests. To the south, sandy plains appear - woodlands. Pine forests dominate on shallow sandy soils. Low grassy vegetation prevails among the swamps in the woodland.

In the European part of the taiga, coniferous forests of European and Siberian spruce coexist. In the west, beyond the Urals, there are Siberian fir, larch, Siberian cedar. Pine forests occupy river valleys, where alder, aspen, and birch are found. Many swamps with sphagnum vegetation. Floodplain and upland meadows are also widespread in the taiga.

In the forest-steppe zone, low plains and uplands alternate, covered mainly with oak forests. The steppe chernozem is covered with perennial grass, often grassy.In the extreme southeast of the East European Plain, in the Caspian lowland, there are zones of semi-deserts and deserts and sagebrush-cereal steppes. Wormwood, feather grass grow here, s altwort prevails in the south. Low-growing vegetation includes fescue, xerophytic feather grass, semi-shrubs. Tulips and buttercups bloom in spring. On s alt licks, in addition to black wormwood, s altwort, kermek and tamariks grow.

Soils and vegetation cover of the East European Plain show clearly defined zoning. On a large area of the plain, a visible change in natural zones is observed - from the northern tundra to the southeastern deserts. Any soil-climatic zone is characterized by typical types of soils, species diversity of vegetation and associated fauna.