Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Circumpolar Region than in the Northern Circumpolar Region, and the physiog-
nomy major vegetation types differ markedly from between the two poles.
10.2.3
Parent Materials and Time
The most common parent materials in alpine cryosols are colluvium, till, gelifl uc-
tion deposits, and peat. Although these materials are commonly of Holocene age,
some mountains escaped glaciation during the Last Glacial Maximum and feature
very old soils. An example is the Uinta Mountains of Utah (Munroe
2007
).
10.3
Soil Properties
The properties of alpine cryosols are highly variable, much like Arctic and Antarctic
cryosols. From the 23 pedons in Table
10.3
, silt concentrations range from 10-70 %
(average = 35 %) and clay concentrations range from 4-31 % (average = 15 %); the
pH ranges from 3.9 in organic horizons to 8.8 in semiarid cryosols of central Asia
(average = 5.8); organic C concentrations exceed 20 % in organic horizons but are
generally low in mineral horizons (overall average = 9.1 %); and soils derived from
limestone and basalt materials have a high base saturation and those from acid igne-
ous materials have a low base saturation. An isotic mineral class is common in
mountain soils with permafrost in many areas, including the Rocky Mountains
(Bockheim and Munroe
2014
).
10.4
Soil-Forming Processes
In the scheme of Bockheim and Gennadiyev (
2000
), the dominant soil-forming pro-
cess in high-mountain environments with permafrost is cryoturbation. Other pro-
cesses of importance include andisolization, melanization (humifi cation),
cambisolization, podzolization, paludization, and gleization.
Although not requiring permafrost, cryoturbation (frost-stirring), is a common pro-
cess in permafrost-affected soils and is manifested by patterned ground on the land
surface and irregular and broken horizons, organic matter accumulation on the perma-
frost table, oriented stones, and silt caps within the soil. Patterned ground is a common
feature in high-mountain environments (Johnson and Billings
1962
). In addition to
high-latitude mountain environments, such as Iceland (Arnalds
2008
), Svalbard
(Kabala and Zapart
2012
), and the Scandinavian Mountains (Darmody et al.
2000
),
cryoturbation has been reported in the central Rocky Mountains of the U.S.A.
(Bockheim and Koerner
1997
; Munroe
2007
), the Swiss Alps (Zollinger et al.
2013
),
the Ural Mountains (Dymov et al.
2013
), and the Qinghai Plateau (Smith et al.
1999
).
