Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Alpine cryosols comprise 2.3 million km
2
, 17 % of world cryosol total
(Table
10.1
). These data suggest that only 52 % of the area mapped as containing
alpine permafrost has permafrost within the upper 1-2 m. Although China contains
2.1 million km
2
of permafrost, only 320,000 km
2
feature cryosols.
Alpine soils described in the literature that have permafrost with active layers in
excess of 1-2 m occur in seven other orders in
Soil Taxonomy
, including (from most
to least prevalent) Inceptisols, Entisols, Spodosols, Histosols, Alfi sols, Mollisols,
and Andisols (Bockheim and Munroe
2014
) (Fig .
10.2
).
Fig. 10.2
Alpine soils with permafrost: (
a
) Richardson Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada
(P. Sanborn photo); (
b
) Cryoturbated Andisol, Iceland (
http://www.rala.is/andisol
)
; (
c
) Atigun
Pass, Brooks Range, Alaska (NRCS photo); and (
d
) Eagle Summit, Alaska (NRCS photo)
