Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 5.4
Examples of cryoturbation in arctic Alaska, including (
a
) buried and redistributed soil
organic carbon in sandy alluvium; (
b
) patches of redistributed SOC in sandy alluvium; (
c
) cryotur-
bation in a Spodosol-like soil (Psammoturbel) in sandy alluvium; and (
d
) SOC concentrated in
near-surface permafrost of a drained thaw-lake basin (Bockheim
2007
)
Fig. 5.5
A generalized
depiction of seasonal changes
in soil thaw and moisture
status of a Polar Desert soil
(Tedrow
2004
)
the development of salt effl orescence on the soil surface. This process is evident is
soils of the arctic and the Antarctic. In arctic soils, cryodesiccation occurs as water
is drawn from unfrozen areas during freeze back (Fig.
5.5
), and is responsible for
the platy or blocky structures or massive, structureless conditions of cryosols
