Floral Splendour and Shortage of Nutrients - Soil: Reflections on the Basis of our Existence - page 39

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Necessity — the mother of invention. Phosphorus is a vital plant nutrient. In calcareous soils, plants
find it hard to obtain phosphorus because of its affinity for calcium, to which it binds closely. Plants
have sought to overcome this through various evolutionary adaptations, and calcareous soils are
often rich in flora as a result. This diversity can be observed in places like Sarek national park in
northern Sweden and on the Baltic island of Öland, which lies on calcareous bedrock

species. But access to nutrients in the soil can be variable and plants adapt to this
intermittent supply in different ways. In all probability, there is something in the
soil that enables the mountain avens to outcompete other plants in this environ-
ment. A common misconception exists that different plants have different nutri-
tional needs. Just visit your local garden centre and look at the array of different
fertilisers on offer. Lemon trees, we are told, need one kind of fertiliser, vegeta-
bles another and lawns yet another still. Much of this, though, is sheer marketing
designed to encourage us to buy more products.
One day in early August I stepped off the bus at the Sourva hydropower dam near
Stora Sjöfallet National Park, which lies just to the north of Sarek. Accompanying
me were Johan and Joakim, two hikers highly experienced in exploring this expanse
of wilderness. Our first job was to divide the camping gear between us. I drew the
task of carrying the four-kilogram three-man tent and Johan the ultra-light portable
stove. Joakim carried arguably the most valuable cargo in his head: his intimate
knowledge of hiking in Sarek. It took us two days to reach Pielavalta, the high pla-
teau in the centre of Sarek National Park and site for our base camp. It was my turn
to cook the evening meal and, to my friends' surprise, I produced a fresh egg. Who
knows, maybe I was the first of Sarek's many weight-conscious hikers to carry an
uncooked egg halfway across the park. But I needed it to cook the lentil burgers I
planned to make that evening. I let the dried corn and green lentils soak in the hot
water before mixing in the egg and instant mash potato and frying the patties in olive
oil. After a long day of hiking we all ate heartily.
The day after we visited a magnesite quarry on the northern face of ￄhpar,
above Lake Vuoinesluobbalah. Five hundred tonnes of magnesite were mined here
during World War II to make fire-resistant stone linings for steel kilns. The quarry
was abandoned after six months due to a plane accident—a mishap that saved
Sarek from further development.
I became interested in the quarry, located in the most botanically interesting
area of Sarek, after reading about it in Swedish writer and photographer Claes
Grundsten's topics. Magnesite consists of magnesium carbonate, an unusual min-
eral that resembles calcite (calcium carbonate). Both calcite and magnesite affect
soil conditions in similar ways, their carbonate turning water in the soil alkaline by
binding acidic hydrogen ions.
To reach the magnesite quarry we left Pielavalta and hiked through Pierikvaras,
a low pass beneath the cloud-shrouded Mount Slugga, a peak that looks the same
from all angles. In the distance the quarry shone white on the horizon, presum-
ably the result of vegetation being shorn away when mining started here. We found
an abandoned stone saw and a few neatly stacked slabs of sawn rock: relics of a
bygone age.