Soils of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica

Soils of Marie Byrd Land-one of the remotest and difficultly accessible regions of Antarctica-were investigated in the area of the mothballed Russkaya station located to the south of 74A degrees S. Despite the extremely severe wind regime (the average wind velocity is 13 m/s, and the maximum wind velocity is up to 60 m/s), the projective cover of vegetation in the area of the station averages 25-40% and reaches 60-80% in some places. The phenomena of physical weathering of the bedrock-exfoliation, stone pavements, residual rocks exposed by wind (hoodoos), and others-are clearly manifested. In most of the described soils, normal organic and organomineral horizons are absent. The soil profiles represent the mixture of the residues of mosses and lichens and the gravelly eluvium. The fine earth material is blown out of the surface horizons by strong winds; its residual accumulation takes place in the middle and lower parts of the profiles. The classification position of these soils is open to argument; they are close to Petrozems and Lithozems. Most of the profiles are underlain by the massive or slightly disintegrated bedrock with dry permafrost at a depth of 20 to 50 cm. Soils with dry permafrost comprise about 75% of the surveyed area. In separate loci in the depressions of the local mesorelief and on gentle slopes, the soils with clearly expressed cryoturbation features are developed; their profiles are underlain by the ice-rich permafrost and compose about 15% of the surveyed area. Anthropogenically disturbed soils and soils polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and other pollutants occupy about 10% of the surveyed area.