Soils in Devonian and Carboniferous. Current State of Knowledge in Russia: A Review
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SIS AND GEOGRAPHY OF SOILS
Soils in Devonian and Carboniferous. Current State of Knowledge in Russia: A Review T. V. Alekseeva* Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142290 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received March 2, 2020; revised April 22, 2020; accepted May 30, 2020
Abstract—Information on Devonian and Carboniferous paleosols is limited. In this paper, published data (about 50 sources) on findings of these paleosols mostly on the territory of paleocontinents Laurussia and Pangea are summarized. For visualization of this information, sketch maps of paleosol distribution for Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian times have been developed. Their analysis shows that most of Devonian paleosols belonged to the groups of azonal and intrazonal soils; soils of wetlands predominated. The discoveries of Middle and Late Devonian zonal soils—Oxisols and texturally differentiated Alfisols—in the area of Voronezh High (south Russia) are unique. Most of Mississippian paleosols also belonged to azonal and intrazonal soils. The wide distribution of wetland paleosols in the Mississipian subperiod was also reflected in the increased area of coal basins (8% of land in comparison with 1% in Devonian). In the area of the Moscow sedimentary basin, along with Histosols, zonal paleosols—Spodosols and others—have been described. Pennsylvanian soil cover consisted of azonal, intrazonal, and zonal soils. In North America and Western Europe, swampy soils were still widely distributed (22% of land was occupied by coal basins). Oppositely, in the area of the Moscow sedimentary basin, Pennsylvanian paleosols of semiarid and arid ranges with palygorskite as the major clay mineral were widely present. The differentiation of Pennsylvanian soil cover of Laurussia and Pangea reflects the changes in climatic zonality of the planet with an increase in the degree of climatic contrast. Keywords: paleosols, Devonian, Carboniferous, Central Devonian field, Moscow sedimentary basin DOI: 10.1134/S1064229320100026
PRE-QUATERNARY SOIL FORMATION: HISTORICAL SUMMARY AND STATE OF RESEARCH IN RUSSIA Paleosols are important components of the geobiosphere and essential indicators of terrestrial environments on the planet. The appearance of vascular plants, an explosive colonization of land by them, and the development of root-inhabited soils in Devonian marked one of the crucial stages of the biosphere evolution [18, 77, 101]. The number of finds of paleosols dating back to the first half of Paleozoic (Ordovician and Silurian) and formed with the participation of nonvascular plants has also increased in the recent decades [103, 106]. The history of paleopedology attests to a progressive development of this science starting with the works of V.V. Dokuchaev. At the turn of the 20th century, prominent Russian scientists B.B. Polynov and K.D. Glinka emphasized the relevance of the study of paleosols. In 1927, in a paper for the All-Union Soil Science Congress i
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