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Arctic desert description. Message around the world on the topic: “Natural zones of Russia. Arctic desert zone. Vegetation of the arctic desert

The Arctic (translated from the gr. "arktikos" - northern) is located on the territory of the Arctic Ocean, its islands and on the northern outskirts of Europe, America and Asia, covers an area of ​​​​approximately 21 million km2.

Characteristics of the Arctic desert zone.

Climate. In the very center of the Arctic, called the Central Arctic, is the North Pole. There is only one day and one night in a year, which last for several months: during the night period, everything is illuminated by the moon, stars and fantastic northern lights. The polar night ends in March, and the day gradually comes into its own for several months. Winters are long and very severe, while summers are too short and cold, with an average temperature of +1- +3°C. But there are also warmer zones, where in the summer on the coast, washed by a warm current (Kola Peninsula), during a hot short summer, even delicate northern flowers bloom.

See the geographical location of the Arctic desert zone on the map of natural zones.

The natural zone of the Arctic deserts on a significant part of the surface is covered with glaciers and stone placers. Soils practically undeveloped. Vegetation, on a surface free from ice and snow, cannot form a closed cover. In the cold desert, the plant world is represented by the dominance of mosses and lichens. Flowering plants are very rare. Among the Arctic animals, marine animals predominate in this zone: polar bears and birds.

Walruses, seals, whales and seals live in ocean waters. In summer, the rocky shores of the islands are completely covered with nests of various sea birds, with their noisy bird colonies.

Many travelers organized expeditions to the North Pole, most of the attempts were unsuccessful. It was not until 1909 that the American Robert Peary was able to reach these northern shores.

Constant exploration of the Arctic is associated with the development of the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest sea route between Murmansk and other ports in the Far East. The Northern Sea Route is available for navigation only in the summer, and in the rest of the period the ocean is ice-bound and only icebreakers can make their way there.

At the end of the 19th century, the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen made the famous drift in the ice on his ship Fram (you can read about this poetic digression). In 1937 there were unique flights of pilots V. Chkalov and M. Gromov to the USA through the North Pole. In the same year, four Soviet polar explorers on a drifting ice floe studied the movement of ice, ocean and sea currents, and arctic weather in the ocean. In our time, drifting scientific stations are constantly monitoring all areas of the Arctic, in addition, satellite observation provides constant new knowledge for scientists, for example, about the melting of glaciers.

These and many other events are the main stages in the development of the Arctic, which still remains one of the most poorly studied places on Earth.

PS: in the south, the Arctic deserts border

Arctic deserts (polar desert, icy desert), a kind of desert with extremely sparse sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts of the Earth. It is distributed over most of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as on other islands of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern coast of Eurasia and on islands near Antarctica.
In the Arctic desert grow small isolated areas with mainly scale mosses and lichens and herbaceous vegetation. They look like a kind of oases among the polar snows and glaciers. In the conditions of the Arctic desert, there are some types of flowering plants: polar poppy, foxtail, buttercup, saxifrage, etc.

Arctic soils are found in the area of ​​polar deserts and semi-deserts under "spots" of vegetation on the islands of the Arctic Ocean and in a narrow strip along the Asian coast of the mainland. Soil processes are poorly developed, and the soil profile is practically not expressed. Rare mosses and lichens practically do not provide “material” for the formation of humus, their humus horizon is rarely thicker than 1 cm. 5 m. Due to insufficient moisture, gleying is absent in arctic soils, soils have a neutral acid reaction, sometimes carbonate or even saline. In places under algae spots, specific “soil-films” are distinguished with subtle signs of soil formation.

Typically, arctic soils consist of a thin (1–3 cm) organogenic horizon and a mineral mass poorly differentiated into horizons, underlain at a depth of 40–50 cm by a permafrost layer. Gleying is weak or absent. Perhaps the presence of carbonates or easily soluble salts. Arctic soils are common on the islands of the Arctic Ocean.

Humus in the upper horizons usually contains a small amount (1-2%), but sometimes reaches large values ​​(up to 6%). Its fall with depth is very sharp. Soil reaction is neutral (pHH2O 6.8-7.4). The sum of exchange bases does not exceed 10-15 meq per 100 g of soil, but the degree of saturation with bases is almost complete - 96-99%. In desert-arctic soils, mobile iron can accumulate in significant amounts.

Arctic soils can be divided into two subtypes: 1) arctic desert and 2) arctic typical humus. The current level of knowledge of these soils allows us to distinguish two types within the first subtype: a) saturated and b) carbonate and saline.
Arctic desert carbonate and saline soils are characteristic of the superarid (precipitation less than 100 mm) and cold parts of the Arctic and the oases of Antarctica. The American scientist J. Tedrow calls these soils polar desert. They are found in the north of Greenland, in the northernmost part of the Canadian Arctic archipelago. These arctic soils are neutral to slightly alkaline and have a salt crust on the surface. Arctic desert saturated soils differ from those described by the absence of new formations of readily soluble salts and carbonates in the upper part of the profile.

The following should be considered the most characteristic features of Arctic soils:

1) the complexity of the soil cover associated with the nature of the microrelief, polygonality;

2) shortening of the profile due to the low intensity of soil-forming processes and shallow seasonal thawing;

3) incompleteness and non-differentiation of the soil profile due to the low intensity of the movement of substances;

4) significant skeletal structure due to the predominance of physical weathering;

5) lack of gleying associated with a small amount of precipitation.

Low summer temperatures, scarce flora and a layer of permafrost interfere with the normal soil-forming process. During the season, the thawed layer does not exceed 40 cm. The soil thaws only in the middle of summer, and by the beginning of autumn it freezes again. Waterlogging during the thawing period and summer drying lead to cracking of the soil cover. In the greater part of the Arctic, almost no formed soils are observed, but only coarse detrital material in the form of placers.

Antarctic and Arctic desert: soil, soil characteristics and features

Lowlands and their fine-earth soil are the basis of Arctic soils (very thin, without any signs of claying). Arctic ferruginous, slightly acidic, almost neutral soils are brown in color. These soils are complex, associated with microreliefs, soil compositions and vegetation. Scientific citation: "The main specific feature of the Arctic soils is that they represent, as it were, a "complex" of soils with a normally developed profile under plant sods and with a reduced profile under algal soil films" gives a complete description of Arctic soils and explains the peculiarities of the flora of this region.

Characteristics of the Arctic Desert

The Arctic Desert is part of the Arctic geographical zone, located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. The zone of the Arctic deserts - the northernmost of the natural zones - is located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. Its southern border is located approximately at the 71st parallel (Wrangel Island). The Arctic desert zone extends to about 81° 45′ N. sh. (islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago). The zone of the Arctic deserts includes all the islands in the Arctic basin: this is the island of Greenland, the northern part of the Canadian archipelago, the Spitsbergen archipelago, the islands of the archipelagos of Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, the Novosibirsk Islands and a narrow strip along the coast of the Arctic Ocean within the Yamal Peninsulas, Gydan, Taimyr, Chukchi). These spaces are covered with glaciers, snow, rubble and rock fragments.

The climate of the Arctic desert

The climate is arctic, with long and severe winters, summers are short and cold. Transitional seasons in the Arctices which desert does not exist. During the polar night - winter, and during the polar day - summer. The polar night lasts 98 days at 75°N. sh., 127 days — by 80°C. sh. Average winter temperatures are -10 to -35°, dropping to -60°. Frost weathering is very intense.

The air temperature in summer is slightly above 0°C. The sky is often overcast with gray clouds, it rains (often with snow), due to the strong evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean, thick fogs form.

Even on the "southern" island of the Arctic desert - Wrangel Island - according to eyewitnesses, there is no autumn, winter comes immediately after the short Arctic summer.

Soils of the Arctic deserts

The wind changes to the north and winter comes overnight.

The Arctic climate is formed not only due to the low temperatures of high latitudes, but also in view of the reflection of heat from the snow and ice crust. And the ice and snow covers last about 300 days a year.

The annual amount of atmospheric precipitation is up to 400 mm. Soils are saturated with snow and barely thawed ice.

Vegetablecover

The main difference between the desert and the tundra is that you can live in the tundra, subsisting on its gifts, but this is impossible to do in the Arctic desert. That is why there were no indigenous people on the territory of the Arctic islands.

The territory of the Arctic deserts has open vegetation, which covers about half of the surface. The desert is devoid of trees and shrubs. There are small isolated areas with crustaceous lichens on rocks, mosses, various algae on stony soils and herbaceous vegetation - sedges and grasses. In the conditions of the Arctic desert, there are some types of flowering plants: polar poppy, grits, chickweed, alpine foxtail, arctic pike, bluegrass, buttercup, saxifrage, etc. These islands of vegetation look like oases among endless ice and snow.

The soils are thin, with insular distribution mainly under vegetation. The spaces free from glaciers are bound by permafrost, the thawing depth does not exceed 30-40 cm even under the conditions of the polar day. Soil formation processes are carried out in a thin active layer and are at the initial stage of development.

The upper part of the soil profile is characterized by the accumulation of iron and manganese oxides. Iron-manganese films are formed on rock fragments, which determines the brown color of polar desert soils. In coastal areas saline by the sea, polar-desert solonchak soils are formed.

There are practically no large stones in the Arctic desert. Mostly sand and small flat cobblestones. There are spherical concretions, which consist of silicon and sandstone, from a few centimeters to several meters in diameter. The most famous concretions are spherulites on Champa Island (FJL). Every tourist considers it his duty to take a photo with these balloons.

Animal world

Due to the sparse vegetation, the fauna of the Arctic deserts is relatively poor. Terrestrial fauna is poor: Arctic wolf, arctic fox, lemming, Novaya Zemlya deer, in Greenland - musk ox. On the coast you can meet pinnipeds: walruses and seals.

Polar bears are considered the main symbol of the Arctic. They lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle, the key land areas for breeding polar bears are the northern coast of Chukotka, Franz Josef Land, Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya. On the territory of the reserve "Wrangel Island" there are about 400 ancestral dens, so it is called the "maternity hospital" of the bear.

The most numerous inhabitants of the harsh northern region are birds. These are guillemots, puffins, eiders, pink gulls, snowy owls, etc. Sea birds nest on the rocky shores in summer, forming "bird colonies". The largest and most diverse seabird colony in the Arctic nests on Rubini Rock, which is located in the ice-free Tikhaya Bay off Hooker Island (FJL). The bird market on this rock has up to 18 thousand guillemots, guillemots, kittiwakes and other sea birds.

What is the soil like in the Arctic deserts?

Arctic soils are well-drained soils of the high Arctic and Antarctic, formed in the conditions of a polar cold dry climate (precipitation 50-200 mm, July temperature not higher than 5 ° C, average annual temperatures are negative - from -14 to -18 ° C) under a lichen film and cushions of mosses and flowering plants (higher plants on watersheds they occupy less than 25% of the surface or they are absent at all) and are characterized by an underdeveloped thin soil profile of the A-C type.

The type of arctic soils was introduced into the taxonomy of Russian soils by E. N. Ivanova. The basis for identifying a special type of soil in the high Arctic was the work of domestic and foreign researchers on the islands of the Arctic Ocean.

In the Antarctic, the vegetation cover is represented only by scale lichens and mosses; in rock crevices and on fine-earth substrates, green and blue-green algae play an important role in the accumulation of organic matter in primitive arctic soils. In the high-latitude Arctic, due to warmer summers and less severe winters, flowering plants appear. However, as in Antarctica, mosses, lichens, and various types of algae play a big role. Vegetation cover is confined to frost cracks, drying cracks and depressions of another genesis. Above 100 m above sea level, vegetation is practically absent. The main types of distribution of plant sod are curtain-cushion and polygonal-mesh. Bare soil occupies from 70 to 95%.

Soils thaw by only 30-40 cm and for a period of about one and a half months. In spring and early summer, the profile of Arctic soils is strongly waterlogged due to stagnant moisture formed during the melting of soil ice above the frozen horizon; in summer, the soil from the surface dries up and cracks due to round-the-clock insolation and strong winds.

The differentiation of Arctic soils in terms of gross chemical composition is very weak. Only some accumulation of sesquioxides in the upper part of the profile and a rather high background of iron content can be noted, which is associated with the cryogenic uplift of iron, which is mobilized under conditions of a seasonal change in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The cryogenic uptake of iron in the soils of the Arctic deserts is better expressed than in any other permafrost soils.

Organic matter in soils in areas with vegetative sod contains from 1 to 4%.

The ratio of humic acid carbon to fulvic acid carbon is about 0.4-0.5, often even less.

The generalized materials of I. S. Mikhailov indicate that Arctic soils, as a rule, have a slightly acidic reaction (pH 6.4-6.8), with depth the acidity decreases even more, sometimes the reaction can even be slightly alkaline. The absorption capacity fluctuates around 12–15 mEq per 100 g of soil at almost complete saturation with bases (96–99%). Sometimes there is a weak removal of calcium, magnesium and sodium, but it is replenished by impulsation of sea salts. As a rule, typical arctic soils do not contain free carbonates, except when soils develop on carbonate rocks.

Arctic soils can be divided into two subtypes: 1) arctic desert and 2) arctic typical humus. The current level of knowledge of these soils allows us to distinguish two types within the first subtype: a) saturated and b) carbonate and saline.

Arctic desert carbonate and saline soils are characteristic of the superarid (precipitation less than 100 mm) and cold parts of the Arctic and the oases of Antarctica. The American scientist J. Tedrow calls these soils polar desert. They are found in the north of Greenland, in the northernmost part of the Canadian Arctic archipelago. These arctic soils are neutral to slightly alkaline and have a salt crust on the surface. Arctic desert saturated soils differ from those described by the absence of new formations of easily soluble salts and carbonates in the upper part of the profile.

Arctic typical humus soils are characterized by a slightly acidic or neutral reaction, have somewhat larger reserves of humus than the soils of the first subtype, are formed under soddy areas of landfills, they do not have salt accumulations. This subtype of arctic soils is predominant in the Soviet Arctic.

The most characteristic features of arctic soils the following should be considered: 1) the complexity of the soil cover associated with the nature of the microrelief, polygonality; 2) shortening of the profile due to the low intensity of soil-forming processes and shallow seasonal thawing; 3) incompleteness and non-differentiation of the soil profile due to the low intensity of the movement of substances; 4) significant skeletal structure due to the predominance of physical weathering; 5) the absence of gleying associated with a small amount of precipitation.

The territories of the Arctic and Antarctic lie outside the limits of human agricultural activity. In the Arctic, these areas can only be used as hunting grounds and reserves for the conservation and maintenance of the number of rare animal species (polar bear, musk ox, Canadian white goose, etc.).

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The soils of the Arctic have been little studied. Their features are briefly considered in the works of B.N. Gorodkov, I.M. Ivanov, I.S. Mikhailov, L.S. Govorukhin, V.O. Targulyan, N.A.

arctic desert

Karavaeva.

The development of Arctic soils is influenced by permafrost and permafrost, which thaws only in a short summer period (1.5 ... 2.0 months) to a depth of 30 ... 50 cm, and the temperature of the active layer is close to zero at this time. Permafrost (cryogenic) processes predominate - cracking, freezing, wrestling, due to which fissure polygons are formed on loose rocks and stone hills, rings, bands on stone rocks. Physical weathering dominates, leading to the formation of a coarse clastic, weakly biogenic, weakly leached weathering crust. Geochemical and biochemical weathering is very slow, and from the end of August to the beginning of July it is absent. The soil cover on the watersheds is focal, not continuous - separate areas of Arctic soils against the background of soil films under algae patches (1 ... 2 cm thick).

The soil cover is formed only in areas with fine earth fragmentarily under vegetation that develops selectively in accordance with the conditions of relief, exposure, moisture, and the nature of parent rocks. The soils are characterized by a peculiar polygonality: the soils are broken by vertical frost cracks. The soil profile is shortened (up to 40...50 cm), but its thickness often changes, sometimes with wedging out of individual horizons. Soils (up to 40 cm) are weakly differentiated into horizons, the humus horizon is less than 10 cm. In addition to permafrost phenomena, they are characterized by a low input of organic residues (0.6 t/ha), the absence of an Ao acid litter horizon, an illuvial horizon, and the presence of strong stonyness on the surface. The soil horizons contain a lot of skeletal material. They lack gleying due to low moisture and significant aeration. These soils are characterized by cryogenic accumulation of iron compounds, weak movement of substances along the profile or their absence, high saturation (up to 90%) with bases, weakly acidic, neutral, sometimes slightly alkaline reaction.

In the Arctic zone, a type has been identified - arctic desert soils, which includes two subtypes: desert-arctic and arctic typical soils.

Desert-Arctic soils are common in the northern part of the Arctic zone on leveled areas, often with sandy loam and sandy-rubble deposits under moss-lichen clumps with single specimens of flowering plants. Large areas are under sands, rubble, eluvial and deluvial deposits and stone embankments. Their surface is broken by a system of polygons with cracks up to 20 m.

The thickness of the soil profile is up to 40 cm on average. It has the following structure: A1 - humus horizon 1 ... 2 cm thick, less often up to 4 cm, from dark brown to yellowish-brown in color, sandy or light loamy, with a fragile granular structure, uneven or noticeable transition to the next horizon; A1C - transitional horizon 20 ... 40 cm thick, brown or yellow-brown in color, less often spotty, sandy loam, fragile-small-cloddy or structureless, transition along the thawing boundary; C - frozen soil-forming rock, light brown, sandy loam, dense, gravel.

Humus in horizon A1 contains only 1 ... 2%. Soil reaction is neutral and slightly alkaline (рН 6.8…7.4). The sum of exchangeable bases ranges from 5...10 to 15 mg equiv/100 g of soil. The degree of saturation with bases is 95 ... 100%. The water regime is stagnant (permafrost). At the beginning of summer, when snow and glaciers melt, the soils become waterlogged, and in summer they quickly dry out due to round-the-clock insolation and strong winds.

In depressions with stagnant waters and in areas flooded by the melting flowing waters of snowfields and glaciers, arctic marsh soils are found under moss-grass vegetation. In areas with stagnant waters, gleyed horizons with a heavy granulometric composition are clearly expressed, while in areas flooded by flowing waters, the genetic horizons differ slightly and gleying is absent.

In the mouths of the rivers, marsh solonchaks are developed, and in bird rookeries - biogenic accumulations.

Arctic typical soils are formed on high plateaus, upland watershed elevations, abrasion-accumulative marine terraces, mainly in the south of the Arctic zone, under moss-forb-grass vegetation of frost cracks and drying cracks.

The soil profile is thin - up to 40 ... 50 cm: Ao - moss-lichen litter up to 3 cm thick; A1 - humus horizon up to 10 cm thick, brown-brown, often loamy, fragile granular-cloddy structure, porous, cracked, compacted, the horizon wedges out in the middle of the polygon; the transition is uneven and noticeable; A1C - transitional horizon (30 ... 40 cm) from light brown to brown, loamy, lumpy-nutty, dense, fissured, transition along the thaw boundary; C - frozen soil-forming rock, light brown, often with rock fragments.

Soils have discrete humus horizons. The profile is predominantly uneven in thickness of the A1 horizon, often with humus pockets. In the A1 horizon, the amount of humus sometimes reaches 4–8% and gradually decreases down the profile. The composition of humus is dominated by fulvic acids (Cgc: Cfc = 0.3…0.5). Inactive calcium fulvates and humates predominate, the content of non-hydrolyzable residue is significant. There are few silty particles; they consist mainly of hydromica and amorphous iron compounds. The absorption capacity is less than 20 mg eq/100 g of soil, the soil absorbing complex is saturated with bases. The degree of saturation with bases is high - 90 ... 100%. Mobile iron contains up to 1000 mg equiv/100 g of soil and more, especially on basalts and dolerites.

Arctic deserts (polar desert, icy desert), a kind of desert with extremely sparse sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts of the Earth. It is distributed over most of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as on other islands of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern coast of Eurasia and on islands near Antarctica.

In the Arctic desert grow small isolated areas with mainly scale mosses and lichens and herbaceous vegetation. They look like a kind of oases among the polar snows and glaciers. In the conditions of the Arctic desert, there are some types of flowering plants: polar poppy, foxtail, buttercup, saxifrage, etc. Among the animals, lemming, arctic fox and polar bear are common, and in Greenland - musk ox. Numerous bird markets. In Antarctica, this landscape occupies less than 1% of the territory and is called the Antarctic oasis.

The zone of arctic deserts occupies the northernmost outskirts of Asia and North America and the islands of the Arctic basin within the polar geographical zone. The climate of the zone is arctic, cold, with long severe winters and short cold summers. The seasons are conditional - the winter period is associated with the polar night, and the summer period is associated with the polar day. The average temperatures of the winter months range from -10 to -35°, and in the north of Greenland to -50°. In summer they rise to 0°, +5°. There is little precipitation (200-300 mm per year). This zone is also called the kingdom of eternal snows and glaciers. During the short summer, only small areas of land with stony and swampy soils are freed from snow. They grow mosses and lichens, occasionally flower plants. The animal world is poor - a small rodent pied (lemming), arctic fox, polar bear, birds - guillemots, etc.

Even more severe conditions in the Antarctic deserts. On the coast of Antarctica, the air temperature even in summer does not exceed 0 °C. Mosses and lichens occasionally grow. The animal world is represented by penguins, but numerous animals live in the waters of Antarctica (according to P.P. Vashchenko, E.I. Shipovich and others).

Arctic desert within Russia

The ice zone (the zone of the Arctic deserts) is the northernmost one in the territory of our country and is located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. Its extreme south lies about 71 ° N. sh. (Wrangel Island), and the north - at 81 ° 45 "N (islands of Franz Josef Land). The zone includes Franz Josef Land, the northern island of Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the northern outskirts the Taimyr Peninsula and the Arctic seas located between these land areas.

The high geographical latitude determines the exceptional severity of the nature of the ice zone. Its landscape feature is the ice and snow cover, which lies almost throughout the year. Positive average monthly air temperatures, close to zero, are observed only in the lowlands, and, moreover, no more than two or three months a year. In August, the warmest month, the average air temperature does not rise above 4–5°C in the south of the zone. The annual amount of atmospheric precipitation is 200-400 mm. Most of them fall in the form of snow, hoarfrost and hoarfrost. Snow cover even in the south of the zone lies for about nine months of the year. Its thickness is relatively small - on average, no more than 40-50 cm. Large cloudiness, frequent fogs and strong winds exacerbate the climate of the ice zone that is unfavorable for life.

The relief of most of the islands is complex. Flat low plains, on which the zonal landscape is best expressed, are characteristic of coastal areas. The interior of the islands, as a rule, is occupied by high mountains and mesas. The maximum absolute marks on Franz Josef Land reach 620-670 m, on the northern island of Novaya Zemlya and on Severnaya Zemlya they are close to 1000 m. The exception is the New Siberian Islands, which have a flat relief everywhere. Due to the low position of the snow boundary, significant areas on Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, and the De Long Islands are occupied by glaciers. They cover 85.1% of Franz Josef Land, 47.6% of Severnaya Zemlya, 29.6% of Novaya Zemlya.

The total area of ​​glaciation on the islands of the Soviet Arctic is 55,865 km 2 - more than 3/4 of the area of ​​the entire modern glaciation of the territory of the USSR. The zone of firn nutrition in the southeast of Franz Josef Land begins at an altitude of 370-390 m; slightly lower - from 300-320 to 370-390 m - lies the zone of nutrition by "superimposed" ice on Novaya Zemlya - above 650 - 680 m, on Severnaya Zemlya - at an altitude of 450 m. The average thickness of the ice sheet on Novaya Zemlya is 280-300 m, on Severnaya Zemlya - 200 m, on Franz Josef Land - 100 m. In places, continental ice descends to the coast and, breaking off, forms icebergs. All land free from ice is bound by permafrost. Its maximum thickness in the north of the Taimyr Peninsula is more than 500 m.

The seas of the Arctic Ocean, washing the islands and archipelagos, are a special but integral part of the landscape of the ice zone. For most of the year, they are completely covered with ice - a perennial arctic pack, turning into fast ice in the south. At the junction of the pack and fast ice, in areas with predominant ice removal, stationary polynyas tens and even hundreds of kilometers wide are formed. There are Canadian and Atlantic massifs of multi-year oceanic ice with a separation zone in the area of ​​the underwater Lomonosov Ridge. The younger and less powerful ice of the Canadian massif is characterized by an anticyclonic circulation system (clockwise), the ice of the Atlantic massif is characterized by a cyclonic open system (counterclockwise), in which they are partially carried out into the Atlantic Ocean with the help of the East Greenland current. VN Kupetsky (1961) proposes to distinguish between the landscapes of drifting ice in the Central Arctic and the low-latitude Arctic, landfast ice, continental slope ice, and stationary fast ice polynyas. The last two types of landscapes are characterized by the presence of open water among the ice and a relatively rich organic life - an abundance of phytoplankton, birds, the presence of a polar bear, seals, and walrus.

Low air temperatures contribute to the vigorous development of frost weathering in the ice zone, sharply slowing down the intensity of chemical and biological weathering processes. In this regard, soils and soils here consist of rather large fragments of rocks and are almost devoid of clay material. The frequent transition of the air temperature in summer through 0° with the close occurrence of permafrost causes an active manifestation of solifluction and heaving of soils. These processes, combined with the formation of frost cracks, lead to the formation of so-called polygonal soils, the surface of which is dissected by cracks or ridges of stones into regular polygons.

Water erosion processes in the zone are greatly weakened due to the short duration of the warm period. Nevertheless, even here, under favorable relief conditions for these processes (steep slopes) and the presence of loose rocks, a dense ravine network can develop. Ravine landscapes are described, for example, for the north of Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, the Vize and Isachenko Islands, and the Taimyr Peninsula. The development of ravines on the New Siberian Islands is facilitated by thick layers of buried ice. Buried ice that is opened by frost cracks or erosion scours begins to melt vigorously and the erosion process is intensified by melt water.

The thawing of permafrost and the horizons of buried, injection and polygonal-vein ice contained in it is accompanied by the formation of sinkholes, depressions and lakes. This is how peculiar thermokarst landscapes arise, which are characteristic of the southern regions of the zone, and especially of the New Siberian Islands. In the rest of the greater part of the ice zone, thermokarst landscapes are rare, which is explained by the weak development of fossil ice here. Thermokarst depressions are common here only on ancient moraines, under which the ice of retreating glaciers is buried. Thermokarst and erosive erosion of loose sediments are associated with the formation of cone-shaped earthen hillocks-baidzharakhs from 2-3 to 10-12 m high.

By the nature of the vegetation, the ice zone is an arctic desert, characterized by a broken vegetation cover with a total cover of about 65%. On snowless winter internal plateaus, mountain tops and slopes of moraines, the total coverage does not exceed 1-3%. Mosses, lichens (mainly scale scale), algae and a few species of typically arctic flowering plants predominate - alpine foxtail (Alopecurus alpinus), arctic pike (Deschampsia arctica), buttercup (Ranunculus sulphureus), snow saxifrage (Saxifraga nivalis), polar poppy (Papaver polare). ). The entire island flora of higher plants here has about 350 species.

Despite the poverty and uniformity of the vegetation of the Arctic deserts, its character changes when moving from north to south. Arctic grass and moss deserts are developed in the north of Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, and northern Taimyr. To the south (the south of Franz Josef Land, the northern island of Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands), they are replaced by depleted Arctic shrub-moss deserts, in the vegetation cover of which shrubs are occasionally found pressed to the ground: polar willow (Salix polaris) and saxifrage (Saxifraga oppo-sitifotia) . The south of the ice zone is characterized by arctic shrub-moss deserts with a relatively well-developed shrub layer of polar willow, arctic willow (S. arctica), and dryad (Dryas punctata).

Low temperatures in summer, sparse vegetation and widespread permafrost create unfavorable conditions for the development of the soil-forming process. The thickness of the seasonally thawed layer averages about 40 cm. Soils begin to thaw only at the end of June, and in early September they already freeze again. Waterlogged at the time of thawing, in summer they dry well and crack. Over vast areas, placers of coarse detrital material are observed instead of formed soils. In the lowlands with fine-earth soils, arctic soils are formed, very thin, without signs of gleying. Arctic soils have a brown profile, a slightly acidic, almost neutral reaction, and an absorbing complex saturated with bases. A characteristic feature is their ferruginization, caused by the accumulation of inactive organo-iron compounds in the upper soil horizons. Arctic soils are characterized by complexity associated with microrelief, composition of soils and vegetation. According to I. S. Mikhailov, “the main specific feature of the Arctic soils is that they represent, as it were, a “complex” of soils with a normally developed profile under plant sods and with a reduced profile under algal soil films.

The productivity of the vegetation cover of the Arctic deserts is negligible. The total stock of phytomass is less than 5 t/ha. Characterized by a sharp predominance of living aboveground mass over the underground, which distinguishes the Arctic deserts from the tundra and deserts of the temperate and subtropical zones, where the ratio of aboveground to underground phytomass is reversed. The low productivity of vegetation is the most important reason for the poverty of the animal world of the ice zone. Lemmings (Lemmus), arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), polar bear (Thalassarctos maritimus), occasionally reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) live here. On Franz Josef Land, located north of 80 ° N. sh., no lemmings, no reindeer.

Seabirds nest in colonies on the rocky shores in summer, forming the so-called bird colonies. They are especially large in Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. Colonial nesting is a characteristic feature of the birds of this zone, due to many reasons: the abundance of food in the sea, the limited territory suitable for nesting, and the harsh climate. That is why, for example, out of 16 species of birds living in the north of Novaya Zemlya, 11 form nesting colonies. Common in colonies are auk, or little auk (Plotus alle), fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), guillemots (Uria), guillemots (Cepphus), kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus).

Literature.

  1. Geography / Ed. P.P. Vashchenko [i dr.]. - Kyiv: Vishcha school. Head publishing house, 1986. - 503 p.
  2. Milkov F.N. Natural zones of the USSR / F.N. Milkov. - M. : Thought, 1977. - 296 p.

- (polar desert, icy desert), a kind of desert (see DESERT) with extremely sparse sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts of the Earth. Distributed in most of Greenland (see GREENLAND) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

The same as the icy desert. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. Moscow: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. A.P. Gorkina. 2006 ... Geographic Encyclopedia

ARCTIC DESERT- type of sparse vegetation of the Far North; differs from the tundra, where the vegetation cover is closed ... Glossary of botanical terms

DESERT ARCTIC- cold desert, arctic or alpine regions, in which the scarcity of vegetation is determined primarily by low temperatures, and not by dry air. Among the Arctic deserts, there are icy deserts, alpine deserts ... Ecological dictionary

- (wrong Streletsky; English Strzelecki Desert) desert in Australia: northeast of South Australia, northwest of New South Wales and extreme southwest of Queensland. Located northeast of Lake Eyre and north of the ridge ... ... Wikipedia

- (Urdu خاران) a desert located in the Kharan district of Balochistan province in Pakistan. Consists of sand dunes drifting over a base of pebble conglomerate. Drifting dunes reach a height of 15-30 meters. The desert is limited by spurs ... ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Desert (meanings). & ... Wikipedia

AND; pl. genus. tyn; and. 1. A vast arid area with little rainfall, extreme fluctuations in air and soil, and sparse vegetation. Boundless, sultry, red-hot, scorched settlement of Solonchakovaya settlement of P. Sahara. P. Karakum. Deserts... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Landscape in the Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a sandy desert in the center of Australia, more ... Wikipedia

Gibson Desert Region according to IBRA ... Wikipedia

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arctic desert of death, arctic desert of sahara
arctic desert- a kind of desert with extremely sparse sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts of the Earth. It is distributed over most of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as on other islands of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern coast of Eurasia and on islands near Antarctica.

In the Arctic desert grow small isolated areas with mainly scale mosses and lichens and herbaceous vegetation. They look like a kind of oases among the polar snows and glaciers. Under the conditions of the Arctic desert, some species of flowering plants are found: polar poppy, foxtail, buttercup, saxifrage, etc. Among animals, lemmings, arctic foxes and polar bears are common, and in Greenland - musk ox. Numerous bird markets. In Antarctica, this landscape occupies less than 1% of the territory and is called the Antarctic oasis.

  • 1 Climate
  • 2 Flora and fauna
    • 2.1 Arctic deserts
  • 3 notes

Climate

It has low air temperatures in winter down to -60 °C, on average -30 °C in January and +3 °C in July. It is formed not only due to the low temperatures of high latitudes, but also due to the reflection of heat (albedo) in the daytime from the snow and under the ice crust. The annual amount of atmospheric precipitation is up to 400 mm. In winter, the soil is saturated with layers of snow and barely thawed ice, the level of which is 75-300 mm.

The climate in the Arctic is very harsh. Ice and snow cover lasts almost the whole year. In winter, there is a long polar night (at 75 ° N - 98 days; at 80 ° N - 127 days; in the region of the pole - half a year). This is a very harsh time of the year. The temperature drops to −40 °C and below, strong gale-force winds blow, snowstorms are frequent. In summer, there is round-the-clock lighting, but there is little heat, the soil does not have time to completely thaw. The air temperature is slightly above 0 °C. The sky is often overcast with gray clouds, it rains (often with snow), due to the strong evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean, thick fogs form.

Flora and fauna

The Arctic desert is practically devoid of vegetation: there are no shrubs, lichens and mosses do not form a continuous cover. The soils are thin, with patchy (island) distribution mainly only under vegetation, which consists mainly of sedges, some grasses, lichens and mosses. Extremely slow recovery of vegetation. The fauna is predominantly marine: walrus, seal, in summer there are bird colonies. Terrestrial fauna is poor: arctic fox, polar bear, lemming.

Arctic deserts

The Arctic is the land of the never-setting sun in summer and the long winter night, illuminated by polar lights; a world of frost, snowstorms, drifting ice, vast glaciers and arctic deserts. The Arctic is divided into two zones: the ice zone and the arctic desert zone. The ice zone is the seas north of the Taimyr Peninsula. Here is a very long and fierce winter, for several months in a row the sun does not appear at all - this is the polar night. The moon is shining in the sky, the stars are twinkling. Sometimes there are amazingly beautiful auroras. Summer in the Arctic is a polar day. For several months there is light around the clock. But not warm. the warmest month, the air temperature does not exceed + 5 °C. The organic world of the Arctic is very poor. Of the plants, only mosses and lichens live here. The animal world is more diverse, but most of the animals live in the seas - the Kara and the Laptev Sea. These are fish: polar cod, cod, vendace, nelma, smelt. Mammals: seals (sea hare, ringed seal), walrus, white whale. Birds fly to the coasts and islands in spring: geese, eider, sandpipers, guillemots, guillemots, puffins. The polar bear dominates the islands of Severnaya Zemlya and the ice of the Kara and Laptev seas. The reserve "Wrangel Island" was also created.

Notes

  1. Natalia Novoselova. Soil types
  2. Arctic Desert - Glossary of Physical Geography Terms

arctic atacama desert, arctic gobi desert, arctic sahara desert, arctic death desert

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