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Composition of the Water-Soluble Soil Fraction on the Barents Sea Coast: Organic Carbon and Nitrogen, Low-Molecular Weight Components

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Abstract—

Water extracts from soils of the Barents Sea coast (the Khaipudyr Bay) were analyzed for the contents of organic carbon and total nitrogen by the method of high-temperature catalytic oxidation with non-dispersive IR registration; the contents of low-molecular-weight acids, carbohydrates, and alcohols were determined by gas chromatography and gas chromatography–mass-spectrometry. The mass fraction of inorganic carbon \(\left( {{\text{HCO}}_{3}^{ - }} \right)\) was measured potentiometrically, and the content of inorganic nitrogen (N–\({\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - },\) N–\({\text{NH}}_{4}^{ + }\)) was determined by photometry. In marsh soils (Tidalic Fluvisols (Arenic or Loamic, Epiprotosalic)), = 0.1–0.8, \({\omega }{{\left( {{{{\text{N}}}_{{{\text{org}}}}}} \right)}_{{{{{\text{H}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}\) = 0.01–0.05 g/kg, \({\omega }{{\left( {{{{\text{N}}}_{{{\text{org}}}}}} \right)}_{{{{{\text{H}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}\) = + 0.01, and \({{\left( {{\text{C/N}}} \right)}_{{{{{\text{H}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}\) = 7–21. The content of individual components does not exceed 20 mg/kg, including carbohydrates (50–90%), acids (10–50%), and alcohols (<3%). In peat horizons of tundra soils (Cryic Histosols and Histic Cryosols),  = 4–10, \({\omega }{{\left( {{{{\text{N}}}_{{{\text{org}}}}}} \right)}_{{{{{\text{H}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}\) ~ 0.2 g/kg, and \({{\left( {{\text{C/N}}} \right)}_{{{{{\text{H}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}\) = 25–56. Litter and peat horizons accumulate both individual humus components and total dissolved organic carbon. The total weight of the identified substances is 200–300 mg/kg, 80–90% of them are carbohydrates, 10–20% are acids, and 0–9% are alcohols. The accumulation of   and (N–\({\text{NH}}_{4}^{ + }{{)}_{{{{{\text{H}}}_{2}}{\text{O}}}}}\) takes place above the permafrost table. It is argued that the ratios of organic forms of carbon and nitrogen in soil water extracts and the content of low-molecular weight organic compounds in soils can be used as indicators of pedogenic processes in the Far North.

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  1. GOST 26424-85 Soils. Method of determination of carbonate and bicarbonate ions in soil water extract. Moscow: Izd. Standartov, 1985. 4 pp.

  2. Measurement method no. 88-17641-002-2018. Soils, bottom sediments, and peat. Determination of the mass fraction of nitrogen in the composition of exchangeable nitrate anions and water-soluble nitrated by the photometric method. Syktyvkar: Inst. Biol. Komi Sci. Center, Ural Branch of the Russian Acad. Sci., 2018. 32 pp.

  3. Measument method no. 88-17641-003-2018. Soils, bottom sediments, and peat. Determination of the mass fraction of nitrogen in exchangeable and water-soluble ammonium ions by the photometric method. Syktyvkar: Inst. Biol. Komi Sci. Center, Ural Branch of the Russian Acad. Sci., 2018. 34 pp.

  4. GOST 26428-85. Soils. Methods of determination of electrical conductivity, pH, and total dissolved solids in a water extract. Moscow: Standartinform, 2011. 6 pp.

  5. Common grasses are represented by Elymus fibrosus, Bromopsis inermis, and Festuca rubra; there are also sedges (Carex sp.) typical of wet coastal meadows in the Barents Sea area and halophytes Carex subspathacea (an Arctic circumpolar species typical of the tidal zone) and Triglochin maritimum (a multizonal circumpolar halophyte typical of wet coastal meadows, including meadows on the Barents Sea coast [19]).

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Funding

This study was performed within the framework of the research budget theme “Identification of the general patterns of formation and functioning of peat soils in the Arctic and Subarctic sectors of the European northeast of Russia (state registration no. AAAA-A17-117122290011-5 and was partly supported by the Integrated Program of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for 2018–2020 “Interdisciplinary synthesis as the key to understanding the functioning of the coastal Arctic ecosystems of Russia in the light of the growing threats of our time (with the Barents Sea as an example) (project no. 18-9-4-13, state registration no. AAAA-A17-117112870194-6).

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  1. Institute of Biology, Komi Science Center, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 167982, Syktyvkar, Russia

    E. V. Shamrikova, O. S. Kubik, S. V. Deneva & V. V. Punegov

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Shamrikova, E.V., Kubik, O.S., Deneva, S.V. et al. Composition of the Water-Soluble Soil Fraction on the Barents Sea Coast: Organic Carbon and Nitrogen, Low-Molecular Weight Components. Eurasian Soil Sc. 52, 1347–1362 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229319110103

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