Soil investigations at Casey and Arctowski stations

Soils from the maritime (Arctowski Station, King George Island) and coastal continental (Casey Station, Wilkes Land) Antarctic region are described with respect to pedology, isotopic and microbial environments. They are classified as leptosols, regosols, podzols, and histosols. Only surface layers (1-3 cm) contain sufficient organic material to provide a favourable environment for microbial communities and, further, for accumulations of organic matter. Variability of biological and chemical properties is high on a centimeter scale with depth and in the range of decimeters in horizontal scales.