Compositions of paleosols from the Salarevo Formation, Sukhona River valley (Severnaya Dvina basin)

Paleosols crop out in the Sukhona River valley as several members up to 10 m thick embedded into the Salarevo Formation sediments. Principal characteristics of the paleosols include a dense network of root channels, indications of eluvial gley alteration, redistribution and formation of secondary carbonates represented by several generations, and formation of block-prismatic soil structure with specific clayey films at structural jointing faces. The paleosols are divided into a number of genetically interrelated horizons (from top to bottom): presumably organogenic accumulation (AElg), eluvial gley horizon (Elg), illuvial horizons (B1 and B2), illuvial gley horizon (Bg), and transitional horizons (ElBg and BElg). The paleosols formed under conditions of a semiarid climate with sharp seasonal or secular and multisecular oscillations of atmospheric precipitation. Such soils point to specific ecological environments existed in the northern semiarid belt of the Earth before the greatest (in Phanerozoic) biospheric crisis at the Permian-Triassic boundary.

Temperature, precipitation and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 1982 to 2009 in the Koshi River Basin of the Middle Himalayas

The aim of this paper is to find out if there is a significant difference in using NDVI dataset processed by harmonic analysis method to evaluate its dynamic and response to climate change, compared with the original data.

Phytomass and soil carbon storage of different land cover classes in the Usa river basin

This study describes detailed partitioning of phytomass carbon (C) and soil organic carbon (SOC) for four study areas in discontinuous permafrost terrain, Northeast European Russia. The mean aboveground phytomass C storage is 0.7 kg C/m**2. Estimated landscape SOC storage in the four areas varies between 34.5 and 47.0 kg C/m**2 with LCC (land cover classification) upscaling and 32.5-49.0 kg C/m**2 with soil map upscaling. A nested upscaling approach using a Landsat thematic mapper land cover classification for the surrounding region provides estimates within 5 ± 5% of the local high-resolution estimates. Permafrost peat plateaus hold the majority of total and frozen SOC, especially in the more southern study areas. Burying of SOC through cryoturbation of O- or A-horizons contributes between 1% and 16% (mean 5%) of total landscape SOC. The effect of active layer deepening and thermokarst expansion on SOC remobilization is modeled for one of the four areas. The active layer thickness dynamics from 1980 to 2099 is modeled using a transient spatially distributed permafrost model and lateral expansion of peat plateau thermokarst lakes is simulated using geographic information system analyses. Active layer deepening is expected to increase the proportion of SOC affected by seasonal thawing from 29% to 58%. A lateral expansion of 30 m would increase the amount of SOC stored in thermokarst lakes/fens from 2% to 22% of all SOC. By the end of this century, active layer deepening will likely affect more SOC than thermokarst expansion, but the SOC stores vulnerable to thermokarst are less decomposed.

Methylation index of Branched Tetraethers (MBT) and Cyclization ratio of Branched Tetraethers (CBT), annual mean air temperature and soil pH of sediment core GeoB6518-1 in the Congo River basin

We analyzed the distribution of branched tetraether membrane lipids derived from soil bacteria in a marine sediment record that was recovered close to the Congo River outflow, and the results enabled us to reconstruct large-scale continental temperature changes in tropical Africa that span the past 25,000 years. Tropical African temperatures gradually increased from ~21° to 25°C over the last deglaciation, which is a larger warming than estimated for the tropical Atlantic Ocean. A direct comparison with sea-surface temperature estimates from the same core revealed that the land-sea temperature difference was, through the thermal pressure gradient, an important control on central African precipitation patterns.