Diversity of Plant Communities and Soils in Overgrowing Quarries of the Southern Tundra

The interrelated and interdependent development of vegetation and soils during primary ecogenetic successions in quarries used for the extraction of building materials in the southern shrub tundra of northeastern European Russia (near Vorkuta) was investigated. The studied quarries were characterized by a varying duration time of spontaneous overgrowth, different substrate textures (loams, sands, sands with gravel) and moisture content. The analysis of species composition, structure of plant communities, and soil morphology of 61 sample plots allowed us to describe the course of xerarchic, mesarchic, and hydrarchic primary succession types. During the first six decades of spontaneous overgrowth, no formation of typical tundra vegetation or soils characteristic of subarctic regions was observed within the quarries. Humus psammozems were described in xeromorphic ecotopes under cryptogamic and lichen communities. Pelozems and psammozems formed under mesomorphic conditions under herb-moss communities with willow. Soils belonging to the Gleyic order (peat-gley soils) were recorded in hydromorphic ecotopes under sedge/horsetail-moss willow stands. Under drained conditions, distinct organogenic horizons (litters) were observed in quarry soils. Loamy soils showed weak gleying in the upper part of the profile, while gravelly-sandy and sandy soils exhibited alpha-humus processes. Waterlogged soils were characterized by the development of peat formation, humus leakage, and gleying. Cryogenesis (cryogenic sorting of material, cryogenic soil cracking, cryoturbation, and the formation of medallion-shaped spots and tubercles) was recorded in the quarry areas. The formation of plant communities contributed to the stabilization of the quarry substrate and determined the accumulation of soil organic carbon. As in background soils, C_org reserves in quarry soils increased along with the increasing soil moisture content. Under low-productivity closed communities of xeromorphic ecotopes, C_org reserves in soils were eight times lower than in background soils with comparable moisture levels. Under rapidly developing closed communities of hydromorphic quarry ecotopes, the value was half that of the background soil.

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