The organic matter of the buried peat soils on Bely Island (Kara Sea)

The organic matter composition of buried peat horizons from the west coast of White lake (Kara Sea) was investigated using the method of dency-metric fractionation. Considerable amount of peat in studied buried horizons, the amount of which increases with depth was revealed. According to radiocarbon dating of peat was formed in the early Holocene. Great ancientry of organic matter in studied buried horizons indicates a very slow humification process. This is due to the extreme environmental conditions: lower average temperatures and short duration period of positive temperatures. The presence of a larger number poorly decomposed plant residues in the composition of the light fractions in low part of the buried horizon indicates the difference between the conditions of the decomposition of organic matter in the period of 8950-8580 years ago, namely, the less favorable conditions for microbial activity in low horizon. This could be due to the change of the local hydrological conditions that influenced the change in the rate of humification of plant residues during this relatively short period of time.