Peat soils of Kansk forest-steppe (genesis and classification)

Peatlands are biological archives of the past conditions and are valuable for palegeographical researches. The research of sequentially deposited layers of damaged peat deposits with botanical analysis makes it possible to reconstruct the fea-tures of vegetation, climatic and hydrological condi-tions of peat accumulation time. This research was devoted to the study of natural peatlands soils be-longing to the trunk of biogenic soil. The objects of study were 7 peatland in Kansk forest -steppe, Ye-nisei Siberia and its foothills frame, i.e. the foothills of the Eastern Sayan. The degree of waterlogging steppe zone was 5-6 %. Peatlands were confined to the floodplains, and rivers first terrace Esaulovka, Fishing and Mana. Drilling and sam-pling peat and underlying sediments were per-formed at the intervals of 5 cm. Further, in the la-boratory the samples were examined by the stand-ard technique of botanical analysis. The identifica-tion of residues was carried out with the help of atlas determinants and their own reference prepa-rations peat-forming plant residues. In addition, the ash content and degree of decomposition of peat were determined. The research found out that the most common type of soil was peat eutrofical gley soil type with subtypes: typical peat and silt-peat soils for peatlands in Kansk forest-steppe. In the structure of the peat strata types of peat were in-volved: grassy (36.42 %) and wood-grass (25.91 %) of the group. The smallest part in the for-mation of deposits was peat of moss group (3.89 %). The investigated peat deposits were characterized by common elements of high-ash (10-20 %), and the presence of stratums peat ash content was 40-50 %. Basing on radiocarbon dating the authors found out that in Late Atlantic time (about 5000 years ago around 3000 BP was increase of water-logging area. For peatlands of Kansk forest-steppe qualitative characteristic types of peat, based on definition of the species of peat-forming plant were defined, described the vegetation characteristic for each stage of development of peat soils.