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Radiocarbon Age of Soils in Oases of East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2016

E Zazovskaya ,
N Mergelov ,
V Shishkov ,
A Dolgikh ,
V Miamin ,
A Cherkinsky  and
S Goryachkin
E Zazovskaya*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Radiocarbon Dating & Electronic Microscopy, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
N Mergelov
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
V Shishkov
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Radiocarbon Dating & Electronic Microscopy, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
A Dolgikh
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
V Miamin
Affiliation:
Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Department of Biology, Minsk, Belarus
A Cherkinsky
Affiliation:
University of Georgia, Center for Applied Isotope Studies, Athens, GA, USA
S Goryachkin
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Soil Geography & Evolution, Moscow, Russia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: zaszovsk@gmail.com.
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Abstract

This article discusses radiocarbon dating results for soils and soil-like systems in the East Antarctic oases, including Schirmacher, Thala Hills, and Larsemann Hills. The organic matter of endolithic and hypolithic systems, soils of wind shelters, and soils under moss-algae vegetation were dated along with micro- and macroprofiles. Organic matter pools formed under extreme climatic conditions and originated not from vascular plants but from cryptogamic organisms, and photoautotrophic microbes have been identified within the oases of the East Antarctica. The organic matter of the most of East Antarctic soils is young and cannot reach a steady state because of the high dynamism in the soil cover due to active erosion. The oldest soil organic matter in East Antarctica was found in the soils formed in wind shelters and endolithic soil-like systems under the protection of consolidated rock surfaces. According to our data, the maximal duration for the formation of organic matter profiles within the oases of East Antarctica is ~500 yr, which is similar to the age determined for High Arctic soils in Eurasia. The absence of older soils, comparable with the Holocene deglaciation, can be due to the extreme conditions resulting in occasional catastrophic events that destroyed the soil organic horizons.

Keywords

Antarcticasoilssoil-like systemsorganic carbon14C datingextreme environment
Type
Cosmogenic Isotopes in Studies of Soil Dynamics
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 2: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , April 2017 , pp. 489 - 503
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

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