Peaty swampy soils. Swampy (peaty) soils

Peat bogs soil various types and peat capacities occupy 2.9 million hectares, which is 14.2% of the republic’s area. The largest number of peat-bog soils are located in the Brest, Minsk and Gomel regions.

These soils are formed under the influence of the bog process of soil formation, which manifests itself in the accumulation of organic matter in the form of semi-decomposed plant residues (peat formation) and in the gleying of the mineral part of the soil.

Land swamping can be accomplished in several ways: surface swamping atmospheric waters, waterlogging with soft groundwater or hard groundwater. The main tracts of peat-bog soils were formed as a result of swamping of land.

The formation of peat-bog soils also occurs when reservoirs (lakes, river creeks, oxbow lakes, etc.) are covered with peat. When reservoirs are covered with peat, the thickness of peat bogs can reach 15 m or more.

The main part of the swamps of Belarus is concentrated in the Polesie lowland, where peat-bog soils of lowland type predominate.

Peat-bog soils of lowland and upland types are very different in their properties, and, consequently, in their agricultural use.

Lowland peat soils contain a lot of humic substances. Under conditions where the reaction of the environment is close to neutral, humic substances accumulate in significant quantities; the degree of decomposition and ash content of peat is high.

Lowland peat has a bulk density of 0.4...0.6 g/cm 3, moisture capacity - 400...600%, high sorption capacity, low thermal conductivity.

Peat-boggy raised soils are formed mainly on watersheds under conditions of moistening with fresh stagnant waters. Their vegetation cover is represented mainly by sphagnum moss, subshrubs (cloudberry, wild rosemary, blueberry, etc.) and tree species (spruce, pine, birch), which are usually severely oppressed.

High-moor peat is slightly decomposed plant remains that have not completely lost their anatomical structure. Due to low microbiological activity, their deep decomposition does not occur.

High-moor peat has low density, huge moisture capacity - 1000... 1100%, weak water permeability and poor thermal conductivity. Sorbs gases well.

Bog soils in agriculture can be used in two directions: as a source of organic fertilizers and as an object for development and transformation into cultural lands.

For direct fertilization, well-decomposed peat from low-lying bogs is used. After development, it is thoroughly ventilated to eliminate excess humidity, strengthening microbiological processes and oxidation of harmful nitrogen compounds.

It is advisable to use poorly decomposed peat for bedding. It absorbs slurry and gases well, thereby eliminating nitrogen loss. The resulting peat manure has high fertilizing properties.

High-quality organic fertilizers are obtained by composting peat with the addition of lime, phosphate rock, mineral fertilizers, manure and other components.

As agricultural land, highland and lowland peatlands have different values. More valuable are lowland bog soils, the peat of which has a high ash content, a high nitrogen content, and a favorable reaction. Once drained, they can be converted into highly productive agricultural land.

Swampy soils most common in the tundra and taiga-forest zones. They are also found in forest-steppe and other zones. total area swamp soils in the taiga-forest and tundra zones are about 100 million hectares.

Swamp soils are formed as a result of waterlogging of land or peaty water bodies. The swamp process of soil formation is characterized by peat formation and gleying of the mineral part of the soil profile. It develops only under conditions of excess moisture.

Peat formation occurs with the accumulation of undecomposed or semi-decomposed plant residues as a result of poorly expressed processes of humification and mineralization of vegetation. The consequence of peat formation is the conservation of ash nutrition elements. It lies in the fact that nutrients absorbed by plants, due to the weak mineralization of plant residues, do not transform into forms accessible to other generations of plants.

Gleyization is a biochemical process of converting iron oxide into ferrous iron and occurs under the influence of anaerobic microorganisms, removing part of the oxygen from the oxide forms of compounds.

There are three types mineral nutrition swamps- atmospheric, atmospheric-ground and alluvial-deluvial. Depending on the type of nutrition and conditions of formation, highland, lowland and transitional bogs are formed, differing both in the composition of vegetation and soils.

Raised bogs are formed from transitional swamps or from direct swamping of land by atmospheric or soft groundwater. Raised bogs are usually located on flat, poorly drained relief elements with poor soils. Content of raised bogs dissolved in water nutrients very insignificantly, therefore, in such conditions, vegetation that is extremely undemanding of nutrients develops.

Lowland marshes are formed in low-lying relief elements, when land becomes swamped with hard groundwater or when reservoirs become peaty. Such waters contain a sufficient amount of nutrients, so grasses, sedges, green mosses, and tree species- black alder, birch, willow, etc. In this regard, green-moss, alder, sedge lowland bogs and others are distinguished.

As they develop, lowland swamps transform into other types of swamps. This happens because top part As peat grows, it gradually breaks away from hard groundwater and plants begin to be nourished by soft atmospheric precipitation. In this regard, the composition of the vegetation changes and the lowland swamp turns into a transitional one.

Transitional swamps formed from low-lying waters or formed directly during swamping of land, when moistening is carried out alternately with hard and soft waters. In terms of vegetation composition, transitional swamps occupy an intermediate position between upland and lowland ones, approaching more closely to upland ones. Transitional bogs, in turn, with further development, are even more detached from groundwater and turn into raised bogs.

The transformation of reservoirs into swamps occurs in stages. At the beginning of swamping, silt is deposited at the bottom of the reservoir, which is brought from the surrounding hills by melted snow water and precipitation. Mixed with this silt is silt that enters the water when the banks erode. As a result of these long-term sediments, the reservoir gradually becomes shallower.

At the second stage, the reservoir is populated by planktonic (suspended in water) organisms, mainly algae and crustaceans. After dying, they mix with silt at the bottom of reservoirs, increase the total mass of sediments and further contribute to their shallowing.

Simultaneously with the second, the third stage occurs - the shores and coastal zones of reservoirs are overgrown with vegetation attached to the coastal and bottom sediments. After the plants die, they sink to the bottom, decompose under anaerobic conditions and form peat.

Due to the deposition of peat, a gradual shallowing of the reservoir occurs, vegetation moves further and further from the shore to the middle, which over time leads to its complete overgrowing and peat. Finally, the last, fourth stage begins, when the reservoir turns into a grass or sedge swamp.

Peat formation occurs the faster the shallower the body of water and the calmer the water in it.. The process of swamp formation is widespread in the area of glacial deposits, where there are many small lakes, streams and rivers with slow-moving water.

Soils of lowland swamps have a neutral or slightly acidic reaction, contain a large number of nitrogen, high ash, with low moisture capacity. The soils of raised bogs, on the contrary, are acidic, contain significantly less nitrogen, low ash, but very moisture-intensive. The soils of transitional swamps have intermediate properties.

Lowland peat has the best physical and chemical properties: It has high degree decomposition, its ash content reaches 25% or more, nitrogen content - 3-4%, the reaction is slightly acidic. The phosphorus content is relatively low and varies widely - from 0.15 to 0.45%. All peat soils are poor in potassium.

High bog peat characterized by a lower degree of decomposition, its ash content does not exceed 5%, it is poor in nutrients, the reaction is strongly acidic.

Peat of all types of bogs has a high absorption capacity, but the degree of saturation with bases in lowland peats reaches 70-100%, and in upland peats it does not exceed 15-20%. Peat is characterized by a very high moisture capacity, but it is especially high in high-moor peat - 600-1200%. As decomposition increases, the moisture capacity of peat decreases.

Swamp soils are classified according to two criteria: by belonging to one or another type of swamp, and within one type - by the thickness of the peat horizon. According to the first characteristic, bog high soils and bog lowland soils are distinguished, and according to the second, peat-gley and peat soils are distinguished. In addition, within the type of raised bog soils, a genus of transitional bog soils is distinguished, which are similar in properties to raised and lowland bog soils.

Peat and bog soils are widely used in agriculture: peat - as a source of organic fertilizers, and marsh soils after cultivation - as agricultural land. In its pure form, well-decomposed lowland peat is used as a direct fertilizer. Mossy peat from high bogs is used for bedding in barnyards. Subsequent composting with lime, phosphate rock and other mineral fertilizers improves its quality as a fertilizer.

The most valuable for developing the soil of lowland swamps. After drainage and carrying out cultural and agrotechnical measures, they become highly productive agricultural lands, which are used for arable land, hayfields, and pastures.

Soil formation factors

The geography of Russian soils is vast, like the country itself. Parent rocks, climate, vegetation, terrain - all these are factors influencing the formation of the fertile layer. In the Russian expanses, stretching from southern mountains to the northern seas, these factors are very different. Accordingly, the land that gives people the harvest is also different. There are many on the territory climatic zones With different amounts precipitation, illumination, temperature conditions, flora and fauna. In Russia you can admire the white silence of snow and sand dunes, see taiga forests and birch groves, flowering meadows and marshy swamps.

There are anthropogenic landscapes - people are increasingly interfering with nature, changing the thickness and quality of the fertile layer (not always for the better). But just one centimeter of humus or humus (which makes up the “living layer”) takes 200-300 years to form! How carefully we need to treat the soil so that future generations are not left alone with deserts and swamps!

Variety of soils

There are zonal soils. Their formation is strictly subject to the law of change of flora, fauna, etc. at different latitudes. For example, Arctic soils are common in the North. They are scarce. The formation of even a weak humus layer in permafrost conditions, where only mosses and lichens are present among plants, is impossible. In the subarctic zone there are tundra soils. The latter are richer than the Arctic ones, but poor compared to the podzolic lands of the taiga and mixed forests. By reducing acidity and adding mineral and organic additives, they make it possible to grow many varieties of crops.

There are forest soils, chernozems (the most fertile), and desert soils. All of them are the subject of research in such sciences as soil geography, etc. These knowledge systems also pay great attention to the study of non-zonal lands, which include swamp soils. They can be found in any climate zone.

Formation of bog soils

The geography of soils in Russia contains information that the layers we are discussing in swamps and swampy forests are formed due to stagnant moisture from rain (precipitation), surface water (lakes, rivers, etc.) or underground aquifers (ground sources). Simply put, bog soils are formed under moisture-loving vegetation. Bogs can be forest (pine, birch there are very different from their forest counterparts, they are small, “gnarly”), shrub (heather, wild rosemary), moss and grass.

Two processes contribute to the formation of bog soils. Firstly, this is peat formation, when plant residues accumulate on the surface because they rot poorly. Secondly, gleyization, when iron oxide turns into oxide during the biochemical destruction of minerals. This one is not easy natural work called the "swamp process".

Swamps come if...

Most often, swamp soils are formed during hydrogenous succession of land. But sometimes river spaces also turn into swampy places with stagnant water. For example, such a process has been taking place on the great Russian Volga River for several years now. Due to the cascade of hydroelectric power stations and reservoirs, it flows more slowly and stagnates. Urgent rescue measures are needed.

Thus, if for one reason or another the speed of rivers decreases, they become uncontrollably polluted. The bottom springs that feed them silt up. But despite the “cry of nature,” people do not care about them. Therefore, there is a great risk of Russia’s blue arteries turning into stagnant swamps.

Characteristics of peat-bog soils

As mentioned above, peat is formed from a dense mass of insufficiently actively rotting residues. Although there are places where the process does not occur at all. The upper layer, covered with “remains” deposits, is peat-bog soil. Are they suitable for farming? It all depends on geographical features.

In soils there is a thick layer organic matter could theoretically enrich the topsoil. But it doesn't decompose well. The active formation of humus is prevented by the high acidity of the medium and its weak bioactivity, which is also called “soil respiration.” By the way, this is the name given to the process of the earth absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide, production by organisms living in the upland subsoil, and thermal energy. such swamps are primitive. It has two horizons: peat and peat-gley. Gley is an earthen profile to which ferric oxide gives a gray, blue or Blue colour. Such soils are not distinguished by their living force. They are not suitable for use in agriculture.

Characteristics of bog-podzolic soils

Bog-podzolic soils can form where wetlands with a moss-herbaceous cover are located. Or where there are wet meadows formed by cutting down areas covered with trees. How to distinguish bog-podzolic soils from podzolic soils? Everything is very simple.

In swamp podzols, persistent signs of gleying are observed. Outwardly, they look like rusty ocher and bluish spots. There are also veins and smears that penetrate all horizons of the profile. The development of bog-podzolic lands is affected by two types of soil formation: bog and podzolic. As a result, both a peat horizon and gleying, as well as podzolic and illuvial layers, are observed.

Characteristics of marsh-meadow soils

Swamp-meadow soils are formed where plains and river terraces, covered with sedge and reeds, have depressions. In this case, additional surface moisture is observed (flood for at least 30 days) and at the same time constant ground recharge at a depth of approximately 1.5 m.

The aeration zone is unstable. It's about the layer earth's crust, located between the day surface and the groundwater surface. The soils in question are relevant not only for flat plains and river terraces with close groundwater, but also for forest-steppes. Sedges, plants from the rush family, and reeds are readily localized on them. The genetic horizons of such lands are differentiated very clearly.

Swamp-meadow soils “live” in an unstable water regime. When the dry season begins, the vegetation of the swamps gives way to meadow vegetation, and vice versa. The following picture is observed: the profile of the earth is one, but life on it is different. During the dry period, if the waters are mineralized, salinization of areas occurs. And if the liquid is weakly mineralized, then dry swamp silts are formed.

Krasnodar region and its soils

The soils of the Krasnodar region are diverse. In the Primorsko-Akhtarsky, Slavyansky, Temryuk regions they are marshy and chestnut, rusty due to the many estuaries and bays. Residents of Kuban grow vineyards and rice on them. In the Labinsky and Uspensky regions, the soils are podzolic and chernozem. These lands are very fertile. They are suitable for obtaining rich yields of vegetables and sunflowers.

On the Black Sea coast there are mountain forests. Magnificent ones grow here orchards, vineyards. On the Azov-Kurgan Plain there are black soils everywhere. It’s not for nothing that Kuban is called the breadbasket of Russia. Its soils are so rich in humus that local residents They often joke: “Even a stick stuck in the ground grows here.”

During the Second World War, the Nazis loaded black soil into railway cars and transported it to Germany, realizing what a natural value it was. It is good that not all fertile layers are destroyed by the cruel treatment of people. But even with large reserves of gifted lands, a person must carry out agricultural work carefully. Whether it is soils of versatile use or swamps of little use for cultivation, one must remember that thoughtless interference with life natural complexes dangerous for all living things.

I probably shouldn’t have decided to title my article that way, but in any business, the most important thing is the mood. Remember the phrase from the famous cartoon: “Whatever you call the boat, that’s how it will float”? Very true. At the end of winter, my husband and I purchased this plot. New. And moved from the south Leningrad region, from heavy thick clays, to the north of the Vsevolozhsk region, to damp swampy peatlands.

The contrast was enormous. It is not known why we liked this eight hundred square plot of land in gardening; in winter it was not visible from under the snow. We could only guess: what would we get - a swamp or just a lowland. Or maybe you’ll be lucky and all these young pines grow on dry, mossy sand? Well, of course, miracles don’t happen, and we didn’t get the sand. In the spring, the snow melted surprisingly lazily from our swamp; almost until summer, the old stumps kept pieces of ice in their rotten core. And there's nothing you can do about it.

But how strange: the soul still rejoices. You walk on white moss, there is a squelching sound under your feet, and your eyes have already looked for a hummock with lingonberries, are already looking closely at last year’s limp cranberries, are already admiring the blooming wild rosemary bush. And what is the air in our swamp! It smells of pine and pine resin, smells of peat and mushrooms and, of course, blooming heather and wild rosemary.

The site is at the very edge of gardening, securely closed on all sides by young pine trees, the most respectable of which are as thick as a pine tree. There is also one mature spruce and two “centuries-old” pines growing on it. My husband has always been very fond of conifers, and in this case he took under his care all the pines growing in our house, all of them that will not be affected by future construction, they should fit smoothly into the future garden, and that same cranberry meadow will go under the garden... “Well Well, agronomist, act!” The main thing, in my opinion, is not to lose optimism and not to part with good mood under the pressure of reality.

When, while making reconnaissance circles around the site, I fell almost waist-deep into a peat-bog window, I almost immediately decided that there would be a decorative or drainage pond here. The water stood very high, and the heavy rains this year did not help it go away. I kept repeating it like a tongue twister: peat soils are highly acidic, they are water- and air-permeable, they accumulate and retain moisture well, and they contain nitrogen in a form that is difficult for plants to reach.

My husband, with a chainsaw in his hands, was reclaiming the site for the future road and house, and I still wandered restlessly through “our swamp.” I even had a cowardly thought to call the editor: save me, help me! All this talk about drainage, reclamation, deoxidation is certainly good in theory, but in practice it only causes a feeling of confusion. This is as much as eight hundred square meters, and there is ankle-deep water everywhere, well, almost everywhere. After all, an ordinary gardener most often encounters peat in the form of compost or mulch and really respects this material. Peat can make the heaviest soil loose and beautiful.

What to do if there is no soil? Not at all. Thus, having admired the site from the outside, I began to get acquainted with it from the inside. The husband dug a meter-long pit, and almost at the very bottom there was some kind of dirt, not clay, no, not loam, but some kind of dusty gray sand, more like silt. The chairman of horticulture said that it was supposedly quicksand, but refused to explain its properties in more detail. The water kept oozing from the walls of the hole and, in the end, stopped somewhere thirty centimeters from the surface of the soil. Well, that means the ditches will still work, and that’s good. The green coating on the bare surface of the peat spoke not only of increased acidity and humidity, but also that this peat is rich in various salts, which, unfortunately, are not available to plants in this form. But how to take them?

What is generally known about peat? It is known that it is formed from incompletely decomposed plants. Plants are prevented from decomposing completely by a lack of oxygen, which, in turn, appears due to excess water. It would seem that it would be easier, dry the swamp and you will get almost black soil, but no! Many marsh plants contain antiseptic substances, phenols, which suppress decomposition processes. Moreover, these antiseptics are able to act both during the life of marsh plants and after their death. An example of this is the well-known sphagnum moss, which is still successfully used in construction. log houses, to protect wood from rotting. In ancient times, sphagnum was even used to bandage the wounded as an antiseptic, and peat mud itself was used to treat skin diseases. Scientists say that swampy areas consume even more carbon dioxide than forests. But for all the amazing healing properties of wet peat soils, it is not at all easier for a gardener if he is the owner of such a plot.

It’s worth deciding what kind of peat is on my site. It is usually divided into three types: lowland, upland and transitional. If you have the same problem, then you need to make sure what waters feed the peat, what kind of relief this area and what plants predominate on it. The water that feeds the peat varies in degree of mineralization. The poorest waters are atmospheric precipitation; much more “nutritious” are groundwater, as well as the waters of rivers and streams. The vegetation of raised bogs is very unpretentious and, therefore, is capable of growing on the poorest peats - these are sphagnum moss, pine, and "rabbit's feet".

But on low-lying “fat” peats, more fastidious ones grow: birch, alder, green sphagnum and other mosses, as well as sedge. If the vegetation on the site is mixed, like mine, for example, then this is transitional peat.

Modern science based on peat offers technologies for producing more than a hundred types of products: from feed yeast to fuel. But in practice, especially for a gardener, all peats are so different in their own way chemical composition, have only one thing in common - their birthplace is a swamp. Of course, peat bogs serve as a natural biological filter; of course, when added, peat can improve the physical and chemical properties of the soil, and can even regulate the balance of humus. But all this happens when it is mixed with other components.

I clarified that the content of mineral forms of nitrogen available to plants from lowland peat is 1-3%, and from high peat - up to 14%. Partially available forms of nitrogen make up up to 45%; the rest is contained in the humic compounds of peat and is inaccessible to plants. All my searches perfect way"activation" of peat did not lead to anything.

I only learned that on a production scale, the peat ammoniation method was used, which not only reduces acidity, but also decomposes polysaccharides. This method involves treating peat with anhydrous ammonia - ammonia water. As a result, the activity of nitrogen compounds in peat increases, and at the same time the activity of humic compounds in it increases, giving it the properties of a plant growth stimulator. This method is now used mainly for the production of peat-ammonia fertilizers and some humic growth stimulants, using special equipment, personal protective equipment and rather toxic compounds.

Of course, it would be great to turn peat into literally living earth, but alas. For a gardener there was and remains only one way to activate peat - composting, preferably with organic fertilizers, and mandatory reclamation work. Air and organic nitrogen are what will make my site truly alive. Of course, I want to, my hands are just itching, to plant and fruit trees, And decorative bushes, but you can't. I’ll have to make mounds for planting, but in the meantime I brought in a car of loam, and my husband built me a greenhouse.

When, at the beginning of June, the tomato seedlings in it had just risen and the second cluster began to bloom, a neighbor came to see me, from the same area - a swamp, only across the road. “I don’t know what to do in such a swamp,” she said, “there’s even nowhere to sit, it’s so damp.” I was about to answer her that it wasn’t all that bad, why sit, I would like to look for a way out, but then she went into the greenhouse and, looking around the flowering tomato bushes, said sadly: “And I see, that you have already planted cucumbers." “Yeah,” I responded hesitantly, “but still more tomatoes.”

How much in our life depends on ourselves, how we perceive this or that, with what mood we get down to business, with what thoughts we grow our garden. Knowledge is extremely important, but the desire to obtain it is much more important. Searching and trusting that everything will work out, it may not be exactly as planned, but it will work out well. But ahead of me I have a garden to build on the hills. There are already thuja crumbs in pots, bought by my husband for the occasion, to plant a thuja alley. White derain and Thunberg barberry with red foliage, cinquefoil and spirea show off. Still in pots, but already there, in the swamp, in the future garden, they are getting used to the microclimate. And they will grow, because peat is like a starting material and it can make great soil. I hope that in winter my plot will look completely different.

I will tell you in detail about all my successes and mistakes, and I hope that there will be more of the former than the latter.

A. Kremneva, agronomist who never loses optimism