Gênese e classificação de solos desenvolvidos em semideserto polar - Ilha Seymour, Antártica

• Ano de defesa: 2012
• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Katia Karoline Delpupo
• Orientador(a): Schaefer, Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud
• Banca de defesa: Oliveira, Fábio Soares de , Fernandes, Raphael Bragança Alves
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Mestrado em Solos e Nutrição de Plantas
• Departamento: Fertilidade do solo e nutrição de plantas; Gênese, Morfologia e Classificação, Mineralogia, Química,
• País: BR
• Palavras-chave em Português: Solos; Antártica; Solos criogênicos; Mineralogia do solo; Permafrost
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Soils; Antarctiv; Solos cryogenic; Soil mineralogy; Permafrost
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CNPQ::CIENCIAS AGRARIAS::AGRONOMIA::CIENCIA DO SOLO
• Link de acesso: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/5487

Periglacial environments constitute one of the most important components of the global landscape, especially with regards to regulatory processes of water, temperature and carbon. Weathering processes related to ice action and the presence of permafrost are peculiar characteristics of these environments, which include regions of high altitude and/or latitude around the globe. Among the general processes of weathering and soil formation common to free ice areas of Antarctica, it is observed that some of these processes take major or minor importance when they are observed in details for the formation of specific landscapes. The Seymour Island (Marambio) is located in the Northern portion of the Weddell Sea and it is composed of sediments dating from the Late Cretaceous to the Lower Tertiary, cut by basaltic dikes. These sediments are constituted of glauconitic sands, bituminous silts, sulfides and carbonates coming from fossil. The main factors which influence the pedogenesis are the arid and cold climates favoring the presence of soluble salts in abundance, the occurrence of sediments rich in sulfides and the bird activity leading to the formation of ornithogenic soils. Thus, this work aimed at describing properties of soils developed on polar semi desert of Seymour Island, identifying and analyzing pedogenic factors and processes in different pedological systems of the island; and, finally, classifying such soils according to Soil Taxonomy and WRB (FAO) classification systems. It was described profiles of representative soils from different pedoambientes and collected samples of pedogenic horizons. In samples of fine ground dried on air, it was promoted a pretreatment to remove soluble salts. It was also promoted chemical and physical routines as soil pH, potential acidity (H + Al), extraction and determination of exchangeable bases; the total organic carbon, electrical conductivity, particle size and dry soil color. The profiles were classified according to the Soil Taxonomy and the World Reference Base for Soil Resources classification systems. Most of the soils showed permafrost inside the control section and, consequently, they were classified as Gelisols and Cryosols by the Soil Taxonomy and WRB/FAO, respectively. In general, they presented little cryoturbation, which is explained by the low humidity of the system (dry permafrost). The physical weathering is less active than those observed in the Antarctic Maritime due to the decreased cryoclastic. Similarly, the soils indicate lower chemical weathering compared to more humid regions of Antarctica, since the high aridity is a limiting factor for triggering chemical reactions in general. It was emphasized the salinisation, phosphate and sulfurization as the main processes of soil formation on the island. The soils are mostly saline, nátric, eutrophic, alkaline, and contain high CTC. According to the interpretation of the morphological, physical, chemical, mineralogical characteristics, classification and specific environmental conditions, the soils from the Seymour Island were divided into three groups. They are: immature alkaline soils on sandstones and siltstones; sulfate and ornithogenic soils. It was observed that the definition of the different pedological systems on the island is closely connected to the difference of the relief, which is decisive for the presence of permafrost dried or coated by ice. Another important factor is the constitution of the original material with lower or higher content of sulfides, carbonates and other minerals. Several features of the landscape suggest a more humid paleoenvironmental condition. Both phosphate and sulfurization are important sources of acidity for this alkaline system. The Soil Taxonomy and WRB/FAO systems do not have adequate classification criteria to classify all the soils developed in areas of climate transitions that are affected by salts, phosphate and sulphidesoxidise.