Micromorphological and mineralogical features of saline playa surface sediments from two large Trans-Uralian lakes

Abstract

The proposed paper is devoted to the features of mineralogical composition and microstructure of saline playa surface sediments from two large drainless lakes in the south west of Western Siberia. The material composing the surface sediments of both playas is an unlithified mixture of clay and sand, with a significant admixture of organic matter. Coarse material is represented mainly by quartz, with an insignificant admixture of feldspar grains and micaceous fragments. In general, terrigenous component is characterized by a comparatively low degree of sorting. Clay material is scarce and composed, presumably of chlorite-hydromica material with a significant admixture of undecomposed organic matter, and traces of ferruginization. Carbonates and evaporates are the most common authigenic minerals. In both cases carbonates occur as microconcretions that correspond to the zone enriched with cysts, plant detritus and other degrading organic matter. Evaporates occur both as the efflorescence on the surfaces of the crusts. The study results have shown that surface crusts contain zones enriched with Artemia salina cysts, which are a significant component of sediments. Degrading crusts promote secondary mineral formation, especially formation of carbonates. Surface crusts of two studied playa environments differ in proportion of terrigenous material, clay minerals, as well as the composition of evaporates and carbonates.

Keywords

• Artemia salina
• lakes
• Solonchaks
• Western Siberia

References

1. Acree, A., Weindorf, D.C., Chakraborty, S., Godoy, M., 2019. Comparative geochemistry of urban and rural playas in the Southern High Plains. Geoderma 337: 1028-1038.
2. Beltrán-Hernández, R.I., Luna-Guido, M.L., Dendooven, L., 2007. Emission of carbon dioxide and dynamics of inorganic N in a gradient of alkaline saline soils of the former Lake Texcoco. Applied Soil Ecology 35: 390-403.
3. Castañeda, C., Gracia, F.J., Luna, E., Rodríguez-Ochoa, R., 2015. Edaphic and geomorphic evidences of water level fluctuations in Gallocanta Lake, NE Spain. Geoderma 239-240: 265-279.
4. Castañeda, C., Herrero, J., 2008. Assessing the degradation of saline wetlands in an arid agricultural region in Spain. Catena 72: 205-213.
5. Castañeda, C., Herrero, J., Casterad, M.A., 2005. Facies identification within the playa lakes of the Monegros Desert, Spain, with field and satellite data. Catena 63: 39-63.
6. Gutiérrez, F., Valero-Garcés, B., Desir, G., González-Sampériz, P., Gutiérrez, M., Linares, R., Zarroca, M., Moreno, A., Guerrero, J., Roqué, C., Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., 2013. Late Holocene evolution of playa lakes in the central Ebro depression based on geophysical surveys and morpho-stratigraphic analysis of lacustrine terraces. Geomorphology 196: 177-197.
7. Hammer, U.T., 1986. Saline lake ecosystems of the world. Springer, Netherlands. 616 p.
8. Ikkonen, E.N., García-Calderón, N.E., Ibáñez-Huerta, A., Etchevers-Barra, J.D., Krasilnikov, P.V., 2018. Seasonal dynamics of soil CO2 concentration and CO2 fluxes from the soil of the former Lake Texcoco, Mexico. Eurasian Soil Science 51: 674-681.

9. Jafarpoor, F., Manafi, S., Poch, R.M., 2021. Textural features of saline-sodic soils affected by Urmia Lake in the Northwest of Iran. Geoderma 392: 115007.
10. Joeckel, R.M., Clement, B.J.A., 2005. Soils, surficial geology, and geomicrobiology of saline-sodic wetlands, North Platte River Valley, Nebraska, USA. Catena 61: 63-101.
11. Kazantsev, V.A., Magaeva, L.A., Ustinov, M.T., Yakutin, M.V., 2005. Formation and evolution of soils of drying territories of salted lakes (on the example of the Lake Chany). Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2: 321-339. [in Russian].
12. Kurochkin, V.Yu., Fedorov, A.A., Khoroshavina, E.I., Volkova, N.A., 2014. Natural resources of Medvezhye Lake in the Kurgan region, their formation, complex use and protection. Resort Medicine 4: 8-13. [in Russian].
13. Lebedeva (Verba), M.P., Lopukhina, O.V., Kalinina, N.V., 2008. Specificity of the chemical and mineralogical composition of salts in solonchak playas and lakes of the Kulunda steppe. Eurasian Soil Science 41: 416-428.
14. Litvinenko, L.I., Litvinenko, A.I., Boiko, E.G., Kutsanov, K., 2015. Artemia cyst production in Russia. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology 33: 1436-1450.
15. Mees, F, Singer, A., 2006. Surface crusts on soils/sediments of the southern Aral Sea basin, Uzbekistan. Geoderma 136: 152-159.
16. Mees, F., Castañeda, C., Van Ranst, E., 2011. Sedimentary and diagenetic features in saline lake deposits of the Monegros region, northern Spain. Catena 85: 245-252.
17. Meyer, B.C., Schreiner, V., Smolentseva, E.N., Smolentsev, B.A., 2008. Indicators of desertification in the Kulunda Steppe in the south of Western Siberia. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 54(6): 585-603.
18. Novoselov, A.A., Konstantinov, A.O., Lim, A.G., Goetschl, K.E., Loiko, S.V., Mavromatis, V., Pokrovsky, O.S., 2019. Mg-rich authigenic carbonates in coastal facies of the Vtoroe Zasechnoe Lake (Southwest Siberia): First assessment and possible mechanisms of formation. Minerals 9(12): 763.
19. Ovdina, E., Strakhovenko, V., Solotchina, E., 2020. Authigenic carbonates in the water–biota–bottom sediments’ system of small lakes (south of Western Siberia). Minerals 10(6): 552.
20. Rudaya, N., Nazarova, L., Nourgaliev, D., Palagushkina, O., Papin, D., Frolova, L., 2012. Mid-late Holocene environmental history of Kulunda, southern West Siberia: Vegetation, climate and humans. Quaternary Science Reviews 48: 32-42.
21. Samylina, O.S., Sapozhnikov, F.V., Gainanova, O.Y., Ryabova, A.V., Nikitin, M.A., Sorokin, D.Yu., 2014. Algo-bacterial communities of the Kulunda steppe (Altai Region, Russia) Soda Lakes. Microbiology 83: 849-860.
22. Shulpina E.A. Natural landscapes of the Kurgan region. Kurgan IPKiPRO, Russia. 64 p. [in Russian].
23. Smolentseva, E.N., Gavrilov, D.A., 2020. Soil-sedimentary sequences of lake depressions in the steppe zone of West Siberia (Russia). IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 548: 082067.
24. Vizcayno, C., Garcia-Gonzalez, M.T., Gutierrez, M., Rodriguez, R., 1995. Mineralogical, chemical and morphological features of salt accumulations in the Flumen-Monegros district, NE Spain. Geoderma 68: 193-210.
25. Yakutin, M., Anopchenko, L., Conen, F., 2016b. Microbial biomass and soil organic carbon accumulation on a former lakebed near Novosibirsk, Russia. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 179: 190-192.
26. Yakutin, M.V., Anopchenko, L.Yu., Andrievskii, V.S., 2016a. The effect of salinization on the biomass of microorganisms in the soils of different ages in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia. Eurasian Soil Science 49: 1414-1418.
27. Yermolayev, V.I., Wizer, L.S., 2010. The current ecological state of Lake Chany (West Siberia). Geography and Natural Resources 2: 40-46. [in Russian].
28. Zarubina, E.Yu., Durnikin, D.A., 2005. Flora of the salted lakes of the Kulunda Plain (south of West Siberia). Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2: 341-351. [in Russian].
29. Zhang, L., Fang, J., Joeckel, R.M., 2013. Microbial biomass and community structure in alkaline lakes of the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA. Chemical Geology 356: 171-180.