Accumulation and transformation of organic matter in different-aged dumps from sand quarries

The accumulation and transformation of organic matter were studied in chronoseries of different-aged (3-, 10-, 20-, 30-, 43-, and 60-year-old) soils and a background (reference) plot. The ecogenetic succession of plants on sand quarry dumps was characterized. It was shown that the pedogenesis rate was closely related to the rate of phytocenosis development, and the thicknesses of organic and mineral horizons increased synchronously. The profile distribution of organic matter in young soils was estimated as an ectomorphic distribution, and the humus reserves in the mineral horizons of the same soils were comparable with the reserves of organic matter in the litters. The illuvial horizons of the soils under study played a significant role in the deposition of carbon dioxide; the resistance of organic matter to mineralization increased with age. In the soil chronoseries, the combustion heat of litter organic matter increased, as well as the content of energy accumulated in the litters. The composition of humus differed strongly between the eluvial and illuvial horizons; in the chronosequence, the relative content of humic acids increased in the E horizon, and that of fulvic acids increased in the B horizon. The effect of the phytocenosis on the soil was increasingly mediated with time. The accumulation and transformation of organic matter were the leading pedogenic processes at all stages.