There is a version that the Siberian forests are no more than 250 years old. Based on the fact that pine and larch in Siberia can grow up to 400 years of age, or even more. But almost everywhere the maximum age of the pine is 150-200 years. There are, of course, specimens of larch and under 1000 years old on the slopes and hills. As well as age-old oaks in the European part of Russia.
Although pines can grow up to 400 years of age, but due to the harsh continental climate and fires, they do not live up to 200 years.
This is data from the Forest Institute of Krasnoyarsk. The data relate to the age of trees on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk pillars. Large-scale deforestation has never been carried out there. now it is a nature reserve, and previously nothing was cut there either because of the inaccessible mountainous rugged terrain.
Krasnoyarsk at the beginning of the 20th century. Pokrovskaya mountain. There are no trees or bushes on the horizon. All around the steppe on the left bank. Skeptics write that everything was cut down, and the shoots were eaten by goats and cows.
But I also think that the taiga in Siberia is young. And what could be the reasons other than the cold climate? Not so long ago I drew attention to how the podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils of the forests of Russia look like:
Promotional video:
There is a gray layer under the layer of black soil or turf. Based on information from soil science, this is a layer of leaching of various minerals from humus and soil into the lower layers. Here is a brief information about why they are so called and the physicochemical characteristics of these soils:
A very interesting fact about the etymology of the name. What kind of ash did the peasants find when plowing the land? Apparently, this was not an isolated fact, since geologists of that time drew attention to it.
I wonder why the soils are acidic? Minerals are washed out with water to the lower layers. Well, so what? Water has a neutral pH. And if it washes out acidic minerals, then the acidity should decrease. And over the millennia of the pH process, come to equilibrium. Then where did the increased soil acidity come from? Has there been any research on which minerals give acidity? Where are they from in the soil? There is no such thing in black soil …
An interesting fact is the aluminum toxicity of podzolic soils. Where did the plants and trees get this element in such an amount that it even gives such a color, turns the clay into a gray color!
Soil maps of Russia. Huge territories with podzolic soils:
Note that gray clay stones are found below the washout horizon. A strange picture. Without the “tongues” of washout, the products of washout seeped deep into the bedrock and accumulated there locally.
Let me put forward my explanation: all the clay of the bedrock (of the mainland, as archaeologists say) and podzol are the fallen clay dust and ash from above! Clay fell out with volcanic ash, or alternated. There is confirmation of this. Here is one of them, an analysis of strata during excavations in Kostenki:
The clay contains traces of volcanic ash.
An interesting example of podzolic soils. The bedrock is clay with stones, then a sharp transition to podzol, and the top layer is black soil. Note, without any traces of washing out of minerals deep into the rocks. Clear horizontal tracks.
An example of chernozems. How do they differ in principle from podzolic soils? The fact that there are no traces of leaching and the acidity is different! If we accept the version that volcanic ash, which fell out as the final stage, like volcanic eruptions somewhere on the continent and the drift of these emissions to the west, gave such acidity, then this explains the picture. And the fact that it is volcanic ash that gives high acidity is evidenced by the following fact:
Volcanic ash increases the acidity of not only soil, but also water.
This is the hypothesis based on the data on podzolic soils. If soil scientists can explain everything in simple language, that's good. Maybe there is no mystery here. But so far I see a picture that the clays and podzols were formed by the fallout of this material from above. These were probably stages in different months and even years. But not later, because there are no humus accumulations between the layers.
Unfortunately, scientists do not consider the rapid and catastrophic nature of the process of accumulation of sediments and bedrock. According to geology, this all happened for a long time: tens and hundreds of thousands of years. To imagine that something happened on Earth in a historical epoch, which entailed volcanic activity of unprecedented proportions - science cannot imagine and describe. Although, the prerequisites for drawing up such models have long existed. Information from my observations is only a part of them.
Author: sibved