Effects of Landscape Variables on Exchangeable Potassium Content in the Floodplain Soils of the Amur River

Abstract

This article considers exchangeable potassium levels in the floodplain soils of the Amur River. The accumulation of exchangeable potassium in these soils was found to be largely determined by their age and weathering extent. In the young and highly weathered soils, the content of exchangeable potassium was lower than in the middle-aged soils. In the humus-accumulating horizon, it was 100–400 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg in the Upper and Middle Amur River, respectively. As for the mineral horizons, it ranged from 20 mg/kg in the young alluvial soils to 150 mg/kg in the residual-floodplain rusty soils. Interestingly, a significant increase in exchangeable potassium was observed for the coniferous-birch forests of the Upper Amur River (reaching an average of 400 mg/kg), but not for the oak forests in the Middle Amur River. Due to the asymmetry of the rate and ratio of zonal processes in the floodplain soils of the Upper and Middle Amur River, the residual-alluvial soils turned out to be sharply differentiated by the exchangeable potassium profiles. On average, the brown soils (Fluvic Cambisols) of the Upper Amur River contained up to 350 mg/kg of exchangeable potassium. The Fluvic Cambisols of the Middle Amur River had the lowest content of exchangeable potassium as compared to other studied soils.