Volcanism and Geochemistry of the Soil and Plant Cover in Kamchatka. Part 2. The Formation of the Elemental Composition of Volcanic Soils under Cold Humid Conditions

Abstract

The Kamchatka volcanic soils have low concentrations of most chemical elements relative to their general abundances in continental soils and in European volcanic soils. The soils in different areas over the peninsula most typically involve higher bulk compositions of the elements that are typical of intermediate and basic volcanic rocks: Na, Ca, Mg, Cd, Mn, Co, and Cu, and persistently lower concentrations of the elements that are characteristic for acidic volcanic rocks: La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Nb, Hf, Tl, Rb, and Th. The diversity in the chemical composition of soils in the soil areas of Kamchatka as identified previously is controlled by the different conditions of volcanism that have existed in these areas in the past that also are observed at present.