Effect of mechanical transformation on oligotrophic peat at the Mukhrino Carbon Supersite (Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region - Yugra, Russia)
Vol.16,No.1(2026)
The impact of human activity on the peat deposit at the Mukhrino carbon supersite (Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra) was investigated using field electrophysical methods and laboratory analysis. Vertical electrical sounding and sampling of peat cores were carried out at two sites within the raised bog: a background site and a disturbed site (a geodetic profile cut more than 30 years ago). The peat macrofossil, moisture content, density, ash content, degree of humification, elemental composition (C, H, N), pH, and electrical conductivity of aqueous extracts were determined. Anthropogenic impact led to a slight alteration of the physical properties in the top 50 cm of the deposit: a decrease in moisture content, an increase in peat density, and an increase in the degree of peat decomposition. Below 100 cm, differences between sites are leveled out – physical parameters are determined exclusively by macrofossil composition. Vertical electrical sounding data showed low sensitivity to deposit stratification. No direct correlation was found between the physicochemical properties of the peat and the results of electrical sounding. The application of a range of methods made it possible to diagnose certain changes in the disturbed ecosystem decades after the disturbance, in particular the C/N ratio (the most sensitive indicator of long-term disturbance), which confirms the need to take anthropogenic history into account when monitoring carbon cycles at peatland sites.
peat soils; degree of humification; anthropogenic impact; macrofossil composition of peat; vertical electrical resistivity sounding
Abakumov, E. V., Parnikoza, I. Yu. (2015): Determination of the soil-permafrost border in two maritime Antarctic regions on the base of electric sounding data. Ukrainian Antarctic Journal, 14: 138-142.
Abakumov, E. V., Tomashunas, V. M. and Alekseev, I. I. (2017): Electrical resistance profiles of permafrost-affected soils in the north of Western Siberia according to their vertical electrical sounding. Eurasian Soil Science, 50: 1069-1076. doi: 10.1134/S1064229317090010
Arjwech, R., Phothaworn, T. and Chaisuriya, S. (2023): Evaluation of slope susceptibility using 2D electrical resistivity tomography supplemented with spatial resistivity change. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 41: 4023-4039. doi: 10.1007/s10706-023-02502-9
Asadi, A., Huat, B. B. K. (2009): Electrical resistivity of tropical peat. Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 14: 1-9.
Basri, K., Wahab, N., Talib, M. K. A. and Zainorabidin, A. (2019): Sub-surface profiling using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) with complement from peat sampler. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 7(6A): 7-18. doi: 10.13189/cea.2019.071402
Chambers, F. M., Beilman, D. W. and Yu, Z. (2011): Methods for determining peat humification and for quantifying peat bulk density, organic matter and carbon content for palaeostudies of climate and peatland carbon dynamics. Mires and Peat, 7(7): 1-10.
Dobrovol'skaya, T. G., Golovchenko, A. V. and Zvyagintsev, D. G. (2014): Analysis of ecological factors limiting the destruction of high-moor peat. Eurasian Soil Science, 47: 182-193. doi: 10.1134/S106422931403003X
Dyukarev, E., Filippova, N. and Karpov D. (2021a): Hydrometeorological dataset of West Siberian boreal peatland: A 10-year record from the Mukhrino field station. Earth System Science Data, 6: 2595-2605. doi: 10.5194/essd-13-2595-2021
Dyukarev, E., Zarov, E., Alekseychik, P., Nijp, J., Filippova, N., Mammarella, I., Filippov, I., Bleuten, W., Khoroshavin, V., Ganasevich, G., Meshcheryakova, A., Vesala, T. and Lapshina, E. (2021b): The multiscale monitoring of peatland ecosystem carbon cycling in the middle taiga zone of Western Siberia: The Mukhrino Bog Case Study. Land, 10(8): 824. doi: 10.3390/land10080824
Fedorov, R. Yu. (2025): History and challenges of developing green infrastructure in cities located in the cryolithozone of Western and Central Siberia. Problems of the Arctic and Antarctic, 71(1): 87-102. doi: 10.30758/0555-2648-2025-71-1-87-102
Filippov, I. V., Lapshina, E. D. (2008): Peatland unit types of lake-bog systems in the Middle Priob'ie (Western Siberia). Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change, 1(1S): 115-124.
Hauck, C., Kneisel, C. (2006): Application of capacitively-coupled and DC electrical resistivity imaging for mountain permafrost studies. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 17(2): 169-177. doi: 10.1002/ppp.555
Ivanova, M., Georgiev, G., Dimitrova, R. and Rangelov, Y. (2024): Methods for measurement of electrical characteristics of soils. A Review. 16th Electrical Engineering Faculty Conference (BulEF), Varna, Bulgaria, pp. 1–7. doi: 10.1109/BulEF63204.2024.10794872
Kats, N. Ya., Kats, S. V. and Skobeev, A. E. I. (1977): Atlas of Plant Remains in Peat. Moscow: Nedra, 371 p.
Kupriianova, I. V., Kaverin, A. A., Filippov, I. V., Ilyasov, D. V., Lapshina, E. D., Logunova, E. V. and Kulyabin, M. F. (2022): The main physical and geographical characteristics of the Mukhrino field station area and its surroundings. Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change, 13(4): 215-252. doi: 10.18822/edgcc240049
Mauquoy, D., van Geel, B. (2013): Plant macrofossil methods and studies: Mire and peat macros. In: Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (Vol. 113, pp. 637–656). doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53643-3.00206-5
Nizamutdinov, T. I., Suleimanov, A. R., Morgun, E. N., Gusev, A. V., Tupakhina, O. S., Plekhanov, A. V., Tupakhina, D. S. and Abakumov, E. V. (2023): Soils of the subpolar archaeological site 'Labytnangi 1 Settlement (Komyatskaya Village)': Morphological analysis and chemical characteristics. Bulletin of the V. V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute, 114: 66-108. doi: 10.19047/0136-1694-2023-114-66-108
Olenchenko, V. V., Fage, A. N., Overduin, A. P. and Angelopulos, M. (2023): The geoelectric structure of the subaqueous cryolithozone of the Uomullah-Kyuel Lagoon (Laptev Sea). Earth's Cryosphere, 27(5): 39-53. doi: 10.15372/KZ20230504
Payne, R. J., Blackford, J. J. (2008): Peat humification and climate change: A multi-site comparison from mires in south-east Alaska. Mires and Peat, 3(9): 1-11.
Pozdnyakov, A. I. (2008): Electrical parameters of soils and pedogenesis. Eurasian Soil Science, 41: 1050-1058. doi: 10.1134/S1064229308100062
Pozdnyakov, A. I. (2013): Bioelectric potentials in the soil-plant system. Eurasian Soil Science, 46(7): 813-821. doi: 10.1134/S1064229313070089
Pozdnyakov, A. I., Eliseev, P. I. (2012): The relationship between specific electrical resistivity and certain properties of anthropogenically modified light soils in the agricultural landscapes of the humid zone. Bulletin of Orenburg State University, 10(146): 98-104.
Pozdnyakov, A. I., Pozdnyakova, L. A. and Pozdnyakova, A. D. (1996): Steady-state electric fields in soils. Moscow: KMK, 52 p.
Pozdnyakova, A. D., Pozdnyakov, L. A. (2020): Electrophysical and geoinformation methods for mapping the biological properties of peatlands. Bulletin of the V. V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute, 103: 149-167. doi: 10.19047/0136-1694-2020-103-149-167
Stepanova, V. A., Pokrovsky, O. S. (2011): Macroelement composition of peat in raised bogs of the middle taiga of Western Siberia (a case study of the Mukhrino bog complex). Vestnik Tomskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, 352: 211-214.
Tsyganov, A. N., Zarov, E. A., Mazei, Y. A., Kulkov, M. G., Babeshko, K. V., Yushkovets, S. Y., Payne, R. J., Ratcliffe, J. L., Fatyunina, Y. A., Zazovskaya, E. P. and Lapshina, E. D. (2021): Key periods of peatland development and environmental changes in the middle taiga zone of Western Siberia during the Holocene. Ambio, 50: 1-14. doi: 10.1007/s13280-020-01545-7
Vashukevich, N. V., Gyulalyev, Ch. G. and Kuklina, S. L. (2017): Diagnosis of soils in the Lake Baikal ecological monitoring zone using electrophysical methods. Ural Agricultural Bulletin, 2(156): 14-19.
Zarov, E. A., Lapshina, E. D. (2026): Stratigraphy and development history of the Mukhrino oligotrophic peatland (middle taiga, Western Siberia). Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change, 17(1): 65-87. doi: 10.18822/edgcc699318
Zarov, E. A., Lapshina, E. D., Kuhlmann, I. and Schulze, E. D. (2023): Carbon accumulation and the possibility of carbon losses by vertical movement of dissolved organic carbon in Western Siberian Peatlands. Forests, 14(12): 2393. doi: 10.3390/f14122393
Zhang, D. L., Yang, Y. P. and Lan, B. (2017): Peat humification- and δ13Ccellulose-recorded warm-season moisture variations during the past 500 years in the southern Altai Mountains within northern Xinjiang of China. Journal of Mountain Science, 14(11): 2200-2211. doi: 10.1007/s11629-017-4538-1
Web sources / Other sources
[1] Vasilyevskaya, V. D., Ivanov, V. V. and Bogatyrev, L. G. (1986): Soils of Northern Western Siberia, 227 p.
[2] GOST 11306-2013 (2019): Peat and its processed products. Methods for determining ash content. Moscow: Standardinform.
Copyright © 2026 Evgeny V. Abakumov, Evgeny V. Shevchenko, Eugeniya A. Novikova, Leonid V. Litvinov, Sofia E. Rakhova, Valeria R. Batrshina, Evgeny A. Zarov, Elena D. Lapshina