Arctic soils - soils that form in the Arctic belt, mainly on the islands of the Arctic Ocean .
Formation
Low air temperature, permafrost, the development of solifluction and excessive moisture cause the inhibition of soil formation processes, for this reason a predominantly low-power, low-humus type of soil with a shortened profile and unexpressed genetic horizons develops. Arctic soils have a slightly acidic or near neutral reaction, gleying (restoration processes) is absent [1] .
Geography
They are located mainly in Siberia, Alaska and Canada. Smaller areas of these soils are found in the Andes (mainly, near the junction of the borders of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina), Tibet, Northern Scandinavia and ice-free parts of Greenland and Antarctica. Fossil arctic soils are known even in the ice age of the Precambrian 900 million years ago [2] .