Geochemical differentiation of soils in the Amur Basin (Russian Part)

•Composition of organic matter affects the geochemical activity of elements in soils.•The soil moisture determines mobility of elements and intensity of geochemical fluxes.•We designed the Map of Landscape-Geochemical Zoning of the Amur basin (1:2,500,000).•It reflects differentiation of geochemical fields with major geochemical flows.

The paper gives landscape-geochemical characteristics (processes of migration, dispersion and concentrations of elements in soils) of the Russian part of the Amur Basin. The impact of geographic factors on the formation of soil-geochemical systems is revealed and mechanisms of moisture interactions with the soil system are described. The spatial heterogeneity of chemical element concentrations in background soils is viewed as a function of the migration activity of elements. The role of iron in the regional geochemical background formation is revealed. Migration conditions of indicator elements and levels of their activity are discussed. The map Landscape-Geochemical Zoning of the Amur Basin, scale (1:2,500,000) was created based on ArcGis 10 (ArcMap). The map reflects soil-geochemical migration zones by indicator elements in soils.