ORGANIC-CARBON POOLS IN THE SOILS OF WESTERN SIBERIA

The area covered by the soils of the southern and central parts of wes tern Siberia (to 61 degrees 30' N) amounts to 1.11 x 10(8) ha or 0.76 percent of the soil area of the biosphere. The organic carbon pool in the top 100 cm of the soils in this area adds up to 26.5 x 10(9) tonne s or 1.79 percent of the worldwide pool of soil carbon. It is shown th at the relative disporportion between the area of the soils and their reserves of organic carbon is related to the high percentage of bog ec osystems (27 percent of the total area), the peat of which accumulates extra large amounts of carbon.