Theory

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Shields

A shield is an ancient piece of the Earth's crust where rocks of over 500 milion years old have surfaced. These old rocks surface because the material on top has been removed by the processes of weathering and erosion.

(IASbaba, 2018)

Within Russia there are two of those shields:


Soils

Soil is the uppermost layer of the Earth's crust, in the Netherlands to about 1.20 metres deep. Some type of soils have very distinctive layers, these layers are called horizons. The formation of the horizons is caused by the climate and vegetation on the surface.

(De Boer et al., 2023)

With in Russia two types of soils are predominant:

 

Other examples of soils, as seen in the figure above, are the latosol and desert soil.


Permafrost

Permafrost is soil that is permanently frozen. In Russian it is sometimes refered to as merzlota. A few characeristics of permafrost are:

 

The melting of the permafrost also plays a role in the greenhouse effect:

 

(EEA, 2017)


Fertile Triangle

Within Russia, there are many factors that play a role in the inability to use the ground for agricultural purposes: the permafrost, the cold climates, the infertile soils. This leaves a relatively small portion of Russia's territory suitable for agriculture. This area is called the Fertile Triangle and it spans from Odessa (in Ukraine), to Saint Pertersburg, to Irkutsk.