Results of cryotrasologic indication of paleosols encountered to the north of the European and West-Siberian Loess belt

Rock freezing affects the soil complexes under maximal temperature gradients and forms a set of specific cryotrasological features in the solid soil matrix. When preserved these features serve as direct or indirect indicators of the past cryogenic conditions. Transformation of soil material on macro- and microscale belongs to the direct indicators whereas gleying in the well-drained positions, conditioned by the permafrost waterlogging is an indirect indicator. A variety of these features observed in the paleosols to the north of the European and West Siberian Loess belt was used by the authors to reconstruct the cryogenic environments of the late Pleistocene.