Effect of natural erosion shear on heavy metal geochemistry in West Siberian natural landscapes

The region under consideration is located in the junction zone of two large tectonic structures: the West-Siberian plate and the Altai—Sayan folded area. Their essential tectonic, geological, geomorphologic and climatic peculiarities account for the specifity of the natural landscapes. The up-to-date state of the natural landscapes is manifested in the composition of the latest products of weathering, including soil formation, in different ways. In regard to geomorphology, one can distinctly single out three landscape-structural floors with sets of elementary landscapes typical of them: (1) West-Siberian accumulative plain landscapes; (2) landscapes of the denudation-accumulative zone transitional from the plain to mountains (small peak hills, low hill area); (3) mountainous denudational landscapes (middle and high mountain areas). Two characteristic properties are distinctive of natural landscapes: 1) vertical and lateral geochemical zonality, 2) a wide spread of natural anomalies of heavy metals and radioactive elements, manifested in different manners depending on the level of erosion shear of the contemporary relief. Major standard natural environments in West Siberia are monitored by both latitude-zonal plain and high-altitude-zonal mountain landscapes.