Abstract
The main objective of our investigations is to find out the primary geochemical properties of insular landscapes in order to ascertain the landscape stability on an area of land uplifting in the conditions of a regressive sea. Therefore we focus our study on the landscapes of Kolga Bay islets, which are located near the Estonian coast in the Gulf of Finland. A landscape-geochemical approach of landscape study improves the mapping of insular landscapes and understanding of processes of landscape development. Besides land use changes, land uplift and marine influence shape the landscape patterns of island through topography and subsurface water. We propose geochemical typology of landscapes based on substance movement (eluvial, superwatery, subwatery), field studies on islands, and chemical analysis of soil and water samples. From a landscape geochemical perspective, types of matter fluxes mainly control stability of an insular landscape. Interactions between geochemical, ecosystem and geomorphic processes reveal that islands behave as systems, rather than merely a sequence of interdependent soil-vegetation complexes along topographic gradients.
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Ratas, U., Puurmann, E., Roosaare, J. et al. A landscape-geochemical approach in insular studies as exemplified by islets of the eastern Baltic Sea. Landscape Ecology 18, 173–184 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024480501983
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024480501983