Аннотация:The results of the search for and study of the Late Pleistocene soils in the north of Western Siberiaare described. The theoretical basis is an ice-free model of the evolution of Pleistocene landscapes in theregion, because the alternative model of its glacial cover excludes the preservation of paleosols. Glacial depositsare absent in this region, and paleosol levels are detectable in the sections of high river terraces exposingthe Late and Middle Pleistocene sediments. They correspond to the chronointervals with landscape conditionsfavorable for pedogenesis; namely, soils of the (1) Kazantsevo thermochron (marine isotope-oxygenstage MIS5 overlying the Middle Pleistocene alluvium), (2) Karginsky interstadial (MIS3), and (3) the endof Sartan cryochron (MIS2). The pedogenetic interpretation of these paleosols is based on morphogeneticanalysis, including micromorphological examination. According to this analysis, (i) the stage of taiga soil formationwith clay illuviation in the polygenetic profile of MIS5 paleosol was replaced by a colder tundra phasewith suprapermafrost gleying; (ii) characteristic of the MIS3 paleosols were tundra-steppe conditions, underwhich gleying and cryogenesis were combined with the neoformation of carbonates; and (iii) the paleosollevel of the end of MIS2 was the result of tundra-swamp pedogenesis and included gleyed pedosediments thatfilled ice-wedge pseudomorphs. The latter fact allows us to identify the Late Sartan Taz–Nadym cryogenicsoil horizon. The results are correlated with synchronous stratigraphic schemes for adjacent regions suggestingthe construction of the soil–permafrost paleorecord for the north of Western Siberia. This is important,because the interpretation of the modern surface soils requires special approaches in order to take intoaccount relict pedogenic horizons that are often found in their profiles.Keywords:
