Radial Growth of Spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst. × P. obovata Ledeb.) in the Conditions of Mining Impact

Abstract

A dynamic of radial growth of spruce near a quarry of kimberlite pipes is investigated in this study. The quarry is considered as a potential source of anthropogenic impact. The research takes place at the central part of the White Sea Kuloi plateau, at the diamond deposit named after M.V. Lomonosov. The wood cores for dendrochronological analysis are from six trail plots located at different distances from the active quarry. The annual radial increment of spruce in all plots ranges from medium to high or very high. It is noticed that spruce trees have different durations of depression and expression cycles. The growth rates of the trees from the same plot do not coincide, or they show similarities to certain periods of tree’s life with cyclical patterns. In most cases, minimum and maximum extremes are observed near the well-known values of solar activity cycles. An inverse relationship is found between duration and repetition of the cycles. The measurements from all trail plots show a decrease in the amplitude of radial growth, which started in 2000. It took much greater extent in the period from 2010 to 2019. The samples of the spruce, which were taken from the oligotrophic habitats located near the quarry, indicate an increase of width of annual rings in the last 10–20 years. Fifty percent of them reveal a distinct radial extent. The trees from the most distant trail area are characterized by high simultaneity in the dynamics of the annual layers. Moreover, it is found a decrease in the maximum value of radial growth relative to the entire series of observations. Likewise, a reduce in the amplitude of increments is noted as a rise in the repeatability of relative growth indices below the regular values. It can be assumed that the change in the trend of radial growth in spruce in the oligotrophic habitats is mostly associated with the formation of а depression cone and, as a result, a general lowering of the groundwater level. For citation: Barzut O.S., Surso M.V. Radial Growth of Spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst. × P. obovata Ledeb.) in the Conditions of Mining Impact. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2023, no. 2, pp. 58–72. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2023-2-58-72