Alases of Central Yakutia—The Cradle of the Northernmost Cattle Breeding Center near the Pole of Cold

This Chapter discusses the origin, specifics of structure and functioning of the alas landscapes of Central Yakutia, as well as their economic significance. From the historical and geological point of view, the Central Yakut terraces is an extremely interesting paleogeographic relic which due to its geographical location and special history of development, has preserved to the present time many remnants of those remarkable landscapes of the geological past that were erased by time in other parts of the world. Here, the accumulation of underground ice in the form of an ice complex during the Pleistocene glaciation created favorable conditions for the formation and evolution of thermokarst landforms on the vast plains and lowlands of the cryolithozone. The harsh extra-continental climate near the Pole of cold of the Northern hemisphere contributes to the preservation of the ice complex and the development of cryogenic landforms in the vast region. The development of thermokarst lakes and the formation of alas began with the warming set on at the turn of the Pleistocene and the Holocene. At present alases occupy 20–30% of the entire area of Central Yakutia. Here the basin and basin-valley types of the alas terrain are widespread. As basin landforms, alases have a number of unique features. Each alas basin, as a negative form of relief, is a local basis of erosion and a center of accumulation of substances for local territories of the inter-alas plots. From the geochemical point of view, alases belong to closed systems and have a strictly limited capacity. Even the capacity of the largest alas basins are strictly limited. The isolation and limited volume of the active layer of alases causes their high sensitivity to fluctuations of exogenous factors and weak resistance to anthropogenic impact.