Influence of Fertilizer Systems on Soil Organic Carbon Content and Crop Yield: Results of Long-Term Field Experiments at the Geographical Network of Research Stations in Russia

Eurasian Soil Science - The results of long-term experiments (LTEs) performed at the Geographical Network of experimental stations encompassing major soil types in Russia (soddy-podzolic (Retisols,...     

Salt-affected soils of the Barguzin Depression

Factual materials on salt-affected soils in the Barguzin Depression (Buryat Republic) are generalized. A geomorphic map of the depression has been developed. The distribution of salt-affected soils and the specificity of salinization in different geomorphic regions are characterized. These soils tend to be developed within the low lacustrine–alluvial plain of the depression, on the floodplain of the Barguzin River and its tributaries. Smaller areas of salt-affected soils are found on the river terraces. They are virtually absent on ancient sandy ridged terraces (kuituns). The genesis and chemistry of soil salinization are mainly related to the discharge of slightly saline deep water along tectonic faults and fissures. An additional source of soil salinity is represented by surface water flows. The presence of permafrost preventing the leaching of salts and the cryoarid climate favoring the migration of salts toward the soil surface during the dry spring and early summer periods and during the soil freezing in the winter contribute to the soil salinization. Slightly saline hydromorphic solonchakous soils predominate among salt-affected soils of the depression; the portion of semihydromorphic saline soils is smaller. Automorphic saline soils rarely occur in the depression. Strongly saline soils— solonchaks—are widespread within lacustrine depressions around salt lakes. Soils of the soda and sulfate salinization predominate. The content of chlorides is small; their increased amounts, as well as the presence of sulfates, are indicative of the discharge of dee ground water onto the surface. The soda type of salinization is also related to the discharge of deep stratal water with further transformation of salt solutions during freeze–thaw cycles. Under anaerobic conditions, the formation of soda is favored the processes of sulfate reduction.     

Quantification of the areas of saline and solonetzic soils in the Ural Federal Region of the Russian federation

Soil Salinization Map of Russia on a scale of 1: 2500000 (the paper version) has been used for compiling an electronic map of the Ural Federal Region and an attribute database containing twelve characteristics of soil salinization. The areas of saline soils have been quantified for the entire region and its administrative districts. The total area of saline soils in the 0- to 200-cm layer averages up to 6.85 million ha or 5.53% of the plains in the region. The area of soilssaline in the 0- to 100-cm layer averages up to 4.91 million ha, including 4.13 million ha of weakly solonchakous soils (84%) and 0.78 million ha of solonchakous ones (16%). More than half of them (58.3%) are assigned to the moderately and strongly saline soils. The soils saline in the 0- to 100-cm layer are characterized by the neutral salinization type (45%) or the types of soda salinization and neutral salinization with soda (55%). The areas of the region with saline soils are dominated by solonetzic microassociations. The average area of the solonetzes is about 3 million ha. The area of solonchaks is about 0.09 million ha. The area of saline soils is the greatest in Kurgan oblast and the lowest in Sverdlovsk oblast and the Yamal-Nenets autonomous okrug. The formation of saline soils in the Ural Federal Region is related to the climatic conditions of the steppe zone with insufficient moistening and lithologicgeomorphologic conditions (saline Paleogene-Neogene deposits and poor drainage of the area).     

Long-term salinization dynamics in irrigated soils of the Golodnaya Steppe and methods of their assessment on the basis of remote sensing data

A set of salinization maps (1983–2000) for the former Yusupov State Farm in the irrigated area of the Golodnaya Steppe (Uzbekistan) were developed with the use of aerial and satellite images taken in the early autumn season. A unified approach based on the analysis of the mottled patterns of the cotton fields was used. The soil cover of the farm consists of irrigated hydromorphic moderately saline soils with the participation of nonsaline and strongly saline soils. The long-ter m dynamics of the soil salinity were studied via superposing two or more maps for different years. It was shown that the long-term salinization dynamics could not be determined on the basis of the comparison of only two maps for different years. Maps of the trends of the salinization for the entire period of the observations, a map of the salinization dynamics showing the degree of changes in the soil salinity for the particular areas, a map of the areas with stable salinization through the entire period, and some other maps were developed. A considerable part of the investigated area was characterized by highly unstable soil salinity and active salinization-desalinization processes. The degree of the soil salinity varied from slight to strong and vice versa. For the entire period, the soils were mainly medium saline in the upper meter with a weakly expressed tendency for further salinization and a drop in the area of nonsaline and slightly saline soils.     

Methodology for Comparing Soil Maps of Different Dates with the Aim to Reveal and Describe Changes in the Soil Cover (by the Example of Soil Salinization Monitoring)

A methodology for comparing soil map of different dates in order to reveal changes in the soil cover is discussed. The analysis of a set of the maps of soil salinization on one of the farms in the Golodnaya Steppe region of Uzbekistan is used as an example. It is shown that traditional methods of comparing two maps developed in different years (normally, with an interval of five years and more) are low informative for the assessment of soil salinization dynamics. The suggested methodology assumes simultaneous analysis of several maps in order to reveal the trends in soil salinization. However, even in this case, the obtained results do not adequately characterize the dynamics of soil salinization on irrigated fields. It is argued that the direction of soil salinization–desalinization processes is an improper characteristic in this case. In order to understand the dynamics of soil salinization, the maps showing the dynamism of soil salinity and the maximum changes in the degree of salinity can be applied. A series of the compared maps make it possible to describe the changes in the soil cover related to salinization–desalinization processes. The high dynamism of these processes against the background of a virtually stable pool of soluble salts in the 1-m-deep soil layer is shown for the considered farm.     

Application of the Spectral Neighborhood of Soil Line Technique to Analyze the Intensity of Soil Use in 1985–2014 (by the Example of Three Districts of Tula Oblast)

The technique of separation of the spectral neighborhood of soil line (SNSL) makes it possible to perform quantitative estimates of the intensity of agricultural land use. This is achieved via calculation of the frequency of occurrence of bare soil surface (BSS). It is shown that the frequency of occurrence of BSS in 1984–1994 was linearly related to the soil type within the sequence of soddy strongly podzolic, soddy moderately podzolic, soddy slightly podzolic (Eutric Albic Glossic Retisols (Loamic, Aric, Cutanic, Differentic, Ochric)); light gray forest (Eutric Retisols (Loamic, Aric, Cutanic, Differentic, Ochric)), gray forest (Eutric Retisols (Loamic, Aric, Cutanic, Ochric)), and dark gray forest soils (Luvic Retic Greyzemic Phaeozems (Loamic, Aric)); podzolized chernozems (Luvic Greyzemic Chernic Phaeozems (Loamic, Aric, Pachic)) and leached chernozems (Luvic Chernic Phaeozems (Loamic, Aric, Pachic)). The intensity of exploitation of the least and most fertile soils in this sequence comprised 28 and 48%, respectively. In the next decade (1995–2004) the relationship between the type of soil and the intensity of its exploitation drastically changed; the intensity of exploitation of the leas and most fertile soils comprised 14 and 43%, respectively. Nearly a half of agricultural lands in the zones of soddy-podzolic and gray forest soils were abandoned, because the cultivation of the soils with the natural fertility below that in the podzolized chernozems became economically unfeasible under conditions of the economic crisis of the 1990s. The spatiotemporal relationships between the character of the soil cover and the intensity of exploitation of the agricultural lands manifest themselves by the decreasing frequency of occurrence of BSS from leached chernozems to soddy strongly podzolic soils and from 1985 to 2014.     

Retrospective Monitoring of Soil Waterlogging on Arable Land of Tambov Oblast in 2018–1968

Eurasian Soil Science - A hypothesis about an increase in the area of waterlogged soils on arable lands of Tambov oblast in the recent decades was tested by the methods of retrospective monitoring...     

Problems of using digitized thematic maps on the territory of the former soviet union upon the creation of the “Soils of Russia” geographic information system

Soviet and Russian pedologists, ecologists, geobotanists, geographers, and other specialists created a large set of maps on the territory of the former Soviet Union. In most cases, these maps were published; at present, they are available as hardcopies. Their digitization clearly shows various merits and demerits of thematic maps on the territory of the Soviet Union and Russia.     

The application of the piecewise linear approximation to the spectral neighborhood of soil line for the analysis of the quality of normalization of remote sensing materials

The concept of soil line can be to describe the temporal distribution of spectral characteristics of the bare soil surface. In this case, the soil line can be referred to as the multi-temporal soil line, or simply temporal soil line (TSL). In order to create TSL for 8000 regular lattice points for the territory of three regions of Tula oblast, we used 34 Landsat images obtained in the period from 1985 to 2014 after their certain transformation. As Landsat images are the matrices of the values of spectral brightness, this transformation is the normalization of matrices. There are several methods of normalization that move, rotate, and scale the spectral plane. In our study, we applied the method of piecewise linear approximation to the spectral neighborhood of soil line in order to assess the quality of normalization mathematically. This approach allowed us to range normalization methods according to their quality as follows: classic normalization > successive application of the turn and shift > successive application of the atmospheric correction and shift > atmospheric correction > shift > turn > raw data. The normalized data allowed us to create the maps of the distribution of a and b coefficients of the TSL. The map of b coefficient is characterized by the high correlation with the ground-truth data obtained from 1899 soil pits described during the soil surveys performed by the local institute for land management (GIPROZEM).     

The informativeness of coefficients <Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis> of the soil line for the analysis of remote sensing materials

The coefficients of the soil line are often taken into account in calculations of vegetation indices. These coefficients are usually calculated for the entire satellite image, or are taken as constants without any calculations. In both cases, the informativeness of these coefficients is low and insufficient for the needs of soil mapping. In our study, we calculated soil line coefficients at 8000 lattice points for the territory of Plavsk, Arsen’evsk, and Chern districts of Tula oblast on the basis of 34 Landsat 5, 7, and 8 images obtained in 1985–2014. In order to distinguish between the soil line calculated for a given image and the soil line calculated for lattice points on the basis of dozens of multitemporal images, we suggest that the latter can be referred to as the temporal soil line. The temporal soil line is described by a classical equation: NIR = RED a + b, where a is its slope relative to the horizontal axis (RED), and b is the Y-axis (NIR) intercept. Both coefficients were used to create soil maps. The verification of the maps was performed with the use of data on 1985 soil pits. The informativeness of these coefficients appeared to be sufficient for delineation of eight groups of soils of different taxonomic levels: soddy moderately podzolic soils, soddy slightly podzolic soils, soddy-podzolic soils, light gray forest soils, gray forest soils, dark gray forest soils, podzolized chernozems, and leached chernozems. The b coefficient proved to be more informative, as it allowed us to create the soil map precisely on its basis. In order to create the soil map on the basis of the a coefficient, we had to apply some threshold values of the b coefficient. The bare soil on each of Landsat scenes was separated with the help of the mask of agricultural fields and the notion of the spectral neighborhood of soil line (SNSL).