The structural state of buried and surface soils of solonetzic complexes in the dry steppe zone of the Lower Volga basin

The structural state of modern (surface) soils and the soils buried under Anna Ioannovna??s rampart (1718?C1720) was studied. These soils are the components of solonetzic soil complexes in the southern Privolzhskaya Upland. The dehumification and the high content of calcium in the exchange complex determine the state of the macrostructure of the chestnut soil buried about 300 years ago. The dehumification drastically lowers the water stability of the soil aggregates, and the predominance of calcium ions in the soil exchange complex prevents the destruction of the chestnut paleosol aggregates and preserves their aggregate state upon moistening. For the last 300 years, no significant changes in the macrostructure of the solonetzes have been observed.