Articles

The article discusses one of the ways to assess the condition of soil cover to improve the efficiency of land management using the example of the Volozhin region of the Republic of Belarus. A comprehensive assessment of the agrochemical and natural potential of the soil is proposed by means of typing the soil cover depending on agrochemical indicators (pH_KCl, humus content, mobile compounds of phosphorus and potassium) and a quality score reflecting the natural state of the soil. Using geostatistical methods, the values of agrochemical indicators were interpolated from elementary areas into areas of soil varieties of agricultural lands and classified according to the degree of content of agrochemical elements that made up the agrochemical potential (AP). After crossing the AP with the bonitet score, 9 groups of soils were identified according to soil-agrochemical potential (SAP), of which the largest share (58,2 %) is occupied by soils with average potential (61,950 ha). Based on the results of a spatial assessment of the PAP, it was determined that sod-podzolic and sod-podzolic swampy soils developing on light loams and cohesive sandy loams have the greatest potential. It was also revealed that areas with low PAP gravitate towards the most dissected areas of the terrain with sandy and cohesive sandy soils. Based on the typification carried out, the main types of preferred land use in the Volozhin region were determined: more than half of the agricultural land can be used for intensive agricultural use for arable land (52,1 %) and meadows (12,5 %), traditional land use is possible for 29,3 % territories and only 6,2 % of lands require the use of soil protection farming systems, primarily focused on erosion-hazardous areas of the area.

For landscape conditions in the upper reaches of the river Klyazma, Solnechnogorsk district, Moscow region, the height and reserves of snow cover were investigated, and the chemical composition of the snow was determined. The basis for considering the component composition of snow cover was the geochemical taxonomy of chemical elements based on the characteristics of water migration and abundance.

Data from 23 snow sampling points were interpolated in SAGA GIS using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) method. On this basis, zones differing in the chemical composition of snow are identified. One of the zones is confined to the M-10 Moscow-St. Petersburg highway, while the second borders on populated areas. The area close to the highway is characterized by increased levels of calcium, sodium, aluminum, and chloride ions in the snow cover. The second zone, bordering populated areas, is characterized by a high content of calcium, copper, and manganese in the snow. For the third zone, low concentrations of components in the snow were observed, which are characteristic of a superaquatic landscape due to the distance from sources of pollution.

The studied composition of snow waters belongs to the bicarbonate-sodium-calcium-chloride class. It has been shown that the height and reserves of snow cover are partially controlled by two factors: the type of elementary landscape and the type of ecosystem. Against this background, the spatial distribution of concentrations of elements and anions in snow is predominantly controlled by the anthropogenic factor.

The aim of the work was to assess the contribution of the following components – biomass and mortmass of tree stands, undergrowth, living ground cover, and forest litter — to the total organic matter’s pool of plant community. The object of the study was a territory of coniferous-deciduous forest located in Solnechnogorsk City District of the Moscow region, in which five permanent sample trial plots of 50×50 m were allocated. The greatest contribution to the total organic matter mass of studied plant communities was made by forest stand perennial parts (up to 87%) and forest stand mortmass (up to 14%), and phytomass of deciduous trees in stand containing 32 to 98%, which was connected with incompleteness of forest restoration succession process. The contribution of forest litter was no more than 3%; litter deposit was low (0,18–1,21 kg×m^-2), which is not typical for spruce forests, as is the fact that all litter is of the destructive type. Living ground cover in terms of floristic composition and ecological-coenotic structure was typical for the subzone of coniferous-deciduous forests; its contribution to the overall productivity of forest biogeocenosis was insignificant. The spatial intrabiogeocenotic structure of litter reserves and living ground cover biomass distribution was disturbed compared to typical spruce forests due to the high proportion of deciduous species in the forest stand. Deciduous species inclusion in the tree tier, typical of the final stage of formation of a secondary coniferous forest during succession, caused a slight increase in the intensity of the biological cycle, which was indicated in this case by a decrease in the supply of litter and a simplification of their structure. Since the biomass and mortmass of tree stand make the greatest contribution to the sequestration of carbon by forest biogeocenoses, it is these components that require the most detailed assessment during monitoring observations, the purpose of which is to assess the carbon reserves of terrestrial ecosystems.

The influence of the discharge of spent aircraft deicing fluid (ADF), utilized in civil aviation, on the chemical composition of the eluate of sod-podzolic soil was being studied in a column experiment. It was determined that Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn are released into the environment together with the ADF. It is also shown that the ADF leads to changes in the indicators of the composition of lysimetric waters such as СOD, pH, Eh, electrical conductivity, and heavy metal content. As a result of the ADF discharge, several elements, including Fe and Mn, become more mobile and migrate to the liquid phase, while others are fixed in the soil, resulting in the redistribution of elements in the soil profile.

Changes in the physical properties of podzolic soils were analysed three years after a cutting of coniferous-deciduous plantings in the territory of the middle taiga of the Komi Republic with three‒ and ten‒fold forwarder passes, as well as after leveling deep ruts formed after ten passes. The influence of different number of passes on soil density, filtration coefficient, penetration resistance is shown. An assumption about various mechanisms of soil change has been made: three forwarder passes lead to compression, ten — to compression and turbation, which was confirmed by indications of soil density and hardness. It was revealed that compression leads to an increase in density by 0.15 g×cm^‒3 and penetration resistance by 25%. Meanwhile, filtration rate did not change. Ten passes lead to turbation, which levels the possible compaction due to an introduction of forest litter into the upper mineral soil horizons. Moreover, hardness values decreased by 2‒3 times and water permeability decreased from 70 to 1 cm×day^‒1. It was revealed that leveling deep ruts causes a noticeable decrease in soil density after three years, including in comparison with the undisturbed soil. Furthermore, filtration rate increases several times. Penetration resistance is also increased. An estimation of the water retention curve approximation parameters by the van Genuchten equation made it possible to identify changes in soil of ruts compared to the a mechanically undisturbed site. A decrease in the range of mobile moisture was noted as a result of compaction after heavy equipment usage, leading to moisture stagnation in ruts.