Moscow University Soil Science Bulletin最新文献

Abstract

As part of the study of the ecological state of soils and vegetation in the zone of impact of the Sredneuralsky Copper Smelter (SNCS), the following tasks were solved: the content of heavy metals in the soils of the test sites laid within the zone of impact of the SNCS was determined; macrokinetic patterns of seasonal dynamics of the normalized relative vegetation index (NDVI) at the test sites in the zone of impact of the SNCS were revealed; macrokinetic patterns of vegetation response in the form of NDVI, calculated according to MODIS and Landsat 8 data, to soil pollution by a complex of heavy metals in the zone of impact of the SNCS were revealed; soil quality was ranked according to the patterns of vegetation response in the form of NDVI to soil pollution by a complex of heavy metals within the boundaries of the natural protection zone (NPZ) of the SNCS according to 2023. The intraseasonal dynamics of photosynthetically active biomass in the form of NDVI was modeled using a theoretical growth equation based on MODIS satellite data. The seasonal maximum of the vegetation index at the trial sites in 2012 fell on weeks 25‒28. In 2023, it occurred on weeks 27‒33, depending on the location of the sampling point. The rate of maximum achievement is characterized by weak intraseasonal and interannual variation. The patterns of changes in the concentration of photosynthetically active biomass in the form of maximum NDVI for the 2023 season in response to the gross content of a complex of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn) in the soil of the test sites were modeled using the theoretical equation of dose dependence. The maximum permissible level of the heavy-metal complex in the soil in the form of a geometric mean, which does not cause a decrease in the values of the vegetation index calculated according to the data of the MODIS and Landsat 8 satellites, was 101 and 106 mg kg^–1, respectively. An analysis of histograms of the distribution of NDVI values within the NPZ was carried out, which showed how the true frequencies of occurrence of the values of the vegetation index correspond to the empirical boundary of the NPZ associated with the maximum dose dependence point identified by the study of the 2012. The nature of the distribution of true NDVI values for the NPZ exclusively fully supports the used zoning theory based on the analysis of dose dependence. The modern boundaries of the SNCS natural protection zone are 4‒7 km away from the center of the sanitary protection zone.

Abstract

Changes in physical properties of podzolic soils (Albic Retisols) were analyzed three years after the cutting of the coniferous–deciduous forest in the middle boreal forest of the Komi Republic with three- and ten-times forwarder passes, as well as after leveling out the deep ruts left after ten passes. The study gained insight into an influence of the different numbers of passes on soil density, filtration coefficient, as well as resistance to wedging and compression. A hypothesis was made with respect to various mechanisms of soil changes—specifically, three forwarder passes lead to compression, while ten passes result in compression and turbation, which was confirmed by measurements of soil density and penetration resistance. After three passes, compression was found to lead to an increase in density by 0.15 g cm^‒3 and penetration resistance by 25%, No changes were recorded in filtration rate. Ten forwarder passes promoted mixing, which neutralized the possible compaction due to introduction of forest-floor detritus into the upper mineral soil horizons. Likewise, a decrease in penetration values occurred by a factor of 2 or 3 compared to an undisturbed site, and water permeability on a skid trail dropped from 70 to 1 cm day^–1 after ten passes, It was found that leveling out the deep ruts led to an appreciable decline in soil density after 3 years, including in comparison with undisturbed soil of a cutting strip site. In addition, the filtration rate increased severalfold. Penetration resistance was, however, enhanced on the smoothed-out site. Estimation of the water retention curve approximation parameters by the van Genuchten formula made it possible to identify changes in soils of skid trails compared to a mechanically undisturbed site. Reduction in the range of mobile moisture was recorded as a result of compaction and ruts formed by heavy vehicles, resulting in stagnation of moisture in the ruts.

Abstract

Rationing of the content of hazardous substances in soil as an object of environmental protection in the Russian Federation is provided by a set of normative acts establishing the principles of assessment, approaches to the use of soils of varying degrees of anthropogenic transformation, and the level of their pollution at which the responsibility of the land user for violation of legislation on soil protection occurs. Analysis of normative acts shows that the most stringent pollution regulation system has been established in Russia, which is based on determining the compliance of the content of chemical elements and compounds in soils with sanitary and hygienic standards in the territories of settlements and agricultural lands. On other lands, the value of the concentration of the pollutant in the adjacent territory of a similar purpose and type of use, which is not adversely affected by a specific type of violation, is applied as a standard, exceeding which leads to the onset of economic responsibility for pollution. At the same time, chemical elements and compounds are considered as pollutants, regardless of their origin, degree of danger, and biological significance. The application of this approach within the framework of law-enforcement practice creates significant problems in establishing the fact of negative impact, calculating the amount of damage from pollution, and developing measures for soil remediation. Thus, the current regulations consider substances of natural origin, including those that ensure soil fertility and are applied with mineral and organic fertilizers, as pollutants. The use of the background level of substances as the maximum permissible value does not take into account the natural variability of elements and compounds in soils, as well as the errors of their chemical analysis. The excessive rigidity of the applicable standards is the reason for the increased costs of soil remediation measures.

The way out of this situation is to revise the rationing system, taking into account the biological significance of elements and compounds, and the need to introduce a multilevel system of soil-quality indicators. There is a need to improve the conceptual framework as a part of regulatory documents on soil protection.

Abstract

The depth and reserves of snow cover, as well as chemical composition of the snow, have been investigated in the landscape of the upper reaches of the Klyazma River (Solnechnogorsk raion, Moscow oblast). Determination of the component composition of the snow cover was based on the geochemical taxonomy of chemical elements according to characteristics of their water migration ability and abundance. Data from 23 snow sampling points have been interpolated in SAGA GIS using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) method. On this basis, zones differing in the chemical composition of snow have been identified. One of the zones is confined to the Moscow–St. Petersburg M-10 highway, while the second borders on populated areas. The highway-adjacent area is characterized by increased levels of calcium, sodium, aluminum, and chloride ions in the snow cover. The second zone, which is adjacent to populated areas, is characterized by a high content of calcium, copper, and manganese in the snow. The third zone is characterized by low concentrations of components in the snow, which is typical for a superaquatic landscape due to the distance from sources of pollution.

According to their composition, the studied snow waters belong to the bicarbonate–sodium–calcium–chloride class. It has been shown that the depth and reserves of snow cover are partially controlled by two factors: the type of elementary landscape and the type of ecosystem. The spatial distribution of elements and anions in snow is predominantly controlled by the anthropogenic factor.

Abstract

The production of organic agriculture products has become one of the most growing areas of economic activity, with projected annual growth of 10–12%. At the same time, the demand for organic products significantly exceeds the supply, which is largely due to the lack of land that can be allocated for this production. Russia, which has significant areas of virtually unused land on which mineral fertilizers and pesticides have not been used for a long time, reaching 19.7 mln ha, has a significant potential for development in this direction, At the same time, taking it into account that a significant part of unused territories is located within the zone of risky agriculture, and also has soils with a low level of natural fertility, which are degraded, arid, waterlogged, etc., the actual amount of land resources that can be involved in organic agriculture is significantly less. For the most complete introduction into circulation of unused agricultural lands, it is necessary to increase the knowledge intensity and manufacturability of organic agriculture, for which research work in the following areas is highly relevant: 1) optimization of the balance of humus and nutrients in soils, 2) breeding and seed production of crops for organic agriculture, 3) development of biological products for disease and pest control, 4) development of optimal farming systems taking into account local soil and climatic conditions, and 5) optimization of agricultural landscapes based on increasing the diversity of agricultural land use. Along with the involvement of unused lands in the organic production system, the development of the industry largely depends on the system of training qualified personnel in this area, which should take into account the specifics of the technologies used, which differ significantly from traditional farming systems. To do this, it is necessary to update existing professional standards, which should include generalized labor functions related to the development and implementation of organic farming technologies, as well as knowledge and skills in organizing organic production. On the basis of updated professional standards, universities should form new professional competencies and a corresponding set of academic disciplines. The personnel training system for industry should include various levels of training: agricultural classes, higher education, and additional professional education.

Abstract

The aim of this work is to assess the contribution of the components of plant community—biomass and mortmass of tree stands, undergrowth, living ground cover, and forest litter—to its total organic matter pool. The study object is represented by a coniferous-deciduous forest located in the Solnechnogorsk city district of Moscow oblast and characterized by five permanent 50 × 50-m test plots laid in it. The greatest contribution to the total organic matter mass of the studied plant communities is made by perennial parts and mortmass of the forest stand (to 87% and 14%, respectively). The proportion of phytomass of deciduous trees in stand comprises from 32 to 98%, which is connected with the incomplete forest restoration succession. The contribution of forest litter does not exceed 3%. Low litter reserves (0.18–1.21 kg m^–2) and the destructive type of all litters are not typical for spruce forests. The floristic composition and the ecological–coenotic structure of the living ground cover are typical for the subzone of coniferous-deciduous forests; and its contribution to the total productivity of forest biogeocenosis is insignificant. The spatial pattern of litter reserves and of the biomass of the living ground cover within the biogeocenoses is disturbed in comparison with typical spruce forests due to the high proportion of deciduous species in the forest stand. Their participation in the tree layer is typical for the final stage of formation of a secondary coniferous forest during succession and causes a slight increase in the intensity of the biological cycle, which is indicated in our case by a decrease in the reserves and a simpler structure of litters. Since the biomass and mortmass of tree stand contribute most to carbon sequestration by forest biogeocenoses, these components require a detailed assessment during monitoring surveys, the purpose of which is to evaluate carbon reserves of land ecosystems.

Abstract

The paper reports a study of the effects of peak discharge of waste aircraft de-icing fluid (ADF) on the chemical composition of sod–podzolic soil eluate in a column experiment. It has been demonstrated that Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn ions are delivered into the environment together with wasted ADF. It has been shown that ADF causes changes in the composition parameters of the percolate, including the chemical oxygen demand, pH, redox potential, electrical conductivity, and heavy-metal content. The elements in the eluate are divided into four groups depending on the type of change in their concentration in the column effluent. Some elements, including Fe and Mn, become more mobile and move to the liquid phase due to the ADF input, while others become fixed in the soil, resulting in a general redistribution of elements in the soil profile.

Abstract

The paper is concerned with assessment of the state of the soil mantle so as to improve land-management efficiency using the example of the Volozhinsky district of the Republic of Belarus. A technique for comprehensive assessment of soil agrochemical and natural potential is proposed by means of typifying the soil mantle depending on agrochemical parameters, such as pH_KCl, content of humus and mobile phosphorus and potassium compounds, and bonitet (quality class) score, reflecting soil fertility. Using geostatistical methods, the values of agrochemical parameters are interpolated from elementary areas into areals of agricultural-land soil subtypes and classified according to gradations of agrochemical parameters, constituting the agrochemical potential (AP). After intersection of AP and bonitet score, nine groups of soils are distinguished by the soil-agrochemical potential (SAP), of which soils with the moderate potential account for the largest share (58.2% or 61.95 ha). As a result of a spatial assessment of soil-agrochemical potential (SAP), sod–podzolic and sod–podzolic waterlogged soils, evolving on light loams and cohesive sandy loams, have the highest potential. Territories with low SAP gravitate towards the most dissected areas of the terrain with sand and loose sandy loam soils. Typification served to determine the main types of preferred land use in the Volozhinsky district; specifically, more than half of agricultural lands can be involved in intensive agricultural use as arable lands (52.1%) and meadows (12.5%), traditional agricultural use of lands is possible in 29.3% of the territories, and only 6.2% of lands (largely with erosion hazard) require introduction of soil-protecting crop-farming systems.

Abstract

The article provides data from a comparative analysis of vegetation restoration in areas of oligotrophic bogs with strong oil product pollution located within an oil field in the Middle Ob region reclaimed according to standard schemes widely used in the 2000s and by cutting off oil-contaminated soil. The total projective vegetation cover (TPVC) of all reclaimed areas mostly reaches standard values (above 30%). The TPVC in areas without cutting is slightly higher than in areas with cut off contaminated soil due to greater restoration period in the former. The mean number of all recorded species in areas with cutting is slightly higher, and there are some oligotrophic vascular plants among them (heather shrubs, Drosera rotundifolia, and Eriophorum vaginatum), which much less frequently settle in areas without cutting. The projective cover of the herb–dwarf-shrub layer is higher in areas without cutting. The content of oil products in the surface 20-cm-thick layer in areas with cut-off polluted soil is generally lower as compared to areas reclaimed by traditional methods. However, even high concentrations (more than 250 g kg^–1) do not exert a significant negative effect on the total projective cover of the grass/herb–dwarf-shrub layer, while its minimal values are primarily associated with a lack of moisture on high microrelief elements. Similarly, high concentrations of hydrocarbons do not prevent the formation of moss cover dominated by sphagnum in areas of cut-off hollows. On the contrary, mosses of the genus Polytrichum and true mosses were much more sensitive to oil pollution in the form of bitumen crust, and thus avoided areas without cutting.

Abstract

The adsorption properties of dispersed systems are determined by their surface energy, therefore the parameters of hygroscopy (adsorbed water content) and dispersity (specific surface area of the solid phase) of soils and sediments are in close mutual correlation. This well-known empirical fact has received a new fundamental interpretation based on the theory of disjoining water pressure according to Derjaguin should be in the form of a thermodynamic equation that connects the specific surface area, hygroscopic water content of soil samples, and relative air humidity in the laboratory room. The theoretical equation enables us to substantiate the methodology of quantifying the hydrophilic specific surface area of soil samples based on widespread data on their hygroscopy. Comparison of the new method with the standard BET analysis of the specific surface area, as well as with the previously proposed physically based method for its determining by the slope of thermodynamic water retention curves, shows their statistically reliable agreement in a wide range of the estimated specific surface area from 5 to 340 m² g^–1 for soil samples of different genesis and texture.