Moscow University Soil Science Bulletin

The applicability of fluorescence spectroscopy for studying the dissolved organic matter in the Moskva River has been shown. The most typical surface water fluorophores—humic and fulvic acids and protein substances—have been revealed in the studied water samples. The fluorescence intensity depends on the sampling site and indicates the contamination rate. The dynamics of the composition and fluorescence parameters of river waters varies with respect to the sampling period. While the concentration of dissolved organic matter and chemical oxygen demand increases from October until November, specific ultraviolet absorbance, biological oxygen demand, and fluorescence of humic acids significantly decrease. The observed dynamics does not depend on the sampling site, which confirms the effect of climatic conditions. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) correlations between spectral and chemical parameters of water contamination have been revealed. Fluorescence intensity, tryptophan-containing organic substances, fulvic acids, and values of biological index correlate (r = 0.63–0.92) with the content of ammonium and phosphate ions. The fluorescent index A may be used to determine the zone of the effect of anthropogenic biological impurities on the status of waters of the Moskva River.

The article contains a detailed review of existing Russian and foreign approaches for the economic assessment of soil erosion. In Russia, the costs of full soil restoration are determined based on the full time period needed for complete restoration of the soil’s original state. If the costs are difficult to assess, the damage of soil erosion is estimated using the equations that include the area and extent of erosion processes. These calculations include an obligatory element of “lost profit,” i.e., profit lost due to the erosion process. In environmental and economic studies in other countries, soil erosion is most often seen as a global problem for sustainable agriculture, resulting in reduced soil productivity and loss of crop yields and income. Based on the analysis of “Methodological Recommendations for the Identification of Degraded and Contaminated Land” [13] and soil classifications by the degree of washout [17, 21, 22], the associations between the degrees of degradation and the degree of washout of sod-medium-podzolic soils of the Training and Experimental Soil-Ecological Center of Moscow State University were determined. The degree of damage to these soils from erosion processes was then calculated. It was also useful to estimate the amount of lost educational resources in this area, because it is used by the Department of Soil Sciences of Moscow State University. The method of J. von Braun (in terms of scenarios involving ecosystem services) was applied and it was proven that a program for the eroded soil’s restoration should be adopted.