Production of CO2 by Paleosol Samples Taken in the Steppe Zone under Kurgans Constructed in the Periods of Relative Aridization and Optimum of the Climate

Abstract

The studies of recent soils and paleosols buried under kurgans created in the periods of long-term aridization (3000–2000 BC) and climatic optimum (13th–14th centuries AD) were performed in steppes of the southeastern part of the East European Plain (Privolzhskaya Upland and Caspian Lowland) in order to determine the rate of carbon dioxide production by the soil samples at the natural moisture and after moistening up to 60% of the total moisture capacity. The CO₂ emission from the samples of paleosols corresponding to the period of climatic aridization in the Lower Volga River at their natural moisture status was lower than that from the samples of background surface soils, whereas the CO₂ emission from the samples of paleosols buried under optimum climatic conditions was higher than that from the samples of background surface soils. After moistening of the samples, the increase in the CO₂ emission from the paleosol samples depended on the actual humidity of the climate in the corresponding period.