Mapping and Assessment of Sealing Rate of Soils in the City of Volgograd

Abstract

The results of mapping and assessing the sealing rate of soils in the city of Volgograd (Russian Federation) are presented. Soil mapping is based on the interpretation of satellite photographs with further control of its results by field surveys at 35 plots within different functional zones of the city. According to the results of the interpretation of satellite images, the portion of sealed areas determined for the functional zones ranged from 0 to 99%, including soils under buildings and roads. The MapInfoProfessional 10.0 software was used to process the obtained data. Based on the results of this assessment, which was performed for the first time within the new boundaries of the city, we quantified the areas of particular soil types and associations of both natural and anthropogenic origin, as well as the sealing rate of soils. The natural soils in Volgograd are dominated (25.86%) by chestnut soils of various texture and alkalinity [23] (Cambisols and Cambisols (Sodic)), and there are 18.67% of natural surface-transformed textural-carbonate agrozems (Cambisols (Aric, Protocalcic)). The range of anthropogenically transformed soils is wide, including the sealed soils (Ekranic Technosols), urbostratozems (Urbic Technosols), chemically contaminated urbostratozems (Technosols (Toxic)), and quasizems (Urbic Technosols). Anthropogenically transformed soils mostly occur in the eastern part of the city, and natural soils dominate its western part. The total portion of sealed surfaces is 18% of the Volgograd area. The calculation is based on the assessment for particular functional zones of the city. The results can be used to solve problems of spatial planning within the modern functional zones and implementation of works on gardening and landscaping of the urban area.