Vol 49, No 5 (2016)

Different hypotheses about the genesis of gilgai microtopography and corresponding soil complexes with clayey swelling soils are considered in this review. Their diversity is stipulated by specificities of the objects themselves and by the history of studies of the composition, properties, regimes, and landscape conditions of the areas with Vertisols in different countries. Most of the hypotheses about the genesis of Vertisols with the gilgai microtopography suggest that strong swelling–shrinking processes take place in these soils in the course of moistening–drying cycles; the origin of shear stress in the soils, its spatial patterns, and the particular ways of translocation of the soil material are discussed. At the early stage of Vertisol studies, a hypothesis about the leading role of the process of “self-swallowing” of the soils as a result of filling of open cracks with the material from the upper soil horizons was popular. However, numerous facts suggest that the intensity of this process is relatively low, so that it cannot play the major role in the gilgai formation and cyclic changes in the thickness and properties of the soil horizons in Vertisols. Another important mechanism is the uneven moistening and drying of the whole soil volume resulting in the irregular distribution of inner tensions in the soil with the development of shear stress and plastic deformation of the soil mass. The hypotheses suggested in the recent decades are based on the models of soil mechanics. A number of hypotheses consider possible alternation and duration of evolutionary stages of the development of Vertisols with the gilgai microtopography.

A comparative assessment of the results of measuring the exchangeable acidity and its components by different methods was performed for the main mineral genetic horizons of texturally-differentiated gleyed and nongleyed soddy-podzolic and gley-podzolic soils of the Komi Republic. It was shown that the contents of all the components of exchangeable soil acidity determined by the Russian method (with potassium chloride solution as extractant, с(KCl) = 1 mol/dm³) were significantly higher than those obtained by the international method (with barium chloride solution as extractant, с(ВаCl₂) = 0.1 mol/dm³). The error of the estimate of the concentration of Н⁺ ions extracted with barium chloride solution equaled 100%, and this allowed only qualitative description of this component of the soil acidity. In the case of the extraction with potassium chloride, the error of measurements was 50%. It was also shown that the use of potentiometric titration suggested by the Russian method overestimates the results of soil acidity measurement caused by the exchangeable metal ions (Al(III), Fe(III), and Mn(II)) in comparison with the atomic emission method.

Modifications of the hydrocarbon status (HCS) of soils at the stages of the injection input of oil pollutants and the subsequent self-purification of the soil layer from technogenesis products have been revealed in studies conducted on an oil field. Comparison with the HCS of background soils has been performed. Changes in the composition and concentration of bitumoids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and hydrocarbon gases have been established. The HCS of a freshly contaminated soil is characterized by the predominance of butane (the highest component) in the gaseous phase, an abrupt increase in the concentration of second-kind bitumoids, and a 100-fold increase in the content of PAHs compared to the background soil. In the old contaminated soil, free and fixed methane becomes the predominant gas; the content of bitumoids in the upper soil horizons is lower than in the freshly contaminated soils by two orders of magnitude but higher than in the background soil by an order of magnitude; the PAH composition in the soil with old residual contamination remains slightly more diverse than in the background soil.

It has been experimentally shown with monoaggregate model samples of chernozemic soil as an example that the weakening of cohesion between soil particles is due to the molecular interaction of soil particles with water as a dipole substance rather than to the hydraulic forces of the flow. Therefore, soil erosion should be considered as a two-stage process. First, the bonds between particles are weakened due to the interaction of soil particles with water; then, the particles that lost bonds with neighboring ones are entrapped by the flow. Thus, the erosion rate of a consolidated soil is determined by the destruction of bonds between particles during their interaction with water, rather than the flow velocity, although this factor also affects the erosion rate.

The input of organic micro- and nanopollutants to the environment has grown in recent years. This vast class of substances is referred to as emerging micropollutants, and includes organic chemicals of industrial, agricultural, and municipal provenance. There are three main sources of emerging pollutants coming to the environment, i.e., (1) upon soil fertilization with sewage and sewage sludge; (2) soil irrigation with reclaimed wastewater and (3) due to filtration from municipal landfills of solid wastes. These pollutants contaminate soil, affect its inhabitants; they are also consumed by plants and penetrate to the groundwater. The pharmaceuticals most strongly affect the biota (microorganisms, earthworms, etc.). The response of microorganisms in the contaminated soil is controlled not only by the composition and the number of emerging pollutants but also by the geochemical environment.

Long-term studies of changes in the properties of solonetzic soil complexes of the dry steppe zone under anthropogenic impacts (deep plowing, surface leveling, irrigation, and post-irrigation use) have been performed on the Privolzhskaya sand ridge and the Khvalyn and Ergeni plains. The natural morphology of solonetzic soils was strongly disturbed during their deep ameliorative plowing. At present, the soil cover consists of solonetzic agrozems (Sodic Protosalic Cambisols (Loamic, Aric, Protocalcic)), textural (clay-illuvial) calcareous agrozems (Eutric Cambisols (Loamic, Aric, Protocalcic)), agrosolonetzes (Endocalcaric Luvisols (Loamic, Aric, Cutanic, Protosodic), agrochestnut soils (Eutric Cambisols (Siltic, Aric)), and meadowchestnut soils (Haplic Кastanozems). No features attesting to the restoration of the initial profile of solonetzes have been found. The dynamics of soluble salts and exchangeable sodium differ in the agrosolonetzes and solonetzic agrozems. A rise in pH values takes place in the middle part of the soil profiles on the Khvalyn and Ergeni plains.