Ecological Zonation of Soils in the Lake Baikal Basin

Abstract

Soil-ecological zonation is a new approach to the study of soils, making it possible to consider soil cover a holistic ecological system. On the basis of long-term research in Russia and Mongolia, the authors have ranked plots with a similar soil cover pattern and combination of soil-forming factors and quantified their areas. All the data are unified using the same methodological and classification approach for the two countries. Soil groups with relatively similar bioclimatic factors (the dryness index by M.M. Budyko, the sum of biologically active temperatures, and the type and productivity of vegetation), which play the leading role in soil formation, are combined into soil-ecological provinces (9). Soils with similar lithologic and geomorphologic features (rocks and topography) are grouped into districts (28) at the regional level. The presented soil-ecological map is a kind of integrated information source which reflects exogenous factors of soil formation: climate, relief, rocks, and vegetation.