Actualization of the contents of the soil map of Russian Federation (1 : 2.5 M scale) in the format of the classification system of Russian soils for the development of the new digital map of Russia

Abstract

The Soil Map of the Russian Federation, 1 : 2.5 M scale (1988) requires updating to include soil data that have been accumulated in the past decades, reflect real changes in the soil cover, including anthropogenic transformation, and ensure precise localization of soil objects and correspondence of the map to satellite data with the use of digital soil mapping technologies. The substantive-genetic classification system of Russian soils (2004, 2008) provides the conceptual basis for this updating. The conversion of soil information from the initial map of 1988 into the new classification system is being performed for each polygon of the digitized map. It is based on the analysis of a vast body of diverse information and includes both the search for analogues of the names of mapping units in the new classification system (renaming of the soils) and the correction of the composition of soils in the polygons: new natural soils, cultivated soils (agrosoils), and urban soils are added to the attribute database. The largest number of new natural soils has appeared in legend sections “Soils of tundra” and “Soils of taiga and broadleaved forests”. Anthropogenic soils (119 legend units) that are shown on the map for the first time, have their maximum representation (36 units) in the section “Soils of steppes”; it is close to the number of natural soils (37 units) in this zone. A considerable percent of anthropogenic soils (> 50% of the natural soils) is also typical of legend sections “Soils of broadleaved forests and forest-steppes,” “Soils of dry steppes and semideserts,” “Salt-affected and solonetzic soils”. The total number of natural and anthropogenic soil units (425) in the new legend is more than twice as large as the initial number of natural soil units in the base map (205). The results of the renaming and updating of soils for each soil polygon are fixed in a separate section of the attribute database to the map and will be used for generating the new map by the methods of digital soil mapping.