Assessment of the trend of degradation of arable soils on the basis of data on the rate of stratozem development obtained with the use of 137Cs as a сhronomarker

Abstract

A new approach for determining the trend of changes in the rate of degradation of arable soils is suggested. It is based on the assessment of volumes of soil material eroded from arable fields and accumulated on the bottoms of first-order valleys during two time intervals: 1954(1963)−1986 and 1986−2015. For dating of this material, 137Cs of global fallout and Chernobyl fallout are used. This approach in combination with a detailed morphometric characterization of the valley bottoms, the pathways of sediment transport from the fields, and the morphology and composition of the sediments accumulated on the bottoms makes it possible to give reliable estimates of the volumes of soil loss from tilled slopes. The benchmarks of 1963 and 1986 are related to maximum 137Cs fallout during nuclear bomb testing and immediately after the Chernobyl accident. As an example, the rates of formation of stratozems (stratified aggraded soils formed due to accumulation of eroded sediments) within the first-order catchment of the Veduga River basin (Voronezh oblast, Russia) are analyzed. The results of the study indicate that the mean annual rate of soil loss from arable fields of the catchment in 1986–2015 was at least two times lower than that in the preceding period from 1954 (the beginning of the global fallout) to 1986 (the Chernobyl accident).