Correction of a large-scale soil map with the use of the new classification system of Russian soils

Abstract

A large-scale soil map of one of the farms in the south of Karelia has been analyzed. This map was initially compiled in 1979 on the basis of the official Classification and Diagnostics of Soils of the Soviet Union (1977). We have corrected it with the use of the new Classification and Diagnostics of Russian Soils. Both the names of the map units and the particular delineations on the map have been changed. These changes are related to differences in the principles of soil diagnostics in the old and new classification systems and to real changes in the soil cover that have taken place after the map’s compilation. In particular, large areas of peat bogs have been drained, and the cultivated peat soils have been subjected to accelerated mineralization. Surface planing works after digging drainage channels have also changed the soil cover pattern. The revised large-scale soil map developed on the basis of the new classification system gives more adequate information about the real soil cover.