Indicators of desertification in the Kulunda Steppe in the south of Western Siberia

Abstract

Due to climatic change, the prognosticated shift of agricultural land into dry steppes in the south of Western Siberia by 200–300 km in the next 25 years forebodes that wide ranges of steppes will be affected by desertification. The steppes taken under culture in the 1950s in the districts of Novosibirsk and Altai were protected around 1968 by a high number of hedges. Following the economic decline of Siberian agriculture, the risk of recurrence of active morphological and other unwanted processes grows, which constitutes an early stage of desertification. In this study, special emphasis has been taken on the description of the desertification indicators and land use basics in the Kulunda Steppe, through the example of a detailed pedological investigation of the farm Ivanovskoe (ca. 20,000 ha) near Bagan in the northern Kulunda Steppe. Desertification is analysed and evaluated in detail, especially by the proportion of rough material on agriculturally used Chernozem which has increased significantly since cultivation. Deflation damage is still proven on most of these soils. The saline lakes in the area are already drying up slowly. The river Bagan carries much less water than before steppe cultivation.