Information standards of contemporary soil evolution in the south of Western Siberia

Abstract

In this paper it was offered to use probabilistic and information indicators to assess the soil conditions and changes under contemporary soil evolution (CSE) processes caused by anthropogenic usage and climate changes. It is necessary because the location of soil monitoring points in space does not coincide at different times, especially for legacy data. As a model of the soil state, a set of probabilistic-statistical distributions of n soil properties in k soil horizons within the studied object was introduced. The information entropy values of soil properties were used to assess the condition, and the information divergence was used to assess alterations of soils. These characteristics allow estimating the degree of influence of soil-forming factors and anthropogenic impacts on the probabilistic structure of the values of soil properties and its stability. Case studies were conducted on a large territory of the south of Western Siberia. Information assessment of soil changes during the last part of twentieth century was executed on the base of legacy data. The received models and estimates are information standards for comparison with the current and future results in the explored and neighbouring territories. Information characteristics of texture, SOM and pH indicate CSE, which is important for both agriculture and the global carbon cycle.