Abstract
Newly-formed soils of wastewater disposal fields from two sugar refineries in forest-steppe zone (Kursk region, European Russia) were studied. Among factors of soil formation on sugar wastewater lagoons the geochemical influence of wastewater mixed with diluted filtration and transport-washing sludge stands out. We have revealed key physico-chemical and microbiological properties of such soils formed under different moisture regimes, substrates, vegetation, and duration of use. Compared to conditionally background soils (Luvic (Anthric) Chernozems), the newly formed soils show shift of pH values to alkaline ones, carbonation, increase of soil organic carbon, growth in mobile forms of phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. Microflora in studied soils is identical in composition to background soils, but it differs significantly in structure. In soils formed in the decommissioned wastewater lagoons of an active sugar refinery, a higher number of bacteria with low participation of Micromycetes and Actinomycetes was noted, which indicates active destruction of organic matter. In soils of the recultivated and completely abandoned sugar wastewater lagoons indicated as Calcaric Someric Phaeozem, a higher number of Actinomycetes was noted than in the background soils.
Highlights
Disposal fields from sugar refineries, widely represented in the forest-steppe zone of European Russia, are specific anthropogenic landscapes whose spatiotemporal structure is formed mainly under the influence of seasonal technological cycles of sugar production
Natural soil-forming rocks in the bottoms wastewater lagoons of disposal fields from operational sugar refinery in Lgov are loess-like carbonate loam, heavily transformed with the influence of sugar refineries wastewater
Formed soils of the sugar wastewater lagoons of the operating sugar refinery are referred to organic-accumulative alkaline phyto-zooturbated hydrometamorphosed soils, which fit neither into the cells of the Soil Classification of Russia [4] nor WRB scheme [5]
Summary
Disposal fields from sugar refineries, widely represented in the forest-steppe zone of European Russia, are specific anthropogenic landscapes whose spatiotemporal structure is formed mainly under the influence of seasonal technological cycles of sugar production. The objects of the present study are the newly formed soils of disposal fields from two sugar refineries in Kursk region, central part of European Russia (Fig.1): the currently operating sugar refinery in the town of Lgov and closed in the late 1990s Peny’s refinery in the settlement named after Karl Liebknecht (Kurchatov district, Kursk region). Microbial activity in soil is important for the reliable functioning of soil and its associated ecosystem services. According to the current approach, soil quality assessment methods should focus more on soil microbial functions [1]. Particular attentionin in our research is paid to the properties and peculiarities of such newly formed soils and the composition of their microflora in comparison with the background soils, which are typical for the European forest-steppe
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