Water-Regulating Properties of the Soils of Precarpathia and the Carpathians

Abstract

Summary The aim of the work is to determine the water permeability of forest and field soils of Precarpathia and the Carpathians, to study the water-regulating and soil-protecting properties of the forest, and their influence on the preservation of agricultural landscapes in these natural regions. Methodology: experimental parcels in the foothills and mountain conditions were selected for the quantitative assessment of the water permeability of the soils. The experiments were timed to the upper 0–5 centimeter layer of the soil, which plays the main role in absorbing moisture from precipitation and melted snow. The experiments were carried out using tubes with variable water pressure in a fifteen-fold repetition on each of the types of forest plantations (aged from 15 to 120 years) and agricultural lands (arable land, fallows, hayfields, perennial plantations and pastures) taking into account the change in water temperature during experiments. Statistical processing of the obtained results was carried out using correlation analysis. Results. The main factors of the water regime formation of the agrolandscapes foothills and mountain areas are analyzed. Common and distinctive features of natural conditions that affect the infiltration properties of the soil cover are considered. The water permeability of sod-podzolic-mud soils of Precarpathia was estimated, which is 3–6 times lower on agricultural lands, compared to forest soils. This contributes to the formation of harmful surface water runoff, and at the same time largescale erosion processes, ravines, gullies, landslides and the destruction of river banks. The dependence of the moisture content of Precarpathian soils on the age of the forest was established - the indicators of water absorption by the soil in young plantations almost do not differ from the indicators of agricultural lands. An increase in the age of stands every 4050 years leads to 2–3 times increase in the moisture content of forest soils. The dependence of the brown mountain-forest soils of the Carpathians on the altitudinal belt, heterogeneity of meteorological and orographic conditions was studied. The increase in the height of the area contributes to the increase in the rate of water absorption capacity of soils on different categories of land. The infiltration properties of mountain soils, especially forest soils, are significantly greater than the intensity of rains in these areas. This ensures a complete transformation of harmful surface water runoff into underground and soil types. As the age of plantations increases, these processes significantly increase, reaching a maximum in mature stands. In general, the agricultural landscapes of the Carpathians are characterized by a rather low intensity of erosion processes on agricultural lands, which is facilitated by the high forest cover of the region, the insignificant plowing of the territory and its small contours. Ways to optimize the agricultural landscapes of the studied territories are proposed.