Development Of Chernozems Research Articles

Neolithic land-use, landscape development, and environmental dynamics in the Carpathian Basin

Holocene environmental dynamics and the onset of early subsistence farming during the Neolithic period have led to major surface modification and landscape transformation in the Carpathian Basin. In this context, Neolithic settlements and agricultural activities were supposed to be located on Chernozem soil patches, which originated from loess-covered surfaces of the uneroded Pleistocene and early Holocene palaeolevees. Chernozem soil distribution is seen as an important precondition of agricultural expansion. However, Chernozem soil genesis and the anthropogenic modification of soil organic matter and Black Carbon (BC) content from clearing and vegetation burning are not yet fully understood and there is increasing evidence for the active role of human landscape interaction in the process of Chernozem development. Consequently, Neolithic land-use would not have been necessarily linked to Chernozem but rather triggered its development from alluvial and meadow soils through intensified surface transformation. This article applies a GIS-based multivariate surface analysis and a statistical evaluation to 49 Neolithic sites to track environmental location factors, soil preferences, and potential land-use strategies in Neolithic Hungary. The combination of remotely sensed surface data, environmental GIS-attributes, quantitative statistics, and archaeological datasets reveals site-location parameters during the Early to the Late Neolithic and critically discusses Chernozem soil development and utilization during agricultural transformations across Europe.

Хіміко-мінералогічний склад глинистої фракції чорноземів типових Подільської височини

The article presents data on gross chemical and mineralogical composition of clay faction found in typical chernozems occurred within the Podillia Upland. Geographical regularities of formation as regards clayey profile of Chernozems pertaining to the same genetic series are revealed. The relationship between conditions and Chernozem development stage, character of vertical differentiation of basic mineral phases of clayey plasma and its chemical and mineralogical composition are shown. Izoclayey profile of hydromicas is the consequence of their relative accumulation as a result eluviation of colloid-dispersible mica-smectite minerals. The character of clay profile observed in Chernozems is determined by the correlation of intensity of carbonates leaching, lessivage and soils argillisation. Typical Podolian Chernozems are characterised with the like weathering crust of silicate type. The modern Chernozem clayey profile originated mainly during a wetter stage of soil formation. In the ploughable layer a high content of clastic minerals (quartz, potassium feldspar, sodium plagioclase) is observed. Random mixed and stratified mica-smectite minerals with a high content (>50 %) of smectite packets (33–63 %), hydromica (33–52 %), and kaolinite plus chlorite (4–15 %) are present in the profile. The mineralogical composition of soils clay fraction indicates obvious signs of smectite eluviation and relative illite accumulation. Clayey profile of the Bug upstream plateau located within the Podillia Upland is atypical for Chernozems found in the eastern forest-steppe and steppe areas. The distribution character of layered silicates, especially smectite, is even more contrastive. Clayey plasma redistributes differentially through leaching and lessivage processes. Accumulative type of sludge deposits formed in Chernozems of the Dniester plateau located within the Podillia Upland, even profile distribution of basic oxides and molar ratios of SiO2 : Al2O3 and SiO2 : Fe2O3 against the background of decreased downward smectite content indicate weakened eluviation of fine-grained clays towards the Dniester. The prevalence of smectite over hydromicas within the entire profile indicates argillisation of Chernozems. Key words: Chernozem, chemical-mineralogical composition, clayey minerals, hydromica, smectite, kaolinite, leaching, lessivage, argillisation.

Landscape-related transformation and differentiation of Chernozems – Catenary approach in the Silesian Lowland, SW Poland

The unfavourable environmental conditions to Chernozem development in Central Europe has led to questions regarding their origin and age, and conditions necessary for Chernozem persistence in Central Europe under a humid climate. This paper deals with Chernozem transformation during the Holocene period in SW Poland in relation to land morphology. The study was based on a catenary approach, with additional remarks on parent material homogeneity and soil classification. Based on textural and geochemical indices, the homogeneity of aeolian material (loess) was proven in the main part of the catena, which confirmed that the differentiation of “dry” and “wet” chernozemic soil across the catena did not result from the variability of parent material. No differences in morphological or physicochemical characteristics of mollic horizons were identified between the well-drained and wet sections of the catena. The strong redoximorphic features (manifested as stagnic or gleyic properties) in the lowermost part of catena are, therefore, secondary features, i.e. developed after the mollic horizon development, presumably in late Holocene period. Chernozems with chernic horizon, weakly developed subsurface argic horizon and free of redoximorphic features prevail in the central, well-drained and not eroded section of the catena. It has been hypothesized that the loess soils in the uppermost, more inclined part of the catena have been truncated by erosion during the first agricultural period, then afforested and transformed into Luvisols, probably due to temporary abandonment of those sites less favourable for farming. The soils in the transitional zone received the colluvial addition of humus material from the eroded hill summit; however, the colour of the humus layer has a chroma too high for a chernic horizon that surprisingly shifted these soils to the Kastanozems group. This study showed that the direction of transformation of native Chernozems in the Holocene period was strongly related to their position in the landscape, which affected the erosion/accumulation intensity and water drainage conditions (soil moisture regime). As a final result of these transformations, a relief-related zonality of soils has developed with Stagnic/Gleyic Chernozems – Luvic Chernozems – colluvial “Kastanozems” – Haplic Luvisols, in the lower (moist), middle (well-drained), and upper colluvial/eroded sections of the undulating loess plain, respectively.

The development of chernozems on the Dniester-Prut interfluve in the Holocene

The development of foreststeppe and steppe ch ernozems on the Dniester-Prut interfluve in the Holocene was studied on the basis of data on the paleosols buried under archaeological monuments of differ� ent ages. The parameters of the mathematic models of the development of the soil humus horizons in differ� ent subtypes of chernozems were calculated. They were used to determine the rate of this process and the age of the soils formed on the surface of Trajan's lower rampart. The climatecontrolled changes in the character of the soil's development in the Late Holocene were differently pronounced in the different subtypes of cher� nozems. The suggested differentiation of the trends in the development of the humus horizon in the studied chernozems corresponds to the differences in the soilforming potential of particular areas (as judged from the energy consumption for pedogenesis).

Trends of the natural evolution of chernozems on the East European Plain

A generalized chronosequence of changes in the morphometric parameters of chernozems in the past 5100 years is analyzed. It is shown that the development of chernozems in the center of the East European Plain is characterized by both long-term (interglacial, encompassing the entire Holocene) and short-term (within separate climatic periods of the Holocene) trends. The long-term trend of the evolution of ordinary chernozems developed from the loess-like calcareous loam consists of a continuous increase in the thickness of the soil humus profile and an oscillating increase in the depth of the carbonate accumulations. The Late-Holocene short-term trends of the natural evolution of chernozems are characterized by the high spatial heterogeneity related to the patterns of climatic fluctuations and to the lithological composition of parent materials. In that period, the thickness of genetic horizons in the forest-steppe chernozems was increasing faster than that in the steppe chernozems.

Soil development in anthropogenically disturbed forest-steppe landscapes

The results of long-term studies of chernozem development in anthropogenically disturbed landscapes of the forest-steppe zone are discussed. Parameters characterizing the formation of the humus horizon of chernozems and the rate of this process are presented. Critical points and characteristic times of the formation of humus horizons are determined. The regeneration of soil properties as dependent on the degree of anthropogenic disturbance of chernozems is estimated.

Weathering in the Lake Baikal watershed during the Kazantsevo (Eemian) interglacial: Evidence from the lacustrine clay record

The clay–mineralogical record of a piston core recovered on an elevated plateau in the northern basin of Lake Baikal has been investigated for the Kazantsevo interglacial period (i.e., Eemian s.s. equivalent in northern Europe). The age model (as inferred from palaeomagnetic intensity) suggests that this stage spans ca. 128 to 117 kyr BP. Relative clay mineral abundances and clay–mineral ratios are used to reconstruct the weathering conditions within the Baikal watershed at a sub-millennial resolution, and suggest that the clay record is highly variable. A bimodal clay-data distribution is in agreement with different clay sources and/or formation between the studied glacial and interglacial periods. High amounts of smectites in the Taz glacial samples (128.7–136.4 kyr BP) may be explained by an additional source of neoformed smectites during the glacial stage. In addition to the classically used smectite/illite ratio, the mineralogical results are integrated by the calculation of a hydrolysis index that takes into account the abundance of all clay species and their sensitivity to chemical weathering. A principal components analysis (PCA) of the Baikal clay minerals allows the comparison of the clay parameters with regard to weathering conditions. Clay data are further compared (i) with diatom and pollen profiles, (ii) with pollen-based quantitative reconstructions for the same core material, and (iii) with other climate reconstructions for the Lake Baikal region and Siberia. Several features of our record are highlighted here. During the early period of the Kazantsevo interglacial (128.4–125.2 kyr BP), weathering processes remain controlled by physical reworking for more than 2 kyr after the initial transition from cold to warm conditions. Inception of chemical weathering starts only after ca. 125 kyr BP, a period coincident with the warmest conditions according to both the pollen record and by the strongest chernozem development in Siberian soils. Within the interglacial interval, the hydrolysis index displays a two-step increase, punctuated by a minimum value ca. 122 kyr BP. The increasing but irregular trend persists after the transition from the Kazantsevo interglacial to the Zyryanka glacial (∼ 117 kyr BP). Peak chemical weathering, as inferred by clay changes, lags the interglacial/glacial transition by at least 2 kyr. This suggests that pedogenesis remains active after the interval of surface stabilization. Lake Baikal clay minerals trace the nature of the main weathering conditions within the watershed. We note any increase in physical weathering is rapidly recorded in sedimentary clay assemblages but the mineral imprint to chemical weathering changes is more gradual, lagging reconstructed climate conditions over the lake by ca. 2 kyr.

Pedogenesis of Chernozems in Central Europe — A review

Since Dokuchaev's investigations of Russian Chernozems, Central European Chernozems were established as steppe soils, with their pedogenesis dominated by humus accumulation as a result of dry continental climate and steppe vegetation, with carbonaceous parent material and bioturbation as other prerequisites. The WRB-FAO classification defined Chernozems by their morphological characteristics, but was biased by the climo-genetic formation model. However, the assumption that modern Central European Chernozems are relics of steppe soils conflicts with palaeobotanical evidence from an early reforestation that started in the Late Glacial, and also with pedological studies that dated Chernozem formation to the Early Holocene. In this review we compile the most important literature on pedogenesis of Central European Chernozems since the 1920s, according to the soil forming factors climate, time, vegetation, relief and man. Our review demonstrates that there is no consensus on the factors controlling the formation, conservation and degradation of Central European Chernozems in published literature. We found that (1) no absolute time of formation could be stated so far, and that (2) Central European Chernozems formed not only under steppe but also under forest vegetation; (3) the spatial distribution of Chernozems and Phaeozems did not correlate with climate conditions or topographic position, and (4) until now no other factors were considered to be responsible for Chernozem development. Recent studies showed that these unknown factors could include anthropogenic activity and vegetation burning as they could form black soils or strongly affect the composition of soil organic matter. We concluded that not all soils classified as Chernozems in Central Europe are steppe soils and thus, as they do not necessarily reflect past climate, the classification may be misleading.

Chernozem—Soil of the Year 2005

AbstractThe proclamation of the “Soil of the Year” was made for the first time in Germany in 2005 on occasion of the World Soil Day. Chernozems were selected for this purpose. In this paper an overview of these groups of soils is given. Chernozems are concentrated in the drought region of Central Germany. A standard profile from the core area of Chernozems developed from loess is presented with comprehensive laboratory analysis. Chernozems developed primarily upon carbonatic loess substrates under summer‐dry climatic conditions in an open park‐like landscape with isolated forest stands. The development of Chernozems began as early as the late glacial period, and they were fully developed by the Atlantikum age. The far‐reaching, uniformly thick humus horizons indicate substrate differences in the loess cover, which are partly the result of bioturbation. Within Germany, Chernozems and Chernozem‐like soils make up approx. 3% of the surface area and 5% (approx. 11,000 km2) of the arable land. The results of the Static Fertilization Experiment in Bad Lauchstädt, founded in 1902, clarify the high value of Chernozem for biomass production and the environment. Each loss due to erosion or decrease in surface area reduces the fulfillment of soil ecological functions of the soils and is comparable to a loss of animal and plant species. Therefore, soil scientists and the results of soil research must be more comprehensively implemented for soil preservation, protection, and politics. For acceptance of these goals among the general public and the political‐decision makers, the campaign “Soil of the Year” should give some thought‐provoking impulses.

Movement of Soluble Salts in Development of Chernozems and Associated Soils

In the formation of Chernozem, Chestnut, and associated soils in northwestern North Dakota, translocation of carbonates and other soluble salts takes place. Salts are removed completely from the uppermost 15 to 36 in. of the Chernozem and Chestnut profiles formed from medium-textured till with initial contents of 0.13 to 0.41%. Maximum accumulations of soluble salts may be at depths between 48 and 108 in., but may also occur at greater depths such as between 78 and 132 in. Accumulations of calcium carbonate are nearer the surface than are the accumulations of other soluble salts. Important local factors affecting the amount and distribution of soluble salts and carbonates in soils are topography, permeability of the soils and parent materials, salinity of the parent materials, and the presence of a relatively high water table. The influence of topography is evident in that soluble salts are removed to greater depths in the nearly level Hamlet loam than the somewhat more strongly sloping Renville loam. The effects of both permeability and salinity are apparent in the lack of accumulation of soluble salts in well-drained and moderately well-drained soils formed from rapidly permeable, sandy, water-laid drift originally containing less than 0.15% soluble salt. Upward capillarity results in the accumulation of soluble salts in the surface layers of soils with a high water table whether the underlying sediments are saline or not. The large quantities of soluble salts in the upper part of the profile of solodized-Solonetz soils are considered to be a result of upward capillary movement from a high water table which may no longer be present.