Russian Soil Research Articles

Почва в биосфере и в современном российском праве. Сообщение 4. Почвенные ресурсы в АПК страны

One of the goals of national development can be the preservation of Russian soils and their ecological functions, and a unified plan for achieving these goals must necessarily include programs for implementing measures to ensure the expanded reproduction of soil fertility used in agricultural production. It is necessary to amend Federal Law No. 101-FZ of 16.07.1998 "On State Regulation of ensuring the fertility of agricultural land" in terms of defining the concepts of soil, soil fertility, rational use of soils and agrochemicals. The system of state monitoring of agricultural land should be complete, have information about the past and current state of soil fertility and the necessary measures for its reproduction. Sustainable development involves "climate-neutral" agriculture, which necessarily ensures the reproduction of soil fertility (preferably expanded); maximum use of organic matter resources, including animal waste (or rather secondary resources); there is no reduction in humus reserves in arable soils (decarbonization); their degradation, including all types of erosion, is completely excluded; uncontrolled circulation and entry of carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen-containing compounds into the environment is not allowed. "Green agrochemistry" is the inadmissibility of uncontrolled entry of chemical elements and substances into the environment, reducing the number of stages of the full cycle of obtaining marketable products, including the production of applied agrochemicals, as well as the utilization and useful use of waste and by-products of agricultural production. The latter are actively involved in the turnover, become goods, raw materials, components used, among other things, as part of the means of reproduction of soil fertility Keywords: SOIL, FERTILITY REPRODUCTION, LAND, LAW, LEGISLATION, SOIL RESOURCES, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Literary and Digital Translation As a Form of Intercultural Communication in the Epoch of Social Transformations

This article is devoted to the transformation of models of literary translation in the era of digitalization. The first translations in Russian practice tended to “retell” events, and the text was made “based on” the original rather than being a translation in the modern sense. Examples of such approaches to translation can be seen in the work of V.A. Zhukovsky, A.S. Pushkin and other authors of the early nineteenth century. At the same time, it was at the beginning of the 19th century that the first attempts were made to contrast the translation with their own, Russian literature: “the same subject in Russian” was replaced by a translated text close to the modern concept of translation. The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by mass translations of poetic texts and, in the vast majority of cases, the authors who translated them were also poets: V.Ya. Bryusov; N.S. Gumilev; A.A. Akhmatova; B.L. Pasternak; and others. The translation of the poem was understood as the transfer of the original poetic experience to Russian soil, and high demands were placed on the quality of the poetic text, often leading to significant semantic differences between the original text and the translated one. With the advent of machine translation and the expansion of digitalization, translation has become available to almost everyone. At the same time, there are areas in which literal translation almost does not interfere with the perception of the text (for example, in an official business style or when translating texts of instructions) and requires minimal stylistic editing. However, literary translation can radically lose its meaning, and in the case of a poetic translation, it can deprive the text of its aesthetic characteristics (rhythmic organization, rhyme), which poses new challenges for translators in the digitalization era. Translation gaps in the text of fiction should be considered not yet completely solved by the task of the modern digitalization society.
 Keywords: Translation, literary text, Silver Age, digital age

Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequence of Bacillus mycoides Strain U53, a Psychrotolerant Bacterium Isolated from the Sakhalin Region in Russia.

The shotgun genome sequence of Bacillus mycoides strain U53, a psychrotolerant bacterium that was isolated from soil in Russia, is characterized. The bacterial genome is 5,710,017 bp long and is predicted to have 5,847 genes. The GC content is 35.4%.

Изменение противоэрозионной стойкости орошаемых серо-коричневых почв сухой субтропической зоны Азербайджана в зависимости от давности их орошения

Изменение противоэрозионной стойкости орошаемых серо-коричневых почв сухой субтропической зоны Азербайджана в зависимости от давности их орошения

Immigrant Communes in Soviet Russia (USSR) of the 1920s–1930s: Organization, Functioning, Relations with the Authorities

The article, based on a wide range of sources, the central elements of which are archival materials, analyzes one of the problems that are not sufficiently covered in the scholarly literature, namely the emergence and functioning of immigrant collective farms in important agricultural regions of the RSFSR (USSR) during the 1920s–1930s. The article substantiates the position that the young Soviet state was interested in placing on its territory the maximum possible number of supporters of the communist doctrine who arrived from abroad and were eager to contribute to the construction of socialism in the RSFSR in every possible way, in particular, by creating collective farms, strengthening them and thereby promoting socialist ideas in the countryside. Therefore, the Soviet legislation adopted and applied the most-favoured-nation regime to foreigners or re-emigrants who expressed a desire to work on collective farms. It is demonstrated that the immigrant farms had significant technical and human resources, as well as ideological and political motivation to make a tangible contribution to overcoming the difficulties experienced by Soviet Russia and to promote the socialist modernization of agriculture. Yet, along with successful immigrant collective farms (communes), which achieved noticeable results in their economic and propaganda activities, several such collective farms failed to gain a footing on Russian soil, among which not the least was the suspicious and distrustful attitude towards foreigners on the part of Soviet party-officials. In the 1930s, the leading trend was a reduction in the influx of foreign volunteers to collective farms since the espionage, suspicion, and intolerance towards foreigners characteristic of Soviet reality turned immigrants into undesirable persons in the USSR.

On the role of the Novgorod tradition of Latin translations in the history of Russian language and culture: Lexical borrowings and unconscious fragments

The Latin influence upon Old Russian language and culture can be detected and studied at different levels (lexical, syntactical and phraseological). In addition to shortly discussing the different fates, on Russian soil, of two etymologically related words, biblija and biblioteka , this paper presents the particular case of an aphoristic quotation taken from the introduction to the Slavic translation of the Donatus . This proposal, pointing to the fundamental position of grammar within the system of the seven liberal arts (основание и подошва всем свободным хитростям — origo et fundamentum omnium liberalium artium), in later centuries has been referred to in different scientific works devoted to grammatical or pedagogical issues. However, there has not been any direct reference to the primary source and, as a consequence, these words have been subjected to different interpretations: from Maximus the Greek’s translation activity in Russia to the orthodox response to the challenge posed by Jesuit schools. The material collected and briefly discussed in the article points once again to the importance of taking into account, when approaching the tradition of Novgorod translations from Latin, not only the identification of the Urtext (direct tradition), but also its later reception and individual history (indirect tradition). Going beyond the temporal and spatial boundaries of Novgorod translated literature, we can examine its relevant and partially still unknown contribution to Russian cultural history within a broader and more stimulating perspective.

Manifestations of Salinity and Solonetzicity in Zonal Soils of Mongolian Dry Steppes

The taxonomic position of dry-steppe (chestnut) soils mentioned in the books Classification and Diagnostics of Soils of the USSR (1977), Classification and Diagnostics of Soils of Russia (2004), and World Reference Base for Soil Resources (2014) is discussed. Based on the example of the soils of Mongolia, it is shown that the soils of dry steppes that formed on light nonsaline parent rocks are normally nonsaline and nonsolonetzic. The soils of Mongolian dry steppes that formed on saline rocks are saline and solonetzic. The soils with profiles that include loamy layers (even those with a predominantly light granulometric composition and formed on nonsaline rocks) normally feature signs of solonetzicity in the loamy horizons.

О СТАНДАРТИЗАЦИИ ЛАБОРАТОРНЫХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ ГРУНТОВ ПРИ МОРСКИХ ИНЖЕНЕРНО-ГЕОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ИЗЫСКАНИЯХ

Issues of laboratory soil studies standardization in offshore geotechnical survey are discussed in connection with the end of expertise of two new regulative documents – new edition of the Code of practice and Russian national standard developed on the basis of international ISO standard. Since these documents of different level belong also to different categories (geotechnical survey and oil and gas industry), the authors analyze their interrelation and consistency, from one hand, and the preparedness of Russian soil testing practice to implementation of the new standard which results from harmonization with international ones, from the other. Complete section of the standard draft related to soil laboratory testing is presented, preceded by commentary on some important issues regarding the implementation of its specific methodic statements. It is concluded that the new national GOST draft «Petroleum and natural gas industries. Specific requirements for offshore structures. Marine soil investigations» developed on ISO basis will be a useful document supported in general by Russian normative base but expanding a possible range of voluntary methods into well time-tested foreign approaches. This documents can be considered to be a toolkit annex to the Code of practice describing testing approaches beyond the scope of typical tasks

Analysis of the optimal location of the geographical network of long-term experiments with fertilizers application

The foundations of the Geographic Network of Experiments with Fertilizers of Russia (GNEF), established in the 1930-1940s, have not changed fundamentally so far, which ensured the continuity of scientific research. But since then, quite a lot of new scientific data has been accumulated, there are new technologies, databases, on the basis of which GNEF can and should be modernized. The article deals only with one of the issues of the necessary modernization of GNEF - the spatial location of experimental fields and their representativeness. The Unified State Register of Soil Resources of Russia (USRSRR) was used as a basis for analysis of the optimal placement of experimental fields of GNEF. It was considered, that ideally experimental fields should characterize each soil, entered in USRSRR and used as arable land. According to the data obtained, the existing GNEF network is representative for 42 % of Russian arable land. It was shown that for full representation it should be extended by more than 90 points. Only in this case the results of the network experiments can be extrapolated to almost all arable soils in Russia. The placement of new GNEF points should be based on the information from USRSRR, as an official document adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia.

Sherlock Holmes and Erast Fandorin: the peculiarities of Akunin’s dialogue with Conan Doyle

The article analyzes the receptions of A.С. Doyle’s masterpieces and the circle of novels “Fandorin” by Boris Akunin. Based on the analysis of the works “Azazel”, “Decorator”, “Scarpei Baskakovs”, “Prisoner of the Tower”, a number of conclusions are made about the specifics of B. Akunin’s intertextual strategy. It is shown that the intertextual dialogue between Akunin and Conan Doyle is carried out through character and narrative projections, in particular, structural stylization, the transposition of the plot on Russian soil, etc. The ambiguous role of Conan Doyle receptions, performing, firstly, the para-genre (detective) function of plot-semantic coding, secondly, the function of the transtextual riddle, the solution of which lies outside the work - in the Conan Doyle pretext, thirdly, the function of a parody imitation of the predecessor’s stylistic manner, including the specifics of Russian translations of short stories about Sherlock Holmes, is revealed.

Mire peat soils of the taiga and sub-taiga zones of West Siberia on a digital model of the soil map of Russia at a scale of 1 : 2 500 000 in terms of the Russian soil classification

A digital version of the soil map of the Russian Federation, scale 1 : 2.5 M, is being prepared based on the analysis of the attributes of polygons with peat soils in the West-Siberian taiga and sub-taiga zones. The correction was perfomed in 795 polygons (with the total area of 179 483 km2) out of 1 711 polygons considered (with the total area of 262 204 km2). The currently formulated idea of the dominance of oligotrophic bogs in the West Siberian taiga region of mires served as the basis for suggestion to replace the mesotrophic peat soils by oligotrophic ones in 598 polygons of the total area of 87 250 km2. Similarly, the polygons of microcatenas comprising oligotrophic and mesotrophic peat soils (57 polygons, total area of 38 405 km2) were modified: only oligotrophic peat soils were considered to be the dominant ones there. At the same time, a number of polygons with prevailing oligotrophic soils, confined mainly to the sub-taiga zone were proposed to be replaced by polygons with mesotrophic peat soils. The thermokarst pools in ridge-hollow mire complexes that were shown on the soil map of Russia beyond the permafrost zone were eliminated from the map database; the mapping of destructive peat soils was rearranged in accordance with the new interpretation of this taxon in the Russian soil classification. This work should improve the quality of research in the field of assessing the resource potential of peat soils in West Siberia.

Soil invertebrates occurrences in European North-East of Russia.

BackgroundThe European North-East of Russia is the territory which includes the Nenets Autonomous District, represented by the East European tundra (from Kanin Peninsula to Vaigach Island), Komi Republic with its taiga ecosystems and the Urals (Northern, SubPolar and Polar). Over 20 years of systematic studies of soil fauna in the studied region has resulted in a huge amount of data being accumulated that can be analysed from different positions. Considering that the representation of Russian soil biota data, especially from European North-East of Russia in the GBIF database is not large, our data are of great interest to the scientific world community. The accumulation of such data will solve questions on national and global scales using large arrays.This study produced a dataset containing information on occurrences on soil invertebrates (Lumbricidae, Chilopoda, Diplopda, Collembola, Elateridae and Staphylinidae) in the European North-East of Russia. The dataset summarises occurrences noted in natural and disturbed forests, tundra and mountain ecosystems.New informationData from 196 geo-referenced localities of European North-East of Russia (tundra, taiga and mountains ecosystems) have been collated. A total of 5412 occurrences are included in the resource. The current project surveys 13 species of earthworms, 20 species of millipedes, 246 species of springtails, 446 species of rove beetles and 60 species of click beetles. The diversity of soil invertebrates in the European North-East of Russia has not been fully explored and further exploration will lead to more taxa.

Феномен русского эпического романа

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of an epic novel, a unique genre phenomenon that arose in Russian literature of the 19th century. While the West European novel lost its national breadth and depth, the Russian novel was able to maintain an epic dominance, revived many of the signs and characteristics of ancient epics based on the material of modern life. The basis for the revival of an epic novel based on Russian soil was: the nature of Russian realism, a special understanding by Russian writers of man and his role, as well as religious consciousness and collegiality. The author of the article discusses the meanings of the definition of “epic”, the concept of “epic”, shows the need for their rapprochement based on the disclosure of the features of the epic novel. The article analyzes the views of literary scholars of the 20th century, which came close to the need to highlight such a dominant form of the Russian novel of the second half of the 19th century, but due to ideological and political trends did not determine the most important foundations of the epic novel. The work outlines the need to study the totality of the artistic world of the epic novel, the special objectivity of Russian writers, which allowed them to come to global and universal problems. The phenomenon of the epic novel is largely due to the precedent picture of the world, the conscious choice of a character between personal, selfish and popular principles in favor of the latter.

SOILS OF CHERNEVAYA TAIGA OF WESTERN SIBERIA — MORPHOLOGY, AGROCHEMICAL FEATURES, MICROBIOME

The soils of Chernevaya taiga are unique in terms of high fertility that was formed not as a result of agricultural practices, but due to the combination of a huge volume of biotic and abiotic resources. This area was able to preserve its “pre-agricultural” level of fertility overtime by avoiding the negative consequences of long-standing agricultural usage. Comprehensive analysis of all related properties within the framework of a metagenomic study and identification of microbial drivers of fertility can become the basis for innovative technologies aimed to increase the productivity of soils and crops. In this work, for the first time were obtained data on the taxonomic structure and features of the of the microbiota of soils in the Chernevaya taiga and identified taxa, the number of which significantly increases with the transition from the background zonal soil to the soil of Chernevaya taiga. Analysis of soil samples collected during expeditionary surveys in 2019 showed that the soils in the Western Siberia (Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, and Altai regions) portion of the Chernevaya taiga are texture-differentiated dark gray soils (clay loam and silt clay varieties confined to the deluvial cover of the Holocene and Late Pleistocene) that were formed as a result of a unique combination of geogenic and bioclimatic conditions. These soils are not affected by the permafrost in winter timers and are supplied with enough moisture to precipitate rapid mineralization of litter material and the fixation of mineral nutrients in the upper humus layer of the soil profile. The accumulation of nutrients is an essential property of the soils of the Chernevaya taiga associated with the phenomenon of gigantism and extremely high levels of plant productivity. The soils of Chernevaya taiga contain the maximum amount of carbon in organic compounds compared with soils of oligotrophic habitats (9.85% versus 2.74%). The levels of actual soil fertility in the soils of the Chernevaya taiga are several times higher than in the soils of adjacent biotopes (the maximum content of the exchange forms of phosphorus and potassium is 702 and 470 mg/kg), which, when compared to oligotrophic forests, are poor in terms of agrochemical fertility (the maximum content of the exchange forms of phosphorus and potassium is 113 and 18 mg/kg), do not have a pronounced humus profile and are either gray-humus (Umbrisol) or Podzol types according to substantive-profile classification of Russian soils. The diversity of microorganisms in the studied soils varies depending on the trophic regime of the ecosystem. The soils of the Chernevaya taiga are characterized by an increased diversity of the microbial community (estimated by the Shannon index), as well as by presence of phyla Nitrospirae and Thaumarchaeota, that, however, are not dominant. Phyla Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Firmicutes appeared to be common for all studied soils.

Nitrous Oxide Emission from Fertilized Soils: An Analytical Review

Soils are among the main biological sources of nitrous oxide (N2O), and nitrification and denitrification processes are the major N2O production factors in soils. The nitrogen of mineral and organic fertilizers applied to the fields is easily involved in the biogeochemical cycle of soil nitrogen and contributes to the N2O emission to the atmosphere. A longer lifetime (121 years) of nitrous oxide and a higher global warming potential as compared with CO2 and CH4 are responsible for its high importance in the greenhouse effect. An increase in the N2O concentrations enhances the destruction of the ozone layer. To evaluate the regional contributions of agricultural soils to the total world greenhouse gas emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends using emission factors ( $${\text{E}}{{{\text{F}}}_{{{{{\text{N}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}$$ ) for national N2O inventories. The $${\text{E}}{{{\text{F}}}_{{{{{\text{N}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}$$ value depends on many factors, including soil and climatic conditions, type of mineral fertilizer, organic amendments, and nitrogen-containing waste. The data on the direct measurements of N2O emission from soils in Russia are rather limited and the estimates for N2O emission from soils for The Russian National Greenhouse Gas Inventory rely on the data calculated according to the IPCC Guidelines. The nitrogen budget in the Russian agriculture in the past 25 years has been sharply deficient. This means that a considerable part of the crop yield is formed at the expense of mineralized soil nitrogen, which is quickly assimilated by plants and microorganisms and almost does not accumulate in a free state. The estimated $${\text{E}}{{{\text{F}}}_{{{{{\text{N}}}_{{\text{2}}}}{\text{O}}}}}$$ value for fertilized cereal crops (22–27 million hectares) and cereal crops is 0.66–0.70 and 0.54–2.56, which is considerably lower as compared with the IPCC default (1.0) recommended for ecologically permissible level of fertilizer nitrogen.

Paleocryogenesis as a Factor of Heterogeneity of Agro-Gray Soil

Delineation of the features of paleocryogenic microtopography by zero-curvature morphoisographs on a test plot in the south of Moscow oblast enabled us to reveal the polygonal-blocky microrelief (microelevations, microdepressions, slopes, and runoff strips), forming eluvial, trans-eluvial, and trans-accumulative agrolandscapes. The soil cover pattern of eluvial agrolandscape includes elementary soil areas of noneroded, slightly eroded, moderately eroded, and aggraded soils. The agrolandscape is dominated by noneroded soils. The soil cover pattern of trans-eluvial agrolandscapes with microdepressions includes elementary soil areas of slightly, moderately, and strongly eroded soils, as well as eroded–aggraded and aggraded soils, with the dominations of slightly eroded soils. The soil cover pattern of trans-accumulative agrolandscapes also includes elementary soil areas of slightly, moderately, and strongly eroded soils; eroded–aggraded soils; and aggraded soils with the domination of strongly eroded soils. The paleocryogenic microrelief became the initial factor of the formation of elementary soil areas with different erosion rates during the long-term (200 years) agricultural use of these lands. Elementary soil areas with different erosion rates of the upper horizons are characterized by outcropping of underlying horizons of different textures. We have identified silt loam, light clay, and clay loam exposed to the surface by erosion on the studied plot. As a result, a complex soil cover pattern with differentiation of soils at the level of varieties (in Russian soil classification system, a taxonomic category based on the topsoil texture) was formed.

ЛИСТОВОЙ ФОТОСИНТЕТИЧЕСКИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ АГРОЦЕНОЗА ТОПИНАМБУРА

In Russian Non-Black Soil Zone, plantings of Jerusalem artichoke are capable of forming a powerful foliar photosynthetic potential in any year. However, it reaches its highest value in warm, humid years (on average, according to the experiment, 5.2–5.9 million m2 x day/ha) when 1/3 of the calculated NPK dose per yield is 400 c/ha. Higher yields of biomass, on average, in 1 year of use (502–508 c/ha), it accumulates with a foliar photosynthetic potential of 3.7–4.1 million m2 x day/ha, and in the second year (366–368 c/ha) – 2.6–2.7 million m2 x day/ha. The accumulation of the phytomass crop in Skorospelka Jerusalem artichoke variety is important not only for the total power of LFP, but also for the course of its formation during the growing season. In the studies at the Tver State Agricultural Academy, the largest part of the LFP was created during 80 days of vegetation, 40 days after germination, with a maximum within 40 days, 60 days after germination. This coincides with the period of mass plant budding. It has been proved that the formation of an excessively large foliar area of Jerusalem artichoke agrocenosis is not accompanied by an increase in yield. In humid warm years (2006), higher yields in 1 year are formed with such graphs of growth of the Jerusalem artichoke foliar area, when on the 20th day it reaches the level of 40 thousand m2 /ha, on the 40th – 70, on the 60th – a maximum of 82 thousand. m2 /ha, at the level of 60 thousand m2/ha it remains for another 50 days, and before harvesting it decreases only to 46 thousand m2 /ha. In dry warm years (2007), high yields of tubers (343–348 c/ha) in terms of organic or mineral background accumulate at lower parameters of the foliar area with maxima of 32–42 thousand m2 /ha, while maintaining such sizes for another 20–30 days, and for harvesting – 14–15 thousand m2 /ha. In wet cold years (2008), higher yields of biomass are formed when it reaches a maximum of 50–53 thousand m2 /ha on the 60th day, remains in this state for another 20 days, then decreases to 31 and by harvesting – 14.6 thousand m2 /ha.

Genealogical tree of modern Russian Soil Science

Modern Russian Pedology is a young science and emerged a little more than 100 years ago. The article is devoted to the analysis of modern scientific schools in the field of soil science, which are developing in Russia. The investigations are based on the analysis of candidate's dissertations (PhD theses equivalent in Russia) defended on a specialty “soil science” in Russia for the last ten years, as well as on information about the scientific advisors supervised these dissertations and their belonging to this or that scientific school. It has been found that the most actively developing schools are the ones of immediate disciples of V.V. Dokuchaev, A.V. Sovetov or A.N. Sabanin. The schools of S.S. Neustruev and I.V. Tyurin are singled out as separate “branches” in the development of Russian soil science. At present, the main training resource centres in pedology are the Faculty of Soil Science of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, Bashkir Agricultural Institute, Voronezh and Kuban universities. Number of soil scientists with advanced degrees over the past 10 years has tended to decrease, which is associated with the low demand for the profession in modern conditions of the country.

Soils and the Soil Cover of Mountainous Tundra Landscapes on Calcareous Rocks in the Polar Urals: Diversity, Taxonomy, and Nitrogen and Carbon Patterns

Landscapes of the northern part of the Bolshoi Paipudynskii Ridge (the Polar Urals) served as a key site to study the taxonomic diversity of soils on calcareous rocks as related to both bioclimatic and geogenic (relief, thickness of eluvial and colluvial derivatives of calcareous rocks) factors. Soils of the postlithogenic trunk of the new Russian soil classification system are developed under different plant communities. They are classified within several soil orders: cryometamorphic soils (Mollic Calcaric Stagnosols), lithozems (Folic Mollic Calcaric Leptosols), organo-accumulative soils (Molic Leptic Calcaric Stagnosols), and gley soils (Folic Calcaric Gleysols). These soils compose either small individual areas, or occur in soil associations. The mass of carbon and nitrogen in the aboveground phytomass ranges within 40–49 and 0.9–2.3%, respectively. The storage of aboveground phytomass (fresh weight) varies from 20 to 1600 g/m2. In each soil profile, the surface horizons have a maximum content of organic carbon and nitrogen (up to 40 and 2.5%, respectively). The Corg and Norg patterns in soils depend on the productivity of plant communities, the composition of falloff, and the conditions for its decomposition. In all soil profiles, the inorganic carbon content (Cinorg) increases down the soil profile reaching 12%. The mineral nitrogen content does not exceed 1%. The contents of N- $${\text{NH}}_{4}^{ + }$$ and N- $${\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }$$ have their maximums reaching 140 and 30 mg/kg, respectively, in the surface soil horizons.

“Black soils” in the Russian Soil Classification system, the US Soil Taxonomy and the WRB: Quantitative correlation and implications for pedodiversity assessment

“Black soils” recently proposed by the FAO Global Soil Partnership, include fertile soils, characterized by a thick, dark-colored soil horizon rich in organic matter. This study addressed the proposed concept of “black soils”, in terms of taxonomic relationship of their corresponding soil types of existing soil classifications. Similarity studies were based on the calculation of taxonomic distances between selected soil groups with organic matter–enriched horizons of the Russian Soil Classification System, the United States Soil Taxonomy and the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. In the process, we used the so called ”centroids”, which are the calculated mean values of several soil properties for each of the soil groups using legacy data derived from national and international databases. The results indicated that the Great Groups of the Mollisol Order in the US Soil Taxonomy had small taxonomic distances within the order, except some soils with shallow depth to the hardpan or permafrost. Dark-colored Vertisols and Andisols were found to differ from the Mollisols and similar soils found in similar environments mainly under grasslands. We recommend excluding Vertisols and Andisols from the “black soils” cluster due to the peculiarity in their properties, potential use and management. While the Vertisols and Mollisols of the Soil Taxonomy were completely dissimilar in properties, the WRB Vertisol Reference group and Russian dark-humus compact soils fitted well the Mollisols cluster, presumably due to the different concept of the Vertisols in the studied system. The soil types of the “black soils” of the Russian soil classification had a short distance to the corresponding Reference Groups of the World Reference Base. Also, the similarity was high with the Great Groups of the US Soil Taxonomy for all soil types except of Kastanozems, but the relationship in places was not well interpreted from a pedogeographic point of view. We ascribed the phenomenon to the geographical bias of the databases. Though “black soils” form a distinct cluster that roughly corresponds to the Mollisols Order of the US Soil Taxonomy, the taxonomic distance within the group may be significant, contributing to the pedodiversity of soilscapes of “black soils”.