The results of the investigation into the history of soilscapes in the Kislovodsk Depression are dis cussed. It is shown that up to 60-70% of the area of slopes and interfluvial plateaus at the heights of 900-1500 m a.s.l. was terraced in the Late Bronze-Early Iron ages, during the Kobansk cultural stage (1200-600 BC). Under these conditions, a sharp change in the climate with a considerable increase in the annual precipitation in the middle of the first millennium BC resulted in the activation of erosion and the formation of a layer of colluvial sediments overlying the buried soil on the terraces. Thus, the middle of the first millen nium BC can be considered the zero moment for the modern stage of soil formation in the region. Problems of the current state of the terrace complexes and the development of erosion on them are also discussed.
The structural state of modern (surface) soils and the soils buried under Anna Ioannovna's ram part (1718-1720) was studied. These soils are the components of solonetzic soil complexes in the southern Privolzhskaya Upland. The dehumification and the high content of calcium in the exchange complex deter mine the state of the macrostructure of the chestnut soil buried about 300 years ago. The dehumification dras tically lowers the water stability of the soil aggregates, and the predominance of calcium ions in the soil exchange complex prevents the destruction of the chestnut paleosol aggregates and preserves their aggregate state upon moistening. For the last 300 years, no significant changes in the macrostructure of the solonetzes have been observed.
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