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Contemporary Erosion and Sedimentation on Gray Forest Soils in Hollows of Small Catchments of the Republic of Tatarstan, European Russia

  • DEGRADATION, REHABILITATION, AND CONSERVATION OF SOILS
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Abstract

The paper presents an assessment of the rates of erosion and sedimentation in hollows of the Temeva Rechka small dry valley catchment, dominated by forest-steppe gray forest soils (Luvic Retic Greyzemic Phaeozems), over the past 55–60 years with the use of the radiocesium technique. This catchment is located in the Myosha River basin (Republic of Tatarstan, European Russia). The hollows have been grouped by the catchment’s slope aspects, hollow length, hollow bottom gradient, and shape of the thalweg profile of the hollow bottoms; origin and age, as well as by the specifics of erosion/sedimentation processes. Short agrogenic hollows with a small catchment area on relatively steep western slopes of the Temeva Rechka small dry valley, probably formed after human deforestation, have been identified. The shape of their catchments contributes to the formation of surface runoff, sufficient for the erosion of a significant part of their bottoms at a rate of about 2–4 t/ha per year. Older, polygenetic, and relatively long hollows with a slightly sloping bottom and larger catchments serve as sediment transit zones between plowed areas and the Temeva Rechka small dry valley bottom. They are characterized by alternating areas of soil erosion and sediment accumulation. The average rate of soil erosion in these landforms is 0.8 t/ha per year. In some hollows, when several small tributaries (smaller hollows) flow into their lower parts, soil erosion loss increases to 3 t/ha per year. The average soil erosion loss is 6 t/ha per year on short slopes of the hollows; in their upper parts, it can reach 11 t/ha per year. There is a general decrease in the rates of soil erosion and accumulation of eroded material in recent decades due to changes in climate and land use.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to V.N. Golosov (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences) for the assistance in field studies and some consultations while writing the paper.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation, project no. 19-17-00064, and by the Strategic Academic Leadership Program of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University (Research Laboratory for paleoclimatology, paleoecology, and paleomagnetism).

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  1. Kazan Federal University, 420008, Kazan, Russia

    A. G. Sharifullin & A. V. Gusarov

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  1. A. G. Sharifullin
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Correspondence to A. G. Sharifullin.

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Translated by I. Bel’chenko

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Sharifullin, A.G., Gusarov, A.V. Contemporary Erosion and Sedimentation on Gray Forest Soils in Hollows of Small Catchments of the Republic of Tatarstan, European Russia. Eurasian Soil Sc. 55, 115–125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322010112

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