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Timing and Causes of the Origin of the Solonetz Process in the Desert–Steppe Soils of the Southeastern Russian Plain

  • SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF ARID TERRITORIES
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Abstract

The article discusses the time frame and the role of the anthropogenic factor in the solonetz process in soils of the desert–steppe zone of the southeastern Russian Plain. Based on the study of soils of different ages buried under the mounds of the Bronze and Middle Ages (6200–700 years ago) within the Salsko–Manych ridge, it was established that the soils of the region did not bear signs of the solonetz process at the macro level before the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The first solonetzes in the region began to form 4800–4700 years ago. Their appearance chronologically coincided with the beginning of increased climate aridization. During this period, desert steppes began to be actively inhabited by ancient cattle breeders specializing in breeding small cattle, which resulted in a sharp increase in the load on the soils and ecosystems of the steppe. The article considers the possible cause-effect relationships in the system “climate–economic model–solonetz process.”

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Notes

  1. Hereinafter: the interval of calibrated radiocarbon dates in the years BC is indicated; in parentheses is the radiocarbon laboratory index and date number.

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Funding

The work was carried out as part of the State Assignment no. 0191-2019-0046 “Soil Development in a Changing Climate and Anthropogenic Impacts”. Chemical analyzes were carried out at the expense of the RSF grant no. 17-18-01406 “Environmental determinism of the development of ancient societies: economic models of the population of the Bronze Age of the Caucasus and the steppe in a changing climate.”

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  1. Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, Russia

    A. V. Borisov & A. O. Alekseev

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  1. A. V. Borisov
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Correspondence to A. V. Borisov.

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Borisov, A.V., Alekseev, A.O. Timing and Causes of the Origin of the Solonetz Process in the Desert–Steppe Soils of the Southeastern Russian Plain. Arid Ecosyst 10, 27–35 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096120010023

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