Distribution of silty fraction and slurry by profile of arable soils of the central forest-steppe

Abstract

The work is devoted to the study of granulometric composition of soils of 120-year and 240-year agricultural development of meadow-steppe landscape on the example of Belgorod region. In the lateral distribution of the silt fraction contained in the arable horizon, a significant increase in its proportion in the lower parts of the soil catenas of the 120-year arable, for the 240-year arable the lateral variations of the silt fraction are less noticeable. The averaged values of silt content over slope profiles of 240-year arable land showed local maximum of silt confined to subsoil horizon. An inverse relationship was found for slopes on 120-year-old arable land, namely the fact that the percentage of silt fraction increases at depth does not lead to an increase of the same fraction in the subsoil layer. Numerous blindfolds were found in the soil sections studied by caten, especially many of them were detected at a depth of up to one meter. Average area occupied by mole crusts on the walls of averaged transects is 80-90% on the 120-year arable and 70-80% on the 240-year arable. On soils of background catenas, 30-40% of the walls of soil transects are occupied by mole-rats. Blistergrasses are more often found in soils of catens of northern exposition - both 120-year and 240-year arable land.