Soil loss from deflation in Rostov region

Abstract

Purpose: collection, analysis and generalization of data on wind speed and the intensity of deflation processes in Rostov region, that helps assessing the quantitative side of soil loss depending on wind speed, weather conditions, terrain, tillage method and other factors, and development of wind corridors for the conditions of the region under consideration. Materials and methods. The research was carried out on chestnut soils, southern and ordinary chernozems of the agricultural enterprise “Rassvet” of Aksai district and the agricultural enterprise “Krasnoarmeyskoe” of Oryol district of Rostov region, and the results of other scientists, who have been conducting research in Rostov region since 1969, were analyzed and summarized. Wind speed was measured with anemometers at a height of 2 m above the soil level, and the soil mass moved by winds was determined by the Erosion bridge (pin method) and dust collectors of our own design. Methods of analysis and synthesis as a systematic approach to achieving the goal were used. Results. The wind direction and speed in Rostov region depend on the seasonal position of pressure centers: the Siberian maximum in winter and the Azores in summer. Over the 54 years of research from 1969 to 2023, dust storms and drifting snow were observed 11 times, i.e. once every five years. Mathematical processing of long-term research data made it possible to obtain dependencies for assessing the effect of wind speed on soil removal on average in 1 hour, to determine soil removal coefficients, to propose zoning of the region into five deflationary regions, to develop a map diagram of deflationary zones and wind corridors of Rostov region. Conclusions. The greatest soil losses in wind-impact directions were in 1969 up to 800–900 t/ha for a duration of 300 h, in 1972 – 170–200 t/ha for a duration of 96 h; in 1984, with a daytime wind speed of 10–14 m/s with gusts of up to 25–30 m/s for a duration of 142 h, soil losses amounted to 218 t/ha.

Keywords

• deflation
• soil removal
• soil loss
• wind speed
• wind corridors
• soil erodibility
• agricultural landscape