Problems of identification of hydromorphic soils on drained lands

Abstract

The review article outlines the problem of identifying hydromorphic soils, primarily undergoing significant changes under the influence of drying and intensive agricultural use. The goal is to evaluate the current state of pedohydromorphy problem and to show the peculiarities of solving the problems associated with the recognition of hydromorphic soils during the field survey. Particular attention is paid to the diagnosis of anthropogenically transformed soils for choosing the prospects for their further use. The features of methodical approaches to the development of criteria and parameters for assessing the degree of transformation of hydromorphic soils are shown. The diagnostics remains a problem (on the nature and degree of gleyization) of hydromorphic mineral soils both through underground and surface water nutrition. For drained peat soils, buffer capacity, mineralization, and water-buffering capacity are important estimates. Objective methods for determining the latter one are practically absent. Attention is drawn to the need to develop scales (norms) for diagnosing hydromorphic soils with an emphasis on those criteria, without which rational choice of management decisions in the mode of circulation of land turnover and land use is impossible.