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ABSTRACT: Soviet and Russian pedologists, ecologists, geobotanists, geographers, and other specialists created a large set of maps on
the territory of the former Soviet Union. In most cases, these maps were published; at present, they are available as hardcopies.
Their digitization clearly shows various merits and demerits of thematic maps on the territory of the Soviet Union and Russia.
A 20-year experience of the Laboratory of Soil Informatics at the Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute on the creation of digitized
maps integrated into the “Soils of Russia” geographic information system (GIS) is discussed. The major stages of this work
and the technology developed to solve the problems appearing during it are described. The reasons for certain difficulties
in matching cartographic information contained on the maps of different and similar scales, the problems of georeferencing
of the maps, and the problems related to the use of remote sensing materials and digital elevation models are discussed. The
necessity of creating a unified cartographic base for thematic maps included in the GIS “Soils of Russia” [28] and the technology
for its development are characterized. The distortions on the original topographic maps are corrected with the use of locally
affine transformation functions realized in the GeoDraw-GeoGraph software package. The requirements for the quality of the
maps—their suitability for georeferencing, topological correctness, and compatibility of different versions—are formulated.
The problems of digital soil mapping upon the use of object-oriented GIS are elucidated. The Soil Map of the Russian Federation (1: 2.5 M scale) was initially digitized in 1997. Since that time, four digital versions of this map have been created to
reduce the initial errors and inconsistencies. It is argued that the fifth and sixth versions of this map should be created
with allowance for the accumulated experience.
Eurasian Soil Science 04/2012; 44(9):957-968. · 0.25 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: A set of salinization maps (1983–2000) for the former Yusupov State Farm in the irrigated area of the Golodnaya Steppe (Uzbekistan)
were developed with the use of aerial and satellite images taken in the early autumn season. A unified approach based on the
analysis of the mottled patterns of the cotton fields was used. The soil cover of the farm consists of irrigated hydromorphic
moderately saline soils with the participation of nonsaline and strongly saline soils. The long-ter m dynamics of the soil
salinity were studied via superposing two or more maps for different years. It was shown that the long-term salinization dynamics
could not be determined on the basis of the comparison of only two maps for different years. Maps of the trends of the salinization
for the entire period of the observations, a map of the salinization dynamics showing the degree of changes in the soil salinity
for the particular areas, a map of the areas with stable salinization through the entire period, and some other maps were
developed. A considerable part of the investigated area was characterized by highly unstable soil salinity and active salinization-desalinization
processes. The degree of the soil salinity varied from slight to strong and vice versa. For the entire period, the soils were
mainly medium saline in the upper meter with a weakly expressed tendency for further salinization and a drop in the area of
nonsaline and slightly saline soils.
Eurasian Soil Science 04/2012; 43(6):682-692. · 0.25 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Soil Salinization Map of Russia on a scale of 1: 2500000 (the paper version) has been used for compiling an electronic map
of the Ural Federal Region and an attribute database containing twelve characteristics of soil salinization. The areas of
saline soils have been quantified for the entire region and its administrative districts. The total area of saline soils in
the 0- to 200-cm layer averages up to 6.85 million ha or 5.53% of the plains in the region. The area of soilssaline in the
0- to 100-cm layer averages up to 4.91 million ha, including 4.13 million ha of weakly solonchakous soils (84%) and 0.78 million
ha of solonchakous ones (16%). More than half of them (58.3%) are assigned to the moderately and strongly saline soils. The
soils saline in the 0- to 100-cm layer are characterized by the neutral salinization type (45%) or the types of soda salinization
and neutral salinization with soda (55%). The areas of the region with saline soils are dominated by solonetzic microassociations.
The average area of the solonetzes is about 3 million ha. The area of solonchaks is about 0.09 million ha. The area of saline
soils is the greatest in Kurgan oblast and the lowest in Sverdlovsk oblast and the Yamal-Nenets autonomous okrug. The formation
of saline soils in the Ural Federal Region is related to the climatic conditions of the steppe zone with insufficient moistening
and lithologicgeomorphologic conditions (saline Paleogene-Neogene deposits and poor drainage of the area).
Eurasian Soil Science 04/2012; 44(4):367-379. · 0.25 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study estimates the consequences of climate change on cropland with and without implementation of adaptation measures,
paying special attention to the maintenance of soil organic carbon (C) stocks. We examine the possibility for regional sustainable
agricultural management practice that combines both maintenance and gain in soil carbon level with profit maximization. Future
scenarios of Regional Agricultural Production Systems (RAPS) were constructed for 2000–2070 based on linking the effects of
global climate change, predicted change in productivity parameters for the main agricultural crops, land-use and soil database
parameters. The RAPS were used to examine profitability and feasibility of alternative agricultural scenarios, based on an
economic model. A number of recommendations for decision making were proposed based on an assessment of the efficiency of
adaptation in animal husbandry and in the crop production sector, after analysis of current percentage of perennial grass
in rotation in comparison with future economic scenarios.
Regional Environmental Change 04/2012; 7(2):63-77. · 3.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This paper describes the conception and construction of a geographic information system (GIS) for use in modelling changes
in soil organic carbon stocks in European Russia. A GIS of croplands for European Russia was constructed to allow the RothC
and CANDY models, and a statistical model of humus balance, to estimate how soil carbon stocks change in time. The soil map
of Russia, the database of soil properties, the map of administrative division, the land use map, the climatic grid, the map
of natural and agricultural zoning and an economic database serve as a basis for this system. A map and database of homogeneous
units, for maximum accuracy and minimum uncertainty, was created. Homogeneous characteristics are the parameters required
for modelling. In the course of this work, the sources of errors in the database and the possible ways of improving calculation
accuracy were determined and are described. The methods used and decisions taken in constructing this database are applicable
to other studies in which GIS databases need to be constructing from disparate sources.
Regional Environmental Change 05/2007; 7(2):51-61. · 3.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: An analogy between the methodological principles and algorithms used in geographic information systems (GIS) and micromorphometric
technologies makes it possible to integrate both technologies into a single information system. Certain parallels can be traced
between the computer-based soil mapping and the computer-based analysis of soil microfabrics. The application of corresponding
software in an integral system allowed the authors to develop a schematic map of the pore space structure in loamy soils distinguished
on a fragment of the State Soil Map of Russia on a scale of 1: 1 M. The cartographic analysis of the resulting map shows the
specificity of the pedogenic differentiation of the soil pore space in the loamy soils.
Eurasian Soil Science 10/2006; 39(11):1217-1227. · 0.25 Impact Factor
