SOIL STRUCTURE AND STATE OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Abstract

The structural and aggregate composition and state of microbial communities of modern chestnut soils of the Volga Upland (Volgograd Region) and their modern analogues buried during the Middle Ages were studied. The investigations were carried out with the aim of establishing the features of the soil structure change depending on the time of soil stay in the buried state and the characteristics of the state of microbial communities refl ecting paleoclimatic conditions. The objects of the study were the soils buried under the barrow mound ~ 600 years ago and its modern analogues. The Golden Horde era was generally characterized by increased atmospheric moisture. However, already in the second half of the XIV century gradual aridization of the climate begin, which was refl ected in the state of the microbial communities of the investigated soils. On the basis of the data obtained, the cob, aggregation, sputtering, coeffi cient structural, the degree of diff erentiation and degree of illusion of the profi le are determined. It was established for the fi rst time that the structure of buried soils is preserved after burial. The structural and aggregate composition of chestnut soils was determined by the climatic conditions that existed at the time preceding the burial. It is shown that the aggregate composition is specifi c and is determined by the peculiarities of the moisture content of the climate and is preserved irrespective of the length of stay of the soil in the buried state.