The Samara region is located in the middle reaches of the Volga River, dividing it into two unequal parts - the Volga region and the Trans-Volga region. It is located at the junction of two soil-climatic zones - forest-steppe and steppe. The region occupies an area of ​​approximately 54 thousand square kilometers. It borders on the Ulyanovsk, Saratov and Orenburg regions, as well as Tatarstan. The population is approaching 3.5 million people.

The center of the Samara region is the city of Samara, located on the left bank of the Volga. Most of the city is located between the Volga and its left tributaries – Samara and Sok. Its length along the river is 50 km. from North to South. Its northern border is the forested Sokoli Mountains, located on the banks of the Sok River. To the east of the Volga, the city stretches for 20 km and borders on endless steppes. From the high points of Samara you can see the Zhigulevsky Gate - one of the most beautiful places on the Volga bend. Most of the Zhiguli Mountains are located on the territory of the Samarskaya Luka National Park

Climate.

The Samara region is located in the zone of influence of the Asian continent, which is strongly heated in summer and cooled in winter, as well as the Atlantic Ocean, which softens temperature fluctuations. The climate of the region is characterized by cold and little snow winters, short springs, hot and dry summers. The duration of winter is 150-155 days, and summer (with temperatures above +10 C) is 140-147 days.

The greatest amount of precipitation falls in the northern part of the Samara Trans-Volga region, where the average annual amount exceeds 400 mm. The lowest amount of precipitation is typical for the southern steppe regions. Dry winds are common in the summer months. In the warm season, the air basin of the region is characterized by high dust content. To obtain accurate data on the level of environmental pollution in the region, there is a network of observation points.

Geology and minerals.

The region is located on the southeastern part of the Russian Platform and is characterized by a calm tectonic environment. The crystalline Precambrian foundation of the Russian Platform is composed of granite gneisses. Its age is over 1 billion years. Above the foundation are deposits dating back to the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.

The Paleozoic era lasted about 365 million years. It is divided into the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods. In the first three periods, the territory of our region was dry land, and sediments from that time have not been preserved. During the Devonian period, there were repeated advances of the sea from the southeast. Its deposits are a thickness of sandstones and clays with interlayers of limestone. At the end of the Carboniferous period there was a general subsidence of the Russian Platform and the advance of the sea. During the Permian period, marine conditions persisted.

The Mesozoic era lasted about 115 million years. It is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The Jurassic period was characterized by a warm and humid climate, as well as the advance of the sea. Marine sediments are represented by gray calcareous clays and marls.

The Cenozoic, the newest era of the geological history of the Earth, lasted about 70 million years and is divided into Paleogene, Neogene, Quaternary or Anthropocene. In the Neogene, the territory of the region was covered by the waters of the sea, called Akchagyl, which deposited clayey sediments. The formation of the Zhiguli dislocation and the ancient valleys of the Belaya, Kama, Samara and other rivers dates back to this time.

During the Quaternary period, Europe was subject to three great glaciations. The glacier did not reach our region, but the waters formed as a result of the melting of the ice rushed to the sea and flowed through its territory.

The Samara region is rich in mineral resources. The most important of them are oil and natural gas. The first industrial oil was obtained from the Syzran uplift in 1936. In 1944, oil was first obtained from Devonian formations in Yablonevoy Gully. Currently, there are hundreds of deposits in the region. Oil lies in layers located at a depth of 300 to 400 meters. These deposits are accompanied by accumulations of natural gas.

The region is also rich in solid fossil fuels: oil shale, asphalt, asphaltites. The largest oil shale deposit (Kashpirskoye) is located on the right bank of the Volga south of Syzran. Oil shale is mined and used as fuel, as well as to produce lubricating oils, paraffin, ichthyol, coke and liquid motor fuel.

Since the beginning of the 18th century, industrial development of native sulfur has been carried out in the region. The most famous are the Alekseevskoye, Syreyskoye and Vodinskoye deposits.

Limestones and dolomites, phosphorites, rock salt, chalk, quartz sands, and various clays are also of economic importance.

The region has a significant reserve of groundwater. In the upper horizons, the waters are usually fresh; they feed numerous springs, giving rise to streams and small rivers.

Mineralized waters with medicinal value are of great importance (Rameno, Laguna, Dvortsovaya, etc.). The Sergievskie Mineralnye Vody resort uses hydrogen sulfide springs effectively.

In connection with the development of quarries along the Volga banks, the problem of protecting the unique landscape of Zhiguli is very relevant.

Relief.

The territory of the region is divided into 5 geomorphological provinces: the Volga Upland, Samara Luka, Lowland Trans-Volga, High Trans-Volga and Syrtovoye Trans-Volga.

The first province is located in the western part of the region on the right bank of the Volga River. The massif is dissected by deep river valleys, ravines and ravines. A special feature of this province are chalk hills up to 180 m high, located near the village of Novodevichye. Chalk outcrops in the form of cones up to 50 meters high are found in the Syzran region.

Samara Luka is part of the Volga Upland and is separated from the main massif by a tectonic boundary. On its territory are the Zhiguli Mountains, which begin near the village of Usolye and stretch 75 km to the village of Podgory. The coastal strip of Zhiguli is heavily dissected by deep ravines and has the character of a mountainous country. At the confluence of the Usa River with the Volga there is one of the peaks - Molodetsky Kurgan, which rises almost 200 meters above the level of the Kuibyshev Reservoir. Between Bakhilova Polyana and the Shiryaevsky ravine there is the highest point of Zhiguli - Mount Strelnaya. Its height reaches 350 meters above the level of the Volga. It offers a beautiful view of the Volga expanses.

The length of the Volga bend from Molodetsky Kurgan to Perevolok is 135 km. This water route, popular among tourists, has long been known under the name “Zhigulevskaya Around the World”.

The province of Low Trans-Volga region is located along the left bank of the Volga. The height of its surface ranges from 20 to 150 meters above sea level. Its western part is the Volga valley, within which there are a floodplain and three above-floodplain terraces.

To the east of the Volga valley there is the syrt plain of the Lowland Trans-Volga region with a characteristic gently undulating relief of soft outlines. The river valleys cutting this territory (the rivers Samara, Chapaevka, Chagra, Bolshoy Irgiz and others) are characterized by asymmetrical terraced slopes.

The province of Vysokoe Zavolzhye occupies the northeastern part of the region.

Along the right bank of the Sok and Bolshoy Kinel rivers, the Sok and Kinel mountains stand out. The former reach the highest point of 317 meters, and the latter 200 meters and above. Along the left bank of the Volga below the mouth of the Sok River are the Sokoly Mountains. On the right bank of the Sok River, near its confluence with the Volga River, Tsarev Kurgan is located.

Sokoly Mountains are very picturesque. They are dissected by forested ravines, of which the most famous are Studeny and Koptev. The famous cave of the Greve brothers is located here.

The fifth of the provinces - the Sublime Syrt Trans-Volga region - is part of a hill called General Syrt. Here, on the border with the Orenburg region, are the sources of the Bolshoy Irgiz, Chapaevka, Sezzhaya and other rivers. The slopes of the watershed plateau abound with numerous springs.

Soils.

The ambiguity of bioclimatic factors determined the difference in soil cover in the northern and southern parts of the region. Gray forest soils, leached and typical chernozems predominate in the northern regions, and in the south they are replaced by southern chernozems, chestnut soils, as well as solonetzes and solonchaks.

In terms of humus content, the soils of the region are predominantly classified as medium- and low-humus. Rich chernozems occupy only up to 1% of the total territory. According to the size of the humus horizon, soils are classified as medium-dense and thin.

The region's chernozem soils are the most valuable natural resource. They formed under perennial grass vegetation of steppes and forest-steppes under conditions of moisture deficiency. As a result of incomplete decomposition of plant residues, humus or humus was formed. The area of ​​chernozems is 3921.4 thousand hectares. They occupy 73.3% of the entire territory of the region and are represented by podzolized, leached, typical, ordinary and southern chernozems.

In recent years, the region's lands have lost 20 to 30% of humus, the most important indicator of soil fertility. Almost a quarter of farmland is subject to water and wind erosion. Growing ravines destroy about 100 hectares of land annually. Numerous pipelines pass through the region, accidents on which lead to contamination of local soils with petroleum products and other harmful substances.

Reservoirs

The region's water bodies include large and small rivers, springs, lakes, ponds and reservoirs.

The largest river in the region is the Volga, which originates on the Valdai Hills. Among its largest tributaries within the region are the Samara. Bolshoi Irgiz, Sok, Chapaevka, Usa, Bezenchuk, Bolshoi Cheremshan and Syzran. These rivers with their tributaries form the river network of the Samara region.

The total length of the Volga is 3690 km, of which a section of 340 km falls in the Samara region. Currently, the bed of the Volga River is regulated and turned into the Kuibyshev and Saratov reservoirs.

In the river valleys of most rivers there are numerous oxbow lakes, which often occupy very large areas and are an important element of the landscape.

Among the local reservoirs there are many unique ones that are valuable natural monuments. These are lakes Yaitskoe and Jordan. Big

Shelekhmetskoye, Kamenny, Mokhovoe, Klyukvennoye, Uzilovo swamps, Fedorovskie oxbows and many others.

There are mineralized reservoirs on the territory of the region, the bulk of which are located in its northeastern and northern regions (lakes Sernoye, Goluboe and others). Water and mud from the bottom sediments of local mineralized reservoirs are used to treat diseases of the joints, cardiovascular and nervous systems, as well as skin, gynecological and some other diseases.

Forests.

Forests have enormous national economic, economic and social significance; they have climate-regulating, hydrological, anti-erosion, soil-protective effects and stabilize the natural environment as a whole. The forest supplies the population with clean air and serves as a place for recreation and tourism. Numerous animals and birds live here, the most valuable tree species, mushrooms, and medicinal plants grow.

In the Samara region, forests occupy about 11% of its territory. The area of ​​coniferous forests makes up 12% of the entire forested area of ​​the region. This is the most valuable part of forest resources.

Small areas of pine forests exist in the northeast of the region; in the High Trans-Volga region, on dark gray slightly podzolic soils. Thin areas of pine forest have been preserved in a number of places along the right bank of the Sok River. Areas of pine forest in the Sergievsky district (Minushkinskoye forestry) have been declared a natural monument. There are such areas in the Klyavlinsky district. Pine trees grow along the banks of reservoirs, in the valleys of the Kondurchi, Binaradka, Kurumoch, and Buyan rivers.

Forests play a very important soil-protective role, preventing siltation of springs and rivers, ensuring their full flow and preventing other unfavorable processes.

The Buzuluksky pine forest is a large island forest with an area of ​​110.6 thousand hectares. On the territory of the Samara region there is 53.6. thousand hectares of this forest, the rest is located in the neighboring one. Orenburg region. In the forest, about 40% of the area is currently occupied by pine, 21% by oak, 11% by maple, linden and alder, and approximately 28% by birch, aspen and other small-leaved species. This is an interesting and unique natural site.

On the right bank of the region, natural and artificial pine forests grow in the Volzhsky, Stavropol, Syzran and Shigonsky regions. On the territory of Samarskaya Luka, now declared a state national park, the forests are included in the zone prohibited for logging and have extremely important soil-protective, forest-reclamation and landscape-forming significance, and therefore require especially careful treatment.

Artificial pine trees also grow on Samarskaya Luka. They were laid more than 150 years ago and replanted several times in the following years.

Rare species such as lingonberries and blueberries grow in the right-bank forests, and cranberries and sundews grow in the swamps. Due to the great value and uniqueness of the right-bank pine forests, blocks 103, 112 and 113 of the Muransky pine forest, as well as block 91 near the village of Staraya Racheika, have been declared natural monuments.

The basis of the forest fund of the Samara region is made up of deciduous forests (oak, linden, maple, birch, elm, poplar, aspen, alder, willow and many others). Part of the territory of Samara from Voskresenskaya Square (now Samara) to the modern glade named after. M.V. Frunze at the end of the 19th century were covered with forests, and the local population called them “oak forests”.

Among the steppe expanses, the valleys of the Bolshoi Irgiz, Karalyk and Kamelik rivers stood out for their forest vegetation. Dense impenetrable forests grew here, where “many bears, foxes, martens, beavers and other fur-bearing animals lived.”

Aspen forests are quite widespread throughout the region - on Samarskaya Luka, in Klyavlinsky, Chelno-Vershinsky, Sergievsky, Isaklinsky and other areas. Linden forests are confined to relatively fertile soils. Pure birch forests are rare here.

The forest cover of the steppe zone of the region is extremely small. Therefore, the soil cover is almost defenseless against wind and water erosion.

Among the artificial forests of the steppe zone in the Samara region, a special place is occupied by forest belts created in 1889-1906. under the leadership of the famous Russian forest scientist N.K. Genko (1839-1904). They were planted along watersheds and have been successfully developing for more than 100 years. The forest ribbons, 639 m wide, have a total length of more than 150 km.

On the watersheds of the Sok and Padovka rivers there are Shilansky, Samara and Chapaevki - Dubovsky and Teplovsky, Chapaevki and Chagry - Kamyshlinskaya, Bezenchukskaya and Vladimirovskaya forest belts. They have noticeably changed the climate and hydrological regime of the Trans-Volga steppes, protect arable lands from dry winds, and prevent the formation of ravines.

In total, more than 30 natural monuments have been identified in the region. They represent a variety of objects, such as springs, river sources, steppe communities, forest areas, which are of great scientific value.

Steppes.

These are herbaceous, usually devoid of trees, plant communities confined to chernozem type soils. In the composition of these communities, xerophytic plant species play a major role. In the past, steppes occupied large areas not only in the southern, but also in the northern part of the region, where areas of steppe vegetation alternated with forest ones. The steppe regions were the base of Volga agriculture. Leveled watershed areas were plowed first. Plowed areas in the region account for 70-80% of the territory. In the Samara region, there are common meadow (northern) steppes, true or feather grass-fescue (southern), as well as special types of steppes - shrubby, rocky and sandy.

Fertile, chernozem and chestnut soils have long been plowed, and pasture lands have shrunk. In this state of affairs, it is necessary to save even small areas of steppe vegetation that have scientific, educational and aesthetic value from further destruction.

Meadows.

Meadows are located in river valleys, in ravines and ravines, and less often on watersheds. They are divided into floodplain (floodplain) and. continental (watershed). And although meadow vegetation in the region does not occupy large areas, its role in nature and the national economy is great and varied.

The meadow fauna is usually divided into four main groups: grasses, sedges, legumes and forbs. Meadow vegetation mainly owes its origin to human activity. Forest regeneration in the meadows is hampered by annual haymaking, and dense turf does not allow tree and grass seeds to germinate.

The Middle Volga meadows serve as a good forage base for livestock farming. Historically, meadows produced high-quality hay. The meadows are also a favorite vacation spot for townspeople and rural residents.

Vegetation of water bodies.

The vegetation of reservoirs provides food for many water inhabitants; their thickets create shelters that serve as feeding grounds for juvenile commercial fish and nesting areas for waterfowl. Plants weaken the waves of the water and prevent the erosion of the banks. In the summer, during the process of photosynthesis, they enrich the water with oxygen, which is necessary for the breathing of most inhabitants of reservoirs.

A number of coastal aquatic plants, such as reeds, reeds, cattails and others, are used as building and wicker materials. Among the plants of reservoirs there are edible, medicinal, poisonous, honey-bearing, tannin-containing species, and some can be used as feed for farm animals. Some species are indicators of water quality. Plants purify water well from various harmful impurities, acting as powerful biological filters and have great decorative value. But at the same time, the annual mass death of plants contributes to the rapid siltation of water bodies, leading to their waterlogging and shallowing. In the reservoirs of the region and along their damp banks, 134 species of herbaceous plants grow, as well as a variety of moisture-loving trees and shrubs.

Animal world

The fauna of the Samara region is rich and diverse. More than 60 species of mammals, about 260 species of birds, dozens of fish species, and thousands of insect species are found in the region. The richness of the animal world determined the diversity of natural conditions in the region in the past. Therefore, among the wild animals of the region there are inhabitants of the taiga, mixed and broad-leaved forests, steppes and even more remote zones - tundra, semi-deserts: elk and wild boar, white polar owl, tundra partridge, steppe animals, bustard and little bustard, jerboa, fox-corsac mole rat and others .

Moose, roe deer, wild boars, badgers, and stoats live in forest and forest-steppe areas. There are black grouse, wood grouse, hazel grouse, nutcrackers, and jays. All natural complexes are inhabited by foxes, hares (hare and hare), and horis. European red deer brought from the Voronezh region have taken root in a number of forest places.

The seemingly deserted steppes are densely populated. The brown hare, polecat, hamster, gopher, mouse, gray partridge, steppe kestrel, swift, and black lark live in it.

The region is inhabited by marten and European mink, the numbers of which are very low. The number of beavers and river otters is low. American mink is more common. The number of muskrats is high. The numbers of pine marten, badger, black and light ferrets, ermine and weasels are relatively good, and weasels are rare.

Wolves, raccoon dogs, lynx and steppe cats are rare.

In the spring, starlings, warblers, nightingales, flycatchers, cuckoos, orioles, rollers and others come to us from warm countries. Bullfinches, sparrows, waxwings, finches, and tits remain for the winter. Some birds are migratory and vagrant. These include the whooper swan, the gray crane, the rough-legged buzzard, the humpback, the duck and others. 22 species of birds of prey from the order Falconiformes nest in the region. These are hawks - sparrowhawk and goshawk, harrier - field, meadow, steppe and marsh, black kite, white-tailed eagle, eagles - golden eagle, imperial eagle, steppe and great spotted eagle, common buzzard, honey buzzard, snake eagle, osprey, saker falcon, hobby hawk, peregrine falcon, falcon, common kestrel and steppe kestrel. Nine species of them are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. They exterminate a huge number of rodents and harmful insects.

The reservoirs are rich in game. Ducks are especially common among us: mallards, shovelers, gray ducks, pintails, teals (wheezers and waders), red-headed pochards, and ogre (red ducks) - now a rare bird in our country.

The rail family unites water and marsh birds: coot, corncrake, moorhen, Sultan's hen, crakes (3 species). Gray goose, mute swan, and demoiselle crane nest in a number of places.

Beneficial insects are of great importance in nature: beauty beetles, ladybugs, which eat a lot of harmful caterpillars. Bumblebees, bees, and butterflies are plant pollinators.

The Middle Volga is part of the famous Volga-Kama fishery region, which produces more than half of the all-Russian catch of pike perch and bream, almost three-quarters of the roach catch and more than half of the world sturgeon catch.

The unfavorable ecological situation on the rivers of the region led not only to a reduction in the number of individuals of many fish species, but also to the disappearance from the ichtofauna of the region of beluga, Russian sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, thorn, Caspian salmon, white fish, Volga herring, Caspian belly and shemaya. Of the sturgeon species, only the sterlet is found in our country.

The species diversity of fish in the region's water bodies is concentrated in the order Cypriniformes. It includes 31 species, distributed in 20 rows: bream (bream, white-eye, bluegill), silver bream, roach, rudd, minnows (common and lake), asps, dace (common dace, chub, ide), tenches, subdus, gudgeons , tops, bleaks, sabrefish, bitterlings, crucian carp (golden, silver), carp (carp is a domesticated form of carp), grass carp, silver carp, buffalo. The leading place in the catches belongs to bream, roach, and blue bream.

Fish from the order Perciformes (bersh, ruffe, perch, pike perch, rotan) are also common. More rare are catfish, burbot, river eel, and pike.

In a number of areas of the region there is a pond fishery. Large fisheries are organized in the Suskansky Bay of the Kuibyshev Sea, in Pestravsky, Bolshe-Chernigovsky, Bolshe-Glushitsky, Elkhovsky and other areas of the region.

Geographical names

The multitude of geographical objects in the region also determines the presence of a large number of geographical names, or toponyms. Based on the connection of names with various types of geographical objects, the following varieties can be distinguished among Samara toponyms: zoronyms - proper names of certain localities, sections of territory; otkonima – proper names of any settlements; oronyms – proper names of any landforms; hydronyms – proper names for all types of reservoirs and water sources; agronyms – proper names of fields, sections of fields, arable land; Drimonyms are proper names for forests and forest areas. The geographical names of the Samara region are multi-temporal and multilingual, reflecting the general processes of the ethnic history of the region.

A significant number of geographical names arose on the basis of the Russian language (for a long time the Russian population here constituted about eighty percent). Some of them arose in the second half of the 16th century, many - during the 17th-19th centuries. Many toponyms arose in the 20th century.

79% of settlements in the region have Russian names. But there are often cases when non-Russians live in villages with a Russian name and vice versa.

There are a significant number of toponyms in the region that arose on the basis of various non-Russian languages ​​that existed in the Middle Volga region in the past and are widespread here at the present time: Turkic (Tatar, Chuvash, Bashkir, etc.), Finno-Ugric (Mordovian, Mari), in a small number of Mongolian and Iranian-Sarmatian. There are also geographical names with unidentified linguistic affiliation.

With a high degree of probability, river hydronyms such as Cheremshan (Jaramsan) and Samara can be included among the ancient Iranians.

Place names of Turkic origin are quite numerous. Turkisms are especially common in the names of rivers: Sok, Kondurcha, Kinel, Syzranka, Irgiz. They are also common in the names of settlements: Syzran, Kamyshla, Koshki, Karalyk, Borma, Usakla, etc.

The Mongolian topohydronyms of the region such as Kurumoch, Usa, Kutlugush, Kutuluk and others are associated with the Golden Horde period in the history of the region.

Everywhere in the region there are also names of Finno-Ugric origin. As a rule, they are fundamentally related to the Mordovian languages ​​- Erzya and Moksha. Here are just some examples: Morkvashi, Erke Pando, Syreyka, Moksha.

German, Latvian, and Ukrainian names are rare.

The naming of geographical objects is motivated in one way or another.

Thus, common geographical terms often turn into their own names, toponyms: the village of Vyselki (Stavropol district), the village of Ilmen (Privolzhsky district), the village of Gorki (Volzhsky district), the village of Gorodok (Koshkinsky district), the village of Klyuchi (Isaklinsky district), the village of Kolki (Kinelsky district), the village of Lbishche (Samarskaya Luka), the village of Luzhki (Krasnoyarsk district), etc.

Some geographical names arose on the basis of natural landscape vocabulary. For example: the village of Berezovka, the village of Lipovaya Roshcha, the village of Bezrechye, the village of Vyazniki, the village of Talniki, the village of Krasnaya Gorka.

Other toponyms arise on the basis of common nouns with the meaning of a qualitative assessment: the villages of Khoroshenkoe (Krasnoyarsk district), Blagodarovka (Borsky district), Blagodatnoye (Bolshechernigovsky district), the village of Bogatoye, the Uslada crossing (Stavropol region) and others.

Numerous names of the region have as a motivational basis the surname or personal name of a person associated with the named object by birth, by activity, morally-symbolically, etc.: the Alenino field tract, the villages of Aleksandrovka, Vladimirovka, Vanyushin quarry, Vasilievsky Islands, Danilov cordon , Ermakove village, Manchikha mountain, Mironov kolok. Shiryaevsky Gully, Lyupov Cross, etc.

Such toponyms include many names with non-Russian names at their base: the village of Alakaevka, the village. Alimovka, the villages of Mamykovo, Alkino, Bagryash, Staroe Usmanovo, Staroe Yureevo, New Mansurkino, etc.

A special group of toponyms consists of names - symbols. Most of these names arose after the revolutionary events of 1917. This is the village. Burevestnik (Bogatovsky district), village. The power of labor (Volzhsky district), village. Druzhba (Bezenchuksky and Syzran districts), village. Banner of Labor (Neftegorsky district), village. Idea (Elkhovsky district), village. Kommunar (Bolshe-Glushitsky district), village. Love of Labor (Chelno-Vershinsky district), etc.

A number of toponyms owe their origin to local churches, partially preserved, and in most cases only left as memories in the form of village names: the village of Vozdvizhenka, the village of Voskresenka, the village of Znamenka, the village of Prepolovenka, the village of Rozhdestveno, the village of Sergievsk, the village of Troitskoye, etc.

Repeated names are common in the region, as well as names with the same stem. For example: the Samara River and the regional center of Samara, the Kurumoch River - the village of Kurumoch - Kurumoch Airport - Kurumoch Station, the Bolshoy Kinel River - Kinel, the Syzran River - Syzran, the Kondurcha River - the village of Kondurcha Fortress, etc.

A number of toponyms were brought from other territories in the process of population migration: the villages of Novokurovka, Novotulka, Bolshaya Ryazan, Ukrainka, Penzeno, the village of Kievka, the villages of Bolshaya and Malaya Chernigovka, etc.

Throughout history, there have been repeated renamings of individual geographical objects. In the 17th – 18th centuries, many local names were replaced here by Russian ones. At the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many settlements received unique “second names” based on the churches that were being built at that time. As a result, double names appeared: the village of Brusyany - after the Kozmodemyanovskoye church; the village of Zhiguli - by the Voznesenskoye Church; the village of Morkvashi - by the Church of the Intercession; the village of Novinki - by the church Arkhangelskoye, Usolye - Nikolaevskoye; Shiryaevo – Bogoyavlenskoe, etc.

A number of cities and villages were renamed during the Soviet period of history (1917-1991). Thus, the regional center of Samara was renamed the city of Kuibyshev, and the region was renamed Kuibyshevskaya accordingly. The historical names of the city and region were returned in 1991. The city of Stavropol, founded in 1738, was renamed Togliatti in 1964. In the same era, the ancient village of Kostychi was renamed into the city of Oktyabrsk, the village of Bolshaya Tsarevshchina - into Volzhsky (1961), the Ivashchenkovo ​​station - into the city of Chapaevsk (1929). During that period, names like Krasnoarmeysk, Krasnooktyabrsky, Pervomaisky, Frunzensky were established. In cities and villages, many microdistricts, squares, streets, and large enterprises were renamed. At the same time, it was usually not taken into account that an ancient toponym is a kind of historical monument, a source of certain information about the named object and the area where it is located. Therefore, it is not without reason that questions arise about the need to restore some ancient geographical names within the region.

Ecological problems.

The environmental condition of the area is unsatisfactory. Pollution of the natural environment with solid, liquid and gaseous industrial and household waste has been continuing for several decades. The volume of polluted wastewater discharged into the Volga River basin is about 40% of the total volume of polluted wastewater generated in Russia. The waters of the Volga reservoir cascade are characterized by a high content of phenols (2-5 MPC), petroleum products (3-10 MPC), copper compounds (5-6 MPC); The level of water pollution in the Chapaevka River and other rivers and lakes is extremely high. The soils of the Samara region are also quite polluted with pesticides.

In the Samara Volga region, the human impact on nature is great due to the high population density, powerful development of industry and extensive agriculture. There is an intensive steppeification of the forest-steppe landscapes of our region and desertification of the steppes. The regulation of the Volga by hydroelectric power plants turned it into a system of lakes with their own type of development. Coastal swamping occurs, oxygen deficiency and bottom siltation occur, and ruderal vegetation settles in the floodplain. The length of small rivers in the Samara region is decreasing, their siltation and swamping are increasing, exposing their banks. The avifauna of large cities begins to be dominated by species of the corvid family - crows, rooks, jackdaws.

Biological contamination by alien species of organisms occurs. It occurs as a result of the intentional and unintentional introduction (invasion) of various creatures.

A major problem is the condition, operation and impact on the environment of chemical production (for example, the difficult environmental situation in Chapaevsk).

The industry and agriculture of the Middle Volga takes up the sad baton of pollution of the great river from the regions located upstream. The total discharge of waste and polluted water here is twice as high as the discharge in the Volga-Vyatka region.

Forests are rapidly drying out. The regional rise in groundwater and groundwater levels as a result of the emergence of reservoirs and irrigated agriculture has led to waterlogging, flooding, and soil salinization.

The air of the cities of Novokuybyshevsk, Samara, Tolyatti is polluted with specific and most common substances in concentrations exceeding 10 MAC. Dozens of areas with groundwater contamination have been identified.

After the creation of the Kuibyshev and Saratov reservoirs, the fish productivity of 1 hectare of water area fell almost 5 times and continues to fall, since the reservoirs operate according to the lake rather than river regime. Several thousand hectares of the floodplain are flooded, and the species composition of plants and animals is depleted.

*********1 See: Mozgovoy D.P. Nature conservation is a national cause / Nature of the Kuibyshev region. – Kuibyshev – 1990, p. 450-460; Vinogradov A.V. Ecology / Samara region. - 1992, p. 83-100, etc.******

Changed socio-economic living conditions affect the health of the population, which is reflected in medical and demographic indicators. The birth rate is decreasing, mortality has increased, and natural population growth has decreased.

There is an increase in man-made situations (fires, explosions, transport accidents, etc.).

Not all is well in protected areas, including the Samarskaya Luka National Park, Buzuluksky Bor, Zhigulevsky Nature Reserve and 17 state reserves, constituting 14.9% of the entire territory of the region. The damage from poaching is great.

What to do? What are the realistic ways to preserve the human environment?

There are two approaches to nature conservation. The anthropocentric approach considers environmental measures only from the perspective of benefits exclusively for humans. The ecocentric approach is based on the idea that human well-being depends entirely on the state of natural systems. Here you cannot do without environmental knowledge and concepts. They should be included in theories of environmental management.

Environmental measures designed to mitigate the situation, according to environmental scientists, can be divided into three groups:

1 Rational environmental management. It cannot prevent the disruption of ecological balance, but it can significantly delay it.

2. Intensification of environmental research, identification and study of the laws of functioning of large natural systems, search for ways and opportunities for targeted influence on processes in ecosystems subject to powerful anthropogenic processes.

3. Formation of an ecological worldview and thinking, ecologized culture and ethics, morality and ethics. These are problems of a socio-psychological nature; they are the most conservative in nature. However, without solving them, it is impossible to prevent the environmental crisis.

A person cannot live without communication with nature, but communication that is not based on environmental ethics leads to an environmental crisis.

Questions and tasks

1. What is the territory and population of the Samara region?

2. What are the climatic features of the region?

3. Name the mineral resources of the area.

4. Do you know the geomorphological provinces of our region?

5. Can you name the rivers of the region?

6. What do you know about the forest and steppe communities of the region?

7. Name the animals of our region that you know.

8. What do you know about the fishery importance of the Volga region?

9. What is the origin of the geographical names of the region?

10. What are the most important environmental problems in the region and are there real ways to solve them?

Lecture four

ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE SAMARA REGION

The Russian people have long been our friend.

And will this friendship ever end?

Yes, we were born and we are growing tall,

Stringed as if on one thread.

On the battlefield we are stronger than tigers,

In work we are stronger than the mighty.

Gabdulla Tukay

Samara soils

(Brief history of soil research in the Samara region)

"Soil is the fourth kingdom of nature."

V.V. Dokuchaev.

“Chernozem played the same outstanding role in the history of soil science as the frog played in the history of physiology, calcite in crystallography, and benzene in organic chemistry.”

IN AND. Vernadsky.

Earth is the beginning of all beginnings

How many people can planet Earth feed? Experts do not have a consensus on this matter. Some believe that this number cannot exceed 10 billion people, others raise it to 100 billion and even higher. In both cases, scientists provide very convincing arguments in favor of their point of view.

So where do these numbers come from, and why do they differ from one another by a whole order of magnitude? The explanation for this is simple - different experts have different assessments of the possibilities of food production on our planet in the future. The main object of current human activity, designed to satisfy food needs, is the land resources of the planet Earth and the soil fertility inherent in them. It should be taken into account that over the past half century, the world's population has increased by more than a quarter, and the area of ​​cultivated land has increased by only seven percent. And of the total population of the planet, about half are constantly undernourished, while tens of millions of people simply die of hunger (Fig. 1-5).

So, it means that those scientists who define the maximum possible number of people on Earth as no more than 10 billion are right? After all, experts reasonably believe that the earth’s soil simply cannot feed people beyond the specified number.

Before taking this point of view, it should be noted that the increase in cultivated areas on a planetary scale has turned out to be so small not because we have too little land suitable for agricultural production. No, this is not the case at all: it’s just that now the percentage of territories that are excluded from food production as a result of a drop in their fertility is too large. There are many reasons for this: their elementary depletion, improper processing, lack of economic benefit from agricultural use, soil erosion - water and wind, and so on.

Have you ever observed a dust storm in plowed steppe areas? In the 30s, this disaster struck the central states of the United States, where vast expanses of the Great Plains were plowed up for cereal crops, and in the 50s, the same disaster was observed in the virgin regions of Kazakhstan, the Southern Urals and the Middle Volga region. Eyewitnesses say it was a terrible sight. The rapidly intensifying wind lifted layers of black soil into the air, unsecured after plowing, devastating vast spaces. As a result, in areas of tens and hundreds of thousands of hectares, soil fertility dropped to almost zero, and it became impossible to sow anything here for many years in a row. This is what wind soil erosion looks like (Fig. 6-8).

However, dust storms are a rather rare phenomenon in the Samara Territory, especially after the non-moldboard plowing technology began to be widely used in all erosion-hazardous areas during Soviet times. Much more often we encounter water erosion. This is the name given to the washing away of the top, fertile layer of fields by water flows. This happens, for example, in the spring, when during the stormy and short spring characteristic of our region, the snow quickly turns into seething streams. Where there is even a slight slope, the water rolls down it, taking the soil with it. Gradually, the stream bed deepens, first forming a hollow, then a ravine, the growth of which can be quite difficult to stop (Fig. 9-11).

The fight against ravines is carried out by many methods: plowing is always carried out across their slopes, trees are planted along the edges of the ravines and in their valleys, dams are erected to hold back water flows, and stone masonry or fences made of stakes and branches are built at the heads. All of the measures mentioned primarily reduce the speed of melt and storm water flows to limits that are safe for the soil.

There are other types of soil erosion. In terms of prevalence in our region, perhaps the most significant are technical erosion (destruction of soil by transport and various types of construction), as well as irrigation erosion (violation of soil fertility by improper irrigation methods, causing salinization, flooding, drying out, and soil pollution).

In the Samara region, thirty percent of arable land is subject to erosion, which amounts to more than a million hectares. Erosion is especially severe in the Stavropol region (up to 92 percent) and in the High Trans-Volga region (from 50 to 60 percent in various areas). At the same time, forests and shelterbelts are of great importance in the fight against water and wind erosion. In Russia, their construction began back in XIX century, when the forest scientist N.K. Genko created unique plantings in the Trans-Volga steppes, thereby proving the possibility of growing forests in completely open spaces (Fig. 12-15).

The first massive wave of migrants to the steppe Trans-Volga region from the central provinces of Russia, and then from Ukraine, came a little less than three centuries ago (Fig. 16).

The peasants were much pleased with these undeveloped spaces, but it soon became clear that they would face many serious tests from Mother Nature. Whirlwinds, tornadoes and dust storms arose here completely unexpectedly, as if out of oblivion. The sun was just shining in the sky when suddenly, out of nowhere, the quiet and clear sky was obscured by gray clouds of dust. The storm grew so rapidly, with such force, that it forced all living things to hide far away. And then, over the course of several days, this dust settled, getting into all the cracks of houses and buildings.

From time immemorial, old-timers of the Volga region called such dust storms with the local word “Shurgan”. It seemed that there was no salvation from them, and never would be. But already at the end of the 19th century, the development of scientifically based methods of combating wind and water erosion of land began. The basis for it was laid by long-term expeditions of Russian scientists to collect information about the structure and properties of soils in vast areas of the East European Plain.

Pioneers of Samara soil science

The Russian authorities have been aware of the need for a careful study of the richest land resources of the Middle Volga region for a long time. The first scientifically conducted studies of the soil cover of our region are now rightfully associated with the name of the founder of Russian soil science, Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev (Fig. 17).

In the period from 1877 to 1881, he organized a number of expeditions to the black earth regions of Russia in order to collect primary information about the soil cover of this gigantic land space. The material collected over several years subsequently became the basis for the scientific concept he created about the original formation of soil as a special natural body. It was Dokuchaev who first established the geographical patterns of structure and changes in the composition and properties of soils depending on changing natural conditions. In particular, for the Trans-Volga region, route observations of those years determined the pattern of soil-landscape zones, which is basically preserved to this day.

Remarkable works of V.V. Dokuchaev aroused wide interest in them in progressive scientific agricultural circles, and prompted the authorities to organize continuous territorial research and mapping of soil cover within the boundaries of counties and provinces in our country. On the initiative of the Samara Zemstvo Government, from 1898 to 1908, a group of specialists consisting of Leonid Ivanovich Prasolov, Sergei Semenovich Neustruev and Alexander Ivanovich Bessonov (with assistants) worked in our province, which went down in the history of Russian science under the name “Samara soil scientists” (18, 19) .

Scientists conducted a systematic study of the soil cover in the vast territory of the Trans-Volga region - from the headwaters of the left tributaries of the Kama to the northern part of the Caspian lowland, with the compilation of county soil maps and explanatory monographs for them. Extensive data collected by these expeditions and related to our region, in the period from 1903 to 1912, was published in a series of publications under the general title “Materials for assessing the lands of the Samara province.”

As a result of this stage of soil research work, the geographical boundaries of soil-landscape zones and subzones, which were once schematically outlined by Dokuchaev, were clarified and detailed, and the local topographic, geological, climatic and historical-geomorphological influences that determine the complexity of the soil cover were sufficiently revealed different territories and their local characteristics. The chemical and analytical characteristics of their properties were also studied. At the same time, one cannot fail to note that remarkable observation, Dokuchaev’s deep understanding of ecological connections in soil formation, and the capture of subtle patterns in the real distribution of soils, which were demonstrated by his students in our region.

Around the same years, forester Georgy Nikolaevich Vysotsky, while studying the forest conditions of the steppe Trans-Volga region, essentially laid the foundation for another very important area of ​​scientific work on chernozems - the study of their hydrological regime (Fig. 20).

Vysotsky’s materials and scientific conclusions were appreciated by “Samara soil scientists” and were directly reflected in the classification of soils in the Volga region. S.S. Neustruev accepted and developed the division of soils laid down by the works of Vysotsky into main series according to hydrological regime, which is still observed in the classification of soils at a level above the types (automorphic, semi-hydromorphic and hydromorphic series).

By the end of the stage under consideration, the interests of scientists in the field of soil knowledge clearly shifted to the practical side of agronomic science. This was primarily due to the urgency of finding ways to improve the sustainability of agriculture in the arid climate of the Trans-Volga region. Scientific agronomic thought has rushed to develop the issue of “dry farming,” that is, ways of possible regulation of the water regime by agrotechnical methods.

By that time, a fairly extensive network of experimental fields and stations had already been formed in the Volga region, which studied the influence on the dynamics of the water regime of pure and occupied fallows, timing and methods of plowing, inter-row cultivation, nitrification processes, changes in the physical properties of soils in different locations and other agricultural techniques. Thus, the achievements of general, geographical-genetic soil science, on the one hand, and applied, agronomic science, on the other, were combined here.

In 1903, on the initiative of agronomist-researcher I.N. Klingen, the Bezenchuk specific experimental station was created (later - the Bezenchuk agricultural experimental station). Its first director was Ya.M. Zhukov. The team of the institution, as a result of many years of research, proposed measures to combat drought in the steppe regions of the Volga region. In 1910, the station was headed by N.M. Tulaikov, who turned it into one of the best experimental institutions in Russia. In 1916, his brother S.M. became the head of the institution. Tulaikov. In 1919, the station became a regional station, and since that time work has been carried out here on the selection of agricultural crops and the creation of intensive varieties resistant to the arid climate of the Volga region, diseases and lodging. The station also tested agricultural machinery and organized research on the economics and organization of labor in regional farms (Fig. 21-29).

An outstanding role in these studies belongs to Nikolai Maksimovich Tulaikov, who, unfortunately, was unreasonably repressed in 1937 and was soon shot.

In 1962, the institution was renamed the Kuibyshev State Regional Agricultural Experimental Station. In 1974, in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 583, the Kuibyshev (now Samara) Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture was organized on the basis of the station, which was later named after N.M. Tulaikova.

For the needs of the collective farm system

The collective farm-socialist transformation of agriculture that began in our country after the October Revolution put forward new requirements for territorial soil research. The previously used soil mapping scales (1:420000 – 1:126000) turned out to be insufficiently informative for the purposes of proper land management and production planning of newly created state and collective farms (Fig. 30-32).

There was a need to conduct more detailed soil surveys on scales of 1:50000 – 1:25000 and larger.

The first works of this type were soil surveys of the lands of grain state farms in our region, undertaken by the State Agro-Soil Institute of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture of the RSFSR in 1929-1930. Since 1931, such work came under the jurisdiction of the State Land Trust, and then the land management department of the regional center of the land department, where they acquired a wider territorial coverage, extending to the lands of collective farms, MTS and entire regions. She took the main part in these works and under the leadership of A.I. Bessonov professionally formed a group of local soil scientists who made a great contribution to the study of soil cover both on the territory of the modern Samara region and the regions adjacent to it, which at that time were part of the borders of the Middle Volga region.

As a result, large-scale soil maps of many agricultural land users were obtained, local natural-genetic and agricultural production characteristics of a number of soils were identified, and their classification was detailed. For example, for chernozems, for the first time, the need to distinguish species according to the thickness of the humus horizon on the basis of a single scale was established, the advisability of a more detailed subdivision of varieties taking into account the lithology of the lower part of the soil profile, and so on. The number of analyzes of soil chemical properties has increased significantly.

In those same years, special soil reclamation studies were launched aimed at identifying lands suitable for the planned widespread irrigation systems in the Volga region. Teams of central and local research institutions - expeditions of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University, Giprovod, Nizhnevolgoproekt, and others - were involved in this work. Such prominent scientists and specialists as L.I. took part in them. Prasolov, B.B. Polynov, N.A. Kachinsky, I.F. Sadovnikov, P.M. Novikov. In relation to the Samara region, the work of soil reclamation expeditions laid the foundation for an in-depth study of the genesis of the chernozem group of soils, drew attention to the study of the salt profile, soil lithology, physical properties and water regime, and to the organization of key model experiments in nature.

Simultaneously with the study of direct soil science on the chernozems of our region, experimental agronomic work was developed. The main issues remained as before of “dry farming”, which required development in relation to the new conditions of the organization and technology of socialist agriculture. At the same time, the tasks were set for a radical and sustainable increase in the fertility of chernozems, and the way to this was seen primarily in the improvement and introduction of grass crop rotations with a large participation of perennial grasses. The concept of Pavel Andreevich Kostychev and Vasily Robertovich Williams about the creation of “early ripening fallow land” in field crop rotations at that time retained its leading position (Fig. 33, 34).

A noticeable step in the development of soil cover research in the Samara region was the creation in 1935 of an original scientific and production organization - the regional Soil Bureau. From 1936 to 1940, his employees studied in detail the soils of a number of key land uses of collective farms in the Borsky, Koshkinsky, Volzhsky, Pestravsky and Bolsheglunitsky districts. These studies, in addition to mapping the soil cover on a scale of 1:25000 - 1:10000, became the source of in-depth characterization of soils in terms of their genesis, morphology, chemical and physical properties, covering the entire soil thickness along the horizons.

The accumulated large cartographic and analytical material about the soils of our region allowed the Soil Bureau to carry out work on its systematization and generalization, which in the late 30s was carried out by a group of scientists including V.P. Krylova (editor), I.P. Agafodorova, B.L. Sitnikova, A.V. Surchakov and E.I. Nakvakina. They, with the participation of V.A. Nosin also compiled a monographic summary on the characteristics of soil formation conditions, soil geography, their systematics, and basic natural genetic properties. All of the listed materials subsequently served as the basis for the compilation and publication of the book “Soils of the Kuibyshev Region” (1949). This enormous collective work was essential for subsequent work aimed at studying and rationally using soil resources in the Middle Volga region.

Since the early 50s of the twentieth century, massive large-scale soil surveys and continuous mapping of soils on collective and state farms began in the region. The surveys were carried out by specialists from the regional land management department and the interregional office for land management of state farms, united in 1961 into the Middle Volga branch of Rosgiprozem, which in 1975 was renamed Volgogiprozem. Since the beginning of the 70s, he has carried out work to correct survey materials from previous years with a thorough update of all soil-cartographic material. At this time, due to the use of a better planning and cartographic basis, the accuracy of identifying soil contours significantly increased, the volume of scientific agronomic information on soil erodibility increased sharply, and the possibility of drawing up more substantiated agricultural production groupings and soil grading arose.

Since the 50s, in the Middle Volga region, soil reclamation research related to state tasks for irrigating land and watering arid steppe territories has received increasing development. Specialists of the Kuibyshev branch of Soyuzvodproekt (later Sredvolgogiprovodkhoz) under the leadership of B.A. Kalachev, soil mapping reports were completed, accompanied by route field research to determine the prospects for land use and priority irrigation areas. Following this, detailed soil reclamation surveys were carried out in specific areas for the design and construction of irrigation systems and sites. These works significantly expanded our information about the regional characteristics of the soil cover of our region and about a number of soil properties, mainly water-physical.

Along with territorial soil survey work for various purposes, scientific and design institutions conducted case studies in various areas of soil science, primarily on the influence of agricultural and reclamation factors on soils. In the 60s and 70s, scientists from the Kuibyshev Agricultural Institute actively worked in this direction: in general soil science - V.P. Glukhovtsev and N.V. Zerling, in agrochemistry - A.G. Markovsky, in agriculture and agrophysics - D.I. Burov and G.I. Kazakov, on soil erosion - G.P. Shestoperov and I.I. Jumping. It should also be noted the work of employees of the Kuibyshev Research Institute of Agriculture, the Volga region agroforestry experimental station VNIALMI and the Kuibyshev State Regional Agricultural Experiment Station (the village of Bezenchuk) (Fig. 35-37).

Since 1964, the Volgogiprozem Institute has carried out comprehensive land assessment work, based on materials from soil surveys. Based on the results of these works, a book by B.A. was published in 1976. Tregubova, G.G. Lobova and M.G. Kholina “Valuation of arable soil soils of farms in the Kuibyshev region.” In 1978-1980, the same institute carried out land assessments for all agricultural land in the region. Subsequently, the results of these land assessment works were widely used in planning agricultural production and land management design.

Based on all the numerous studies by scientists, a map of the soil cover of the Samara region has now been compiled (Fig. 38).

"Gift" from industry

It is known that modern industrial and agricultural production, mining, and the growing transport network every day are the cause of active environmental pollution. Many soil pollutants have long been found in food products, and this may well lead to an increase in the number of various diseases. It has long been established that contaminated soil poses a danger not only as a source of toxic substances entering the human body with food, but also as a link in the chain of secondary pollution of atmospheric air and groundwater.

By the mid-60s of the twentieth century, it became clear to specialists and government officials that, against the background of the rapid development of industry in the Middle Volga region, it was urgent to begin studying the processes of environmental pollution and collecting data on the content of harmful substances in it. This work was entrusted to the Hydrometeorological Service (HMS), which by that time already had extensive experience in monitoring (observation and collection of information) about the state of the three main environments surrounding humans - air, water and land.

At the beginning of 1965, the Volga region department of the State Migration Service received directive documents from Moscow on the need to organize a service for constant monitoring of the chemical composition of the environment in large cities of the Middle Volga region. At first, this service collected information only on air and surface water pollution, but since 1967 it also began studying soil pollution. At that time, this was a completely new research work, the pioneers of which were the workers of the hydrometeorological service. Over many years, they collected a huge amount of information that made it possible to show what the state of the natural environment was at that time, and specifically the soil cover of our region.

By the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated December 29, 1972, the Main Directorate of the Hydrometeorological Service under the Council of Ministers of the USSR was entrusted with the creation of a national organization for monitoring and controlling air pollution. In this regard, during 1973-1976, the observation network was expanded in the Kuibyshev region, with the help of which information about the state of environmental pollution was collected.

To further develop this work, in 1974, a department for monitoring and control of environmental pollution was created at PUGMS. At the same time, a laboratory was opened in Kuibyshev, in which, along with others, work was carried out to monitor soil pollution, and physicochemical methods for analyzing soil samples were mastered. In 1980, on the basis of a number of such laboratories, the Volga Center for Monitoring Environmental Pollution was organized. Along with other tasks, its units continued to study soil pollution in the regions within its scope of activity.

Since 1977, the study of the content of pesticides and toxicants of industrial origin in soil samples has been carried out by the Environmental Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (EPM) in Novokuibyshevsk. The first head of this laboratory was A.V. Kaldina. Under her, the study of soil pollution initially took place only in the Kuibyshev region. Contaminants were determined based on four ingredients (alpha and gamma-HCH, DDT and DDE). Samples were taken on the territory of 14 farms belonging to six districts of our region. A total of 386 soil samples were collected and examined in 1977.

In 1979, soil surveys were already carried out in the territory of four regions - Kuibyshev, Saratov, Penza and Ulyanovsk, and since 1980 - also in the Orenburg region and the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In total, in 1980, research was carried out on 32 farms in 20 rural areas, and during that year 518 soil samples were studied in the laboratory. In 1983, 4 more ingredients were added to the list of controlled indicators (polychlorpinene polymer and pesticides 2,4-D, treflan and thymosin), and determination of the content of five heavy metals in samples began. In 1988, the pesticides atrazine, prometrin and THAN, as well as fluorine and pH, and 10 more heavy metals (copper, nickel, cobalt, lead, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, tin, cadmium and manganese) were added to the determined organic substances.

Since 1978, long-term observations of the content of pollutants in the soil were carried out in the fields of the Kostychevsky state farm in the Syzran district, and since 1982, a comprehensive survey of the level of pollution of soils, surface waters and bottom sediments of the Chapaevka River took place on the territory of the Iskra state farm in the Bezenchuk region. At the same time, in order to determine the background contamination of soil with pesticides, constant observations began in a number of areas of the territory of the Samarskaya Luka National Park, remote from agricultural enterprises.

Since 1989, PUGMS has carried out regular observations of soil contamination in the vicinity of the Metallurg plant (later Sameko) in the city of Kuibyshev-Samara. Since that time, the soils around the heavy engineering plant in Syzran were periodically examined, where the content of some heavy metals - cobalt, molybdenum and nickel - was determined. However, after 1998, funding for this work was stopped, and since that time, soil research in the indicated areas of Samara and Syzran has no longer been carried out. Due to financial difficulties after 1991, control over the content of heavy metals and aromatic hydrocarbons in soil samples from Samara and Ulyanovsk was also discontinued, and in general the list of determined substances was sharply reduced. For the same reason, the center was forced to close the work of the chromatographic groups in Syzran and Chapaevsk.

Here it is also necessary to say about the department of agrometeorological forecasts of the Privolzhsky UGMS, in whose work a significant place has always been devoted to the study of soil cover. Since its creation in the late 30s of the twentieth century, the department has been providing hydrometeorological information to all areas of agricultural production, which largely depends not only on weather, but also on soil factors. According to their content, agrometeorological forecasts can be divided into four main groups:

Forecasts of agrometeorological conditions affecting the formation of crop yields and work in agriculture. This also includes forecasts of moisture reserves in the soil, heat supply for crops, forecasts for the start of field work and optimal timing of irrigation;

Phenological forecasts;

Forecasts of productivity and gross harvest of main agricultural crops and forage grasses;

Forecasts for the state of winter grain crops.

The first agrometeorological observations in Russia began back in 1896, and on the territory of the Volga UGMS they were first organized in 1910 at the Bezenchuk experimental station. During the period of revolutions and civil war, these observations were interrupted, and most of the stations were destroyed. The gradual restoration of the agrometeorological network took place during the 20s and 30s. At that time, in addition to determining soil moisture, associated meteorological and phenological observations began at the stations. In the 1930s, the physical and chemical properties of soils were also studied at stations included in the Volga UGMS. For the first time, the materials of agrometeorological observations collected by that time were summarized in 1955-1958 in a multi-volume agroclimatic reference book, published under the editorship of N.I. Bykova. Subsequently, two more of its issues were published - in 1968-1970 and in 1991. In 1962 and 1972, reference books “Agrohydrological properties of soils in the Middle Volga region” were also published.

After 1995, due to financial difficulties, the entire network of posts and stations conducting agrometeorological observations underwent significant changes. In particular, since that time, work on determining agrohydrological constants has no longer been carried out at the Privolzhsky UGMS.

Where and how much contamination was found

At first XXI century observations of soil pollution in the Samara region are carried out by the Novokuybyshevsk laboratory of the Center for Environmental Pollution Monitoring of the State Institution Samara CGMS-R. The methodological management of these works is carried out by the Institute of Experimental Hydrometeorology (IEM) of the NPO Typhoon of Roshydromet (Fig. 39-44).

In 2006, the following objects were selected as areas for studying the content of chemicals in soils:

State farm "Iskra" Bezenchuksky district;

FH "Vasilina" Bolshechernigovsky district;

NPP "Zhigulevskie Gardens" of the Volzhsky district;

CJSC "Lunacharsk" Stavropol region;

Samarskaya Luka National Park;

MS AGLOS observation site;

Long-term observation site (MNS) in Samara;

The area around AvtoVAZ (Togliatti);

The area near the regional pesticide disposal site in the Khvorostyansky district.

The 2006 surveys showed the following results (sample data).

Pesticide pollution.

In the Zhiguli Gardens NPP, the spring maximum concentration of total DDT in the soil exceeded the maximum permissible standards by 12.5 times, and in the fall of the same year - by 3.5 times. The maximum content of treflan in the soils of ZAO Lunacharsk in the spring was 1.9 times higher than the norm, and in the fall it did not exceed the norm.

In the surveyed areas of the Samarskaya Luka National Park and AGLOS MS, a residual amount (RC) of treflan, 2.4 D and total DDT (concentration from 0.15 to 0.55 MAC) was detected.

Near the regional pesticide disposal site in the Khvorostyansky district, at different points the content of total DDT ranged from 0.79 to 2.9 MAC. No other pesticides were found in the local soils.

Heavy metal pollution.

The content of the following heavy metals was determined in soil samples: cadmium, manganese, copper, lead, zinc, nickel and aluminum.

In areas near AvtoVAZ, the survey revealed the content of cadmium in the soil - up to 1.4 MPC, copper - up to 1.1 MPC, nickel - up to 2 MPC, zinc - up to 1.6 MPC. No excess content of other heavy metals was detected.

In the Dubki Park in Samara, increased levels of nickel (up to 1.6 MPC) and zinc (up to 1 MPC) were detected in the soil. No excess concentrations of other metals were found in the soil.

An examination of soil samples from the 60 Let Oktyabrya park in Samara also showed a slightly increased concentration of these two metals - 1.2 and 1 MPC, respectively. The content of other metals turned out to be within normal limits.

In the Samarskaya Luka National Park, a slight excess of the norm for nickel content in the soil was found (up to 1.1 MAC). The presence of other heavy metals here turned out to be within normal limits.

On the territory of the AGLOS MS, an excess of the maximum permissible concentration for cadmium (1.1 MPC), nickel (1.3 MPC) and zinc (1.1 MPC) was detected. No excesses were found for other substances.

Oil pollution.

For many years, the content of petroleum products in the soils around AvtoVAZ remains very high (the maximum excess is up to 30 MAC, the average is 4.7 MAC). In general, excess is recorded in at least 90 percent of the total number of samples taken in the area of ​​the enterprise.

The average concentrations of petroleum products on the territory of the Samarskaya Luka National Park and the AGLOS MS exceeded the background values ​​by 1.8 and 1.6 times, respectively, and the maximum by 2.9 and 1.8 times.

Pollution with fluorine, nitrates and sulfates.

Monitoring of the content of these substances in the soil was carried out in the Dubki and 60 Let Oktyabrya parks in Samara, as well as in the Samarskaya Luka National Park and the AGLOS MS. The average and maximum content of fluorine, nitrates and sulfates in these territories ranged from hundredths to tenths of the MPC. Not a single case of exceeding the maximum permissible concentration was registered.

The pH value of the salt extract of the UMN soil showed that they are slightly acidic (pH = 5.4 units), and the soils in other areas are almost neutral (pH = 6.4-6.9 units).

Contamination of bottom sediments.

In 2006, the residual quantity (RC) of pesticides was determined in the bottom sediments of the Bolshoi Kinel, Bezenchuk, Sok, Chagra and Surgut rivers, as well as the Kuibyshev reservoir in the Tolyatti region and the Saratov reservoir in the Samara and Syzran region.

In the bottom sediments of these places, the TC of total DDT was observed in the range from 0 to 0.374 ppm, the TC of total HCH was from 0 to 0.003 ppm, and the TC of treflan was not detected.

The results of observations showed that the bottom sediments of the Chapaevka River, which belong to the categories “moderately polluted” and “dirty,” remain the most poisoned by harmful substances. The concentration of petroleum products in them ranged from 211 to 917 ppm.

Bottom sediments of the Kuibyshev Reservoir in the Togliatti region are classified as “moderately polluted.” Here the concentration of petroleum products ranged from 191 to 511 ppm.

Heavy metal rock

In science, the concept of “heavy metal” is not at all the same as in popular music. These metals include a group of chemical elements that are now widely used in metallurgy, mechanical engineering, rocketry, and other branches of the defense industry. Many of them are well known even to schoolchildren - these are substances hazardous to health such as mercury, arsenic, lead, strontium and others. This group also includes those widely used in everyday life, and therefore seemingly not harmful, copper, zinc, iron, tin, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum and quite a few other similar substances.

Since 1991, an expedition of the Faculty of Biology of Samara State University under the leadership of Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Nikolai Mikhailovich Matveev and Doctor of Biological Sciences Natalya Vladimirovna Prokhorova studied the content of heavy metals in the soils of the Samara region. At that time, these studies were financed by the Committee for Environmental Protection of the Samara Region. Such a large-scale and thorough study of the chemical composition of soils in our region has never been carried out (Fig. 45, 46).

The high prevalence of heavy metals in our daily lives greatly increases the risk of them getting into food and water. Moreover, the effect of copper, zinc or nickel on a living organism can be no less destructive than the effect of known toxic substances - mercury, arsenic or lead, and their influence on our future children is even more dangerous than the influence of even the most well-known carcinogens.

The results of these many years of research turned out to be impressive: for the first time it was reliably established that industrial enterprises of large industrial centers poison the environment not only in the immediate vicinity of their location, but also hundreds of kilometers around. In any case, smoke and dust from Samara, Togliatti, Syzran, Chapaevsk, Novokuybyshev and other enterprises, as it turned out, are carried away by air currents to such corners of our region where little has been heard about big chemistry and mechanical engineering.

Below are maps showing the distribution of a number of heavy metals in the soils of the Samara region. Maps taken from the book: Matveev N.M., Pavlovsky V.A., Prokhorova N.V. Ecological basis of the accumulation of heavy metals by agricultural plants in the forest-steppe and steppe Volga region. Samara, Samara University Publishing House, 1997 (Fig. 47-56).

It turned out that the most fertile and beautiful places in the Samara region, including the Zhiguli Mountains and other areas of the Samara Luka, were significantly contaminated with heavy metals dangerous to all living things - lead, copper, zinc, mercury, chromium and other substances. The same situation was revealed in the territory of the northern regions of the region, which are very remote from any industrial centers - Shentalinsky, Klyavlinsky and Chelno-Vershinsky.

True, it should be recognized that the prevalence of some heavy metals is not yet of particular concern to scientists. For example, in all the studied soils in our region, the content of vanadium, iron, cobalt and strontium still corresponds to their average global background value. At the same time, the average concentration of rubidium, arsenic, selenium, bromine and cadmium in our soils is already much higher than the global level, although it still falls within Russian sanitary standards.

And on Samarskaya Luka in the Vysokoye and Syrtovye Trans-Volga regions, separate areas of territory have been identified where the soil contains 1.1-1.2 times more mercury and manganese than is provided for by the standards. These points are located near the villages of Podem-Mikhailovka in the Volzhsky district, Berezovaya Roshcha in the Khvorostyansky district, at the Churokaika cordon on Samarskaya Luka, in the area between the villages of Rozhdestveno and Vypolzovo, near the regional centers of Bogatoye, Chelno-Vershina and Shentala.

Specialists are especially concerned about the high content in many soil samples of those heavy metals that are most often used in various industries - in particular, in petrochemistry, mechanical engineering, rocket science and other defense industries. It is for this reason that areas with prohibitive concentrations of the hazardous substances listed above have a clear link to the main industrial centers of our region.

For example, points with a high titanium content in soils (up to 2.5 MAC) are located mainly around Samara, Togliatti and Syzran, as well as in those rural areas where the prevailing winds blow from these cities. Of the specific points on the map of the region, it is worth mentioning the environs of the regional centers of Bogatoye and Chelno-Vershina, areas near the village of Kushnikovo, Syzran district, near the village of Sevryukaevo, Stavropol region and near the city of Zhigulevsk, near the village of Letnikovo, Alekseevsky district, and some other places.

Lead concentrations of up to 1.5 MPC in soils were found in areas adjacent to Samara, as well as near a whole group of villages on Samara Luka - near Rozhdestveno, Gavrilova Polyana, Bolshaya Ryazan, Perevolok, Shelekhmeti. All these places are among the most frequently visited by vacationers on the Volga bend. High lead content was also found in the soils near the village of Chernovka, Sergievsky district, near the village of Smolkovo, Isaklinsky district, between the regional centers of Klyavlino and Kamyshla, near the village of Maryevka, Pestravsky district, near the village of Vladimirovka, Khvorostyansky district, near the village of Prosvet, Volzhsky district, and in some other points in the region.

Not far from the regional center, as well as near Togliatti, Zhigulevsk and Syzran, the chromium content in the soil ranges from 2 to 6 MAC, and in the vicinity of the regional centers of Bogatoye and Sergievsk it sometimes even jumps to 7 MAC. The soil is also heavily contaminated with chromium near the village of Skhodnevo, Klyavlinsky district, near the village of Lunacharsky, Stavropol district, and near the village of Novotulka, Khvorostyansky district. And points with high (up to 6 MAC) cobalt content in soils were found in regional centers such as Sergievsk, Kinel-Cherkassy, ​​Khvorostyanka and Bolshaya Glushitsa, remote from any defense plant. And in the Klyavlinsky, Koshkinsky and Shentala districts, some soil samples turned out to have an excessive amount of zinc and copper.

One cannot help but worry that in most points of Samara Luka, in particular, in places with dense dacha buildings near the villages of Sevryukaevo, Lbishche, Brusyany, Perevoloki and Bolshaya Ryazan, the concentration of copper, zinc, nickel and molybdenum in the soils sometimes reaches 3-7 MPC . But it is here that summer residents grow fruits and vegetables on their plots, through which chemical pollutants enter the human body. At the same time, many summer residents themselves do not eat the strawberries and tomatoes grown on their plots, but take them to the market. So we consume these vegetables and fruits with copper and molybdenum salts dissolved in their juice, and then we wonder why whole bunches of strange diseases suddenly appear in us...

But to what do environmentalists attribute the fact that Samarskaya Luka is now one of the most poisoned areas of our region? Of course, this is explained by the directions of the prevailing winds. From an aerodynamic point of view, the Volga Valley is an ideal channel for moving air masses from north to south of the European part of Russia and back. And since it was on the Volga that the country’s largest environmentally unfavorable enterprises were built in recent decades, it is not surprising that it is along the Volga Valley that the winds carry the main flow of pollution.

Naturally, the Samara Luka, which is a ring-shaped Volga ledge, due to the formation of air vortices on it, became the place where all harmful chemical compounds settled from the atmosphere into the soil for many years. It is not surprising that over the decades, the local soils have become a real battery of many heavy metals.

In addition, in five more rural districts of the region - Bezenchuksky, Volzhsky, Kinel-Cherkassky, Stavropol and Syzransky, SSU scientists have been studying residual concentrations of certain types of pesticides in the lands of a number of farms for a number of years. As is known, certain types of chemical means of combating harmful insects (for example, DDT), due to their high environmental hazard, have not been used in the region for fifteen to twenty years. Collective and state farms stopped using other types of pesticides only three to five years ago for purely economic reasons - farms simply ran out of funds to purchase these drugs. Nevertheless, research by ecologists shows that the most stable types of these environmentally harmful substances can still be found in the soils of our region.

In particular, from 7 to 10 percent of all soil samples taken in the study areas were contaminated with DDT, although, as already mentioned, it had not been used here for many years. Significant concentrations of DDT were found in the soils of the Kostychevsky horticultural state farm in the Syzran region, where the content of this substance ranged from 3.49 MAC in spring and 2.4 MAC in autumn. An unacceptably high amount of DDT (from 2.45 to 2.77 MPC) also appeared in the soils of the fields of the Mayak state farm in the Volzhsky district, especially in those areas where vegetable crops are grown. But the most contaminated fields were the fields of the Yubileiny state farm in the Volga region, where in areas with vegetables and root crops, ecologists detected DDT levels up to 5.87 MAC.

As for other, more modern types of pesticides (in particular, treflan, dalapon, simazine, prometrin and others), they were used here to treat crops many years ago. And now in the soils of almost all surveyed areas they were either not found at all, or were found in insignificant concentrations - from tenths to hundredths of the maximum permissible concentration. Only in some fields of the Iskra state farm in the Bezenchuksky district, occupied by root crops, areas with a prometrin content of up to 2 MPC were found. This indicates a fairly high rate of destruction of the compounds listed above in natural conditions, which is one of the main environmental requirements in relation to pesticides.

It was the high stability in natural ecosystems, and moreover, the ability to accumulate in living organisms, that in the 60s-70s became the main reason for the ban in most developed countries on the production and use of the insecticide “dichlorodiphenyltrichloromethylmethane”, better known in our country as DDT, and “hexachlorocyclohexane,” which we most often call either hexachlorane, or HCH for short. Unfortunately, in the USSR their production (but not their use!) was stopped only in the late 80s. One of the largest producers of DDT and HCH in our country in those years was the Chapaevsky Chemical Fertilizer Plant (later the Chapaevsky Chemical Plant). It is not surprising that it is in the vicinity of this enterprise (both in the soils and in the bottom sediments of the Chapaevka River) that significant levels of both insecticides are still found to this day. In particular, in the coastal sediments of the Chapaevka River below Chapaevsk, in some areas, hexachlorane concentrations of up to 25 MAC were found, and DDT, however, was less - “only” 3-4 MAC. However, ecologists consider these indicators to be very good for the local soils. Indeed, back in the early 90s, DDT and HCH were sometimes found in the bottom sediments in these areas in monstrous concentrations - from 300 to 1000 (!) MPC (Fig. 57-59).

Pesticides buried in a ravine

Perhaps only specialists know that in the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which came into force on January 1, 1997, there is an entire section “Environmental crimes”. However, the articles from this section are used quite rarely in practice, but not at all because everything is fine with the environmental situation in our country, but for a more prosaic reason. It turns out that the mechanism for applying these articles of the Criminal Code in real cases is still poorly developed.

That is why the criminal case, which was initiated by the Samara Environmental Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office shortly after the new Criminal Code of the Russian Federation came into force - in September 1998, was of great interest to ecologists, based on the fact that the police discovered the unauthorized burial of a large batch of pesticides in the Kinelsky district. And two months later, this case was successfully brought to a guilty verdict. During a lengthy investigation, charges under Parts 1 and 2 of Art. 247 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the rules for handling environmentally hazardous substances and waste) and Part 1 of Art. 254 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (damage to land) was brought against the Vice-Rector of the Samara Agricultural Academy for Academic Affairs Yuri Sizov and the agronomist of the Agricultural Academy Konstantin Mayorov. It should be noted that under the first of these articles the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for punishment of up to five years in prison, and under the second - up to two years.

The investigation established that back in August 1997, the Agricultural Academy needed to carry out repairs at a pesticide warehouse located in the village of Ust-Kinelsky, Kinelsky district. The vice-rector of the Agricultural Academy Sizov, having examined the warehouse, discovered several dozen barrels with various pesticides and other toxic substances. There were such toxic chemicals as vofatox, metaphos, amirox, phthalofos, mercury-containing preparations granosan and agrozan, and even DDT, which has long been banned for use in most developed countries. Some of the barrels had been lying here for many decades, and therefore it is not surprising that for most of the pesticides, by the time they were discovered, the guaranteed shelf life had already expired.

It was impossible to begin renovating the warehouse without clearing the premises of everything unnecessary. Sizov began to find out where pesticides with expired shelf life could be officially sent. It turned out that the nearest facility for processing waste of such a high hazard class is in Bashkiria. It was immediately calculated that transportation and delivery to the special plant of all harmful substances from the Agricultural Academy warehouse would cost the academy a tidy sum, which the educational institution, of course, did not have.

After all the calculations, Sizov called the agronomist of the Agricultural Academy Mayorov to his office and ordered something to be done with the ill-fated waste - for example, to plow it into the soil in one of the fields of the academy's agricultural farm. However, Mayorov reasonably noted in response that after such an “operation” it would be impossible to grow anything on the poisoned field for many decades. Then Sizov ordered that the unnecessary pesticides be taken somewhere out of sight and simply buried.

As a result, in the same August 1997, the SKhA entered into an agreement with a brigade of shabashniks led by a certain citizen Mikaelyan for the removal of garbage and other waste from a warehouse in the village of Ust-Kinelsky, as well as for the subsequent repair of the warehouse premises. Over the course of a week, a team of workers on a tractor and trailer transported poisonous barrels to a ravine four kilometers from the village, where they were buried in the ground upon completion of the work.

Later, the investigation revealed a glaring fact: no one from the academy’s management informed the foreman of the coven workers about the nature of the “garbage,” as a result of which the workers loaded toxic chemicals into the cart without having the special clothing and respirators required in such cases. Moreover, one of the brigade members was still a minor in August 1997. True, over the years, the investigation has not been able to establish whether such a gross violation of labor safety rules had any impact on the health of workers.

Another tragicomic fact also emerged during the investigation. As it was established, Mikaelyan’s team, on the instructions of Mayorov and Sizov, buried in the ill-fated ravine 422 kilograms of pesticides belonging to the agricultural academy, plus almost 6.8 tons (!) of pesticides and other hazardous substances, the owner of which was the Volga Region Research Institute of Selection and Seed Production. Actually, the investigation into this criminal case began only after the police received a statement from the management of the said research institute about... the theft of pesticides belonging to it. It was then that it became clear that there was no theft, but only the arbitrary actions of the vice-rector of the Agricultural Academy, Yuri Sizov, who did not know that he had ordered the destruction of property that did not belong to his department. However, the legal mechanism had already begun to spin, and then the environmental prosecutor's office intervened in the matter.

An environmental assessment found that as a result of unlawful actions of the academy's management, about 200 square meters of land were poisoned, where the content of metaphos in the soil exceeded the maximum permissible standards by 8.5 times, DDT by 4.4 times, hexachlorocyclohexane by 53 times, and pesticide called HCH-minan - as much as 2122 (!) times. It is significant that for the mercury-containing preparations granosan and agrozan, experts found it difficult to name the exact figure for exceeding the standards, since for these substances the norm is only their complete absence in the soil.

The hearing of this criminal case, unprecedented at that time in Russian practice, in the Kinelsky District Court, chaired by Judge Nikolai Vasev, lasted more than a month. As a result, the court found the vice-rector of the Union of Artists, Yuri Sizov, guilty under the above-mentioned articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced him to one year of suspended imprisonment. As for Konstantin Mayorov, he was acquitted by the court - it was recognized that the agronomist of the Agricultural Academy was only following the instructions of his immediate supervisor Sizov, for which reason he was released from criminal liability.

In total, over the past decade, the Samara Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office has identified dozens of cases of soil contamination on various farms in the Samara region. In particular, illegal burials of toxic chemicals (pesticides and agrochemicals), including polydim and granosan, which are banned in Russia, are regularly discovered in former collective and state farms, and dangerous concentrations of the well-known DDT are also revealed, which creates a threat of contamination not only of the land , but also groundwater. Based on the results of such checks, criminal cases were initiated. Most of them, as was the case above, reached a court decision.

Experts agree that unauthorized dumping of agrochemicals in close proximity to rural settlements poses a real threat to the health and lives of local residents. Finding people in a hotbed of such pollution during the working day without special respiratory and skin protection can lead to severe and even fatal injuries. The greatest risk was faced by the adult population during agricultural work, as well as by children playing near the burial site.

The prosecutor's office must inform local authorities of the occurrence of such emergency situations. The result is always not only an investigation of a criminal case, but also the complete elimination of illegal burial. And this, in this case, is the most important thing in protecting the environment (Fig. 60-68).

Valery EROFEEV.

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Khramkov L.V., Khramkova N.P. 1988. Samara region. Tutorial. Kuibyshev, Kuib. book publishing house 128 p.

Khramkov L.V. 2003. Introduction to Samara local history. Tutorial. Samara, publishing house "NTC".

Sherstyukov B.G., Razuvaev V.N., Efimov A.I., Bulygina O.N., Korshunova N.N., Apasova E.G., Anurova L.G., Shurueva L.V. 2006. Climate of the Samara region and its characteristics for climate-dependent sectors of the economy. Samara, publishing house Artel LLC, 168 p.

Shefov N.A. 2000. Millennium of Russian history. M., Veche publishing house, 576 p.

Ecological situation in the Samara region: state and forecast. Ed. G.S. Rosenberg and V.G. Bespalgo. Togliatti, IEVB RAS, 1994. 326 p.

Ecology of the Samara region. Bibliographic index. Samara Regional Universal Scientific Library. Samara, 1997.

Yablokov A.V., Ostroumov S.A. 1983. Wildlife conservation: problem and prospects. M., Lesn. industry, 269 p., ill.

The soil cover of the Samara region is represented by a wide variety of soil types. These include soddy-podzolic, podzols, gray and dark gray, dark and light brown soils, chernozems of all types, chestnut, carbo-petrozems, carbo-lithozems, organo-accumulative dark-humus and gray-humus soils, gypsum-lithozems, stratozems, various alluvial soils, solonchaks, solod and solonetzes, agro-gray, agro-soddy-podzolic, agro-chernozems, agro-tusk soils, agro-texture-differentiated, agrozems, technozems.

Figure 1 – Soils of the Samara region

Samara region – a kind of soil museum of European Russia. Due to the fact that its territory is located on the border of forest-steppe and steppe, as well as the very wide variety of soil-forming rocks and landforms, the landscape here is very complex and contrasting. The greatest diversity of soils is characterized by Samara Luka, where the diversity of soil-forming rocks contributes to the proximity of a wide variety of zonal soil types - from sod-podzolic to segregated chernozems.

On the northern slopes of Zhiguli, the rarest soils for continental forest-steppe are recorded - brown soils. The peaks of the Zhiguli Mountains are represented by the most ancient soil-vegetative complexes - steppes on soddy-carbonate soils - carbon-petrozems and carbon-lithozems. Low Trans-Volga region and floodplains of the river. The Volga is represented by ancient and modern alluvial soils, south of the mountains. Samara, within the flat plains, salt marshes appear (plump, wet, black). Solonetzes are characteristic of the eastern and southeastern regions of the region, where they form on flat accumulative plains. On the Syrt hills of the south of the Samara region. Peculiar chernozems are widespread: migration-mycelial, segregation, migration-segregation, textural-carbonate.

On the border with the Saratov region. There is an area of ​​chestnut soils. Due to the dominance of red-colored soil-forming rocks, the High Trans-Volga region is represented by special genera of dark gray red-profile soils and clay-illuvial and migratory-mycelial red-profile chernozems. Dark humus red-profile soils are also found here. At Sokskie Yary, a variant of dispersed carbonate chernozems was discovered, not typical for the European territory of Russia, but widespread in Siberia.

The Buzuluksky pine forest is dominated by gray humus soils, as well as various variants of underdeveloped alphehumus soils. In the north and north-west of the region there are many sandy and sandy loam soils, which is due to the presence of ancient alluviums of the Volga. The predominant type of soil on loamy rocks is dark gray soil. Agrogenic soils are common in all areas of the Samara region. and formed as a result of agricultural development of natural soils.

In Samara and Tolyatti there are local areas of technogenic artificial soils - technozems and urban soils - urbanozems and urban-natural soils.

CONCLUSION

The Middle Volga region is characterized by a sharply continental arid climate with high summer and low winter temperatures, variability of precipitation and heat over months and years, and rapid transitions from winter to spring and summer. Characteristic features of the region are insufficient provision of plants with moisture, frequent droughts and hot winds. The average annual precipitation in the forest-steppe is 450-550 mm, in the steppe - 250-350 mm, and the amount of evaporated water in April-October is 2.5-5 times higher than the amount of precipitation that fell during this period. In this regard, the main limiting factor in obtaining high and sustainable yields of agricultural crops is the lack of water, the accumulation, preservation in the soil and use by plants depends largely on its processing.

At the same time, the region has fertile chernozem soils of medium and heavy texture. In the northern part, there are mainly leached, ordinary chernozems with a humus content in the arable layer of 6-8%, in the southern part there are typical, southern chernozems containing 3-7% humus.

But, unfortunately, there is an accelerated process of reduction in humus content and soil fertility, which is due to increased water and wind erosion, insufficient supply of organic matter and the use of fertilizers, saturation of field crop rotations with crops that leave little organic matter, over-compaction of the soil under the influence of the mass of heavy equipment, etc.

Preserving the soil and nature as a whole, according to the general opinion of scientists and practitioners working in the agricultural sector, is possible with an integrated approach to rational farming, the development and implementation of adaptive landscape farming systems on farms, taking into account diverse local conditions. And one of the main elements of the farming system, which has a comprehensive effect on the condition of the soil, is its cultivation.

Thus, natural factors and intense anthropogenic impact on the territory of the Middle Volga region have led to the activation of a number of modern exogenous relief-forming processes that have a negative impact on the national economy. In this regard, environmental protection issues should primarily include: comprehensive measures to protect soils from erosion and deflation; landslide protection; reforestation and planting of shelterbelts; development of a wide range of land reclamation, including phytomelioration; strict adherence to the irrigation regime and a demanding attitude to the maintenance of the irrigation network; introduction of scientifically based standards of mineral, organic fertilizers and pesticides; protection of water bodies from siltation and accumulation of toxic products; nurturing environmental awareness among all categories of the population.

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

1. Sedaikin V.M., Lototsky G.I., Romanov A.A. Modern exogenous relief formation in various landscape zones of the Lower Volga region. //Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of the Volga region and Southern Urals. SSU Publishing House, 1982. pp. 153 - 167.

2. Dynamic geomorphology. Ed. Ananyeva G.S., Simonova Yu.G., Spiridonova A.I. Publishing house of Moscow State University, 1992. 445 p.

3. Kuznik I. A., Voronin N. G., Dick E. P. Anti-erosion complex of the Volga region. Volga book publishing house. Saratov, 1968. 90 p.

4. Zorin L.V. The role of hydrophysical processes in relief formation and sedimentation. Institute of Water Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences. M.: "Nauka", 1977. 240 p.

5. Avenarius I.G. Intensity of modern fluvial processes in the semiarid climate of Western Kazakhstan. // Climate, relief and human activity. Kazan University Publishing House, 1978. Part 1. pp. 140 - 141.

6. Report of the Saratov branch of the Yuzhgiprozem Institute on the study of soil erosion in the Saratov region. Saratov, 1983. 170 p.

7. Zayonts V.N., Goroshkov Yu.V., Lototsky G.I. et al. Conducting a special engineering-geological survey of the N. Volga region. Research report. Saratov, 1981, vol. 1. 381 p., vol. 2. 412 p.

8. Lototsky G.I. On the intensity of development of gully erosion in the Saratov Volga region. //Patterns of manifestation of erosion and channel processes in various natural conditions. Moscow State University Publishing House, 1987. pp. 77-78.

9. Lototsky G.I. Some features of the development of slope processes in the Saratov Right Bank. //Questions of physical geography and geomorphology of the Lower Volga region, vol. 3 (7). SSU Publishing House, 1975. pp. 63-72.

10. Iovlev V.P., Kvitka V.V. Exogenous geological processes on the territory of the Saratov region in 2000. Information report, Saratov, 2001. 85 p.

11. Dedkov A.P. Exogenous relief formation in the Kazan-Ulyanovsk Volga region. Kazan University Publishing House, 1970. 255 p.

12. Lototsky G.I. About nival processes in the Saratov Right Bank. //Questions of geomorphology of the Volga region. Vol. 2 (5). SSU Publishing House, 1978. pp. 48-51.

13. Adas M. M. Study of the material composition of bottom sediments of the Saratov reservoir in 1971 - 1975. Materials of the hydraulic expedition of the MINGEO RSFSR, M., 1978. 126 p.

14. Lototsky G.I. Modern exogenous relief formation and environmental protection in the Saratov Volga region, Saratov 2002.

15. Soil chemistry: textbook for universities/A.E. Vozbudetskaya, ed. D.L. Askinazi - 3rd ed. - M.: Higher School, 1968. - 427 p.

Geography of the Samara region

What is this feeling? Yes, a feeling!

A feeling that has no name.

And maybe explanations too...

As if I suddenly ran out onto the porch

Early in the morning - goosebumps! –

And I saw, as if for the first time, in person

Motherland...

White shocks of bird cherry trees

a bunch of birches in white stockings,

a couple of rowan trees clinging to the house,

tracks on the grass from cart wheels -

The rain has just woken up in the grass,

green to the heat of the emerald fields...

I know there are different countries in the world,

the best in the world, their name is Russia!

Sergey Vikulov

Plan

1. Natural conditions.

2. Geographical names.

3. Environmental problems.

Literature

– Barashkov V.F., Dubman E.L., Smirnov Yu.N., Samara toponymy. Samara, 1996.

– Green Book of the Volga Region: Protected areas of the Samara region / (Compiled by Zakharov A.S., Gorelov M.S. – Samara, 1995.

– Natural monuments of the Kuibyshev region / Compiled by: V.I. Matveev and M.S. Gorelov. Kuibyshev: Book. publishing house, 1986.

– Nature of the Kuibyshev region. – Samara, 1990.

- Samara Region. Textbook / Compiled by: E.Ya.Dmitrieva, P.S.Kabytov. – Samara, 1998.

– Samara region in the history of Russia. Materials of the anniversary scientific conference. February 6-7, 2001 Samara, 2001.

– Uchaikina I.R., Lopukhov N.P. Geography of the Samara region. A textbook for students in grades 8-9 of secondary school. – Samara, 1996.

1. Natural conditions of the Samara region

The Samara region is located in the middle reaches of the Volga River, dividing it into two unequal parts - the Volga region and the Trans-Volga region. It is located at the junction of two soil-climatic zones - forest-steppe and steppe. The region occupies an area of ​​approximately 54 thousand square kilometers. It borders on the Ulyanovsk, Saratov and Orenburg regions, as well as Tatarstan. The population is approaching 3.5 million people.

The center of the Samara region is the city of Samara, located on the left bank of the Volga. Most of the city is located between the Volga and its left tributaries – Samara and Sok. Its length along the river is 50 km. from North to South. Its northern border is the forested Sokoli Mountains, located on the banks of the Sok River. To the east of the Volga, the city stretches for 20 km and borders on endless steppes. From the high points of Samara you can see the Zhigulevsky Gate - one of the most beautiful places on the Volga bend. Most of the Zhiguli Mountains are located on the territory of the Samarskaya Luka National Park

Climate.

The Samara region is located in the zone of influence of the Asian continent, which is strongly heated in summer and cooled in winter, as well as the Atlantic Ocean, which softens temperature fluctuations. The climate of the region is characterized by cold and little snow winters, short springs, hot and dry summers. The duration of winter is 150-155 days, and summer (with temperatures above +10 C) is 140-147 days.

The greatest amount of precipitation falls in the northern part of the Samara Trans-Volga region, where the average annual amount exceeds 400 mm. The lowest amount of precipitation is typical for the southern steppe regions. Dry winds are common in the summer months. In the warm season, the air basin of the region is characterized by high dust content. To obtain accurate data on the level of environmental pollution in the region, there is a network of observation points.

Geology and minerals.

The region is located on the southeastern part of the Russian Platform and is characterized by a calm tectonic environment. The crystalline Precambrian foundation of the Russian Platform is composed of granite gneisses. Its age is over 1 billion years. Above the foundation are deposits dating back to the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.

The Paleozoic era lasted about 365 million years. It is divided into the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods. In the first three periods, the territory of our region was dry land, and sediments from that time have not been preserved. During the Devonian period, there were repeated advances of the sea from the southeast. Its deposits are a thickness of sandstones and clays with interlayers of limestone. At the end of the Carboniferous period there was a general subsidence of the Russian Platform and the advance of the sea. During the Permian period, marine conditions persisted.

The Mesozoic era lasted about 115 million years. It is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The Jurassic period was characterized by a warm and humid climate, as well as the advance of the sea. Marine sediments are represented by gray calcareous clays and marls.

The Cenozoic, the newest era of the geological history of the Earth, lasted about 70 million years and is divided into Paleogene, Neogene, Quaternary or Anthropocene. In the Neogene, the territory of the region was covered by the waters of the sea, called Akchagyl, which deposited clayey sediments. The formation of the Zhiguli dislocation and the ancient valleys of the Belaya, Kama, Samara and other rivers dates back to this time.

During the Quaternary period, Europe was subject to three great glaciations. The glacier did not reach our region, but the waters formed as a result of the melting of the ice rushed to the sea and flowed through its territory.

The Samara region is rich in mineral resources. The most important of them are oil and natural gas. The first industrial oil was obtained from the Syzran uplift in 1936. In 1944, oil was first obtained from Devonian formations in Yablonevoy Gully. Currently, there are hundreds of deposits in the region. Oil lies in layers located at a depth of 300 to 400 meters. These deposits are accompanied by accumulations of natural gas.

The region is also rich in solid fossil fuels: oil shale, asphalt, asphaltites. The largest oil shale deposit (Kashpirskoye) is located on the right bank of the Volga south of Syzran. Oil shale is mined and used as fuel, as well as to produce lubricating oils, paraffin, ichthyol, coke and liquid motor fuel.

Since the beginning of the 18th century, industrial development of native sulfur has been carried out in the region. The most famous are the Alekseevskoye, Syreyskoye and Vodinskoye deposits.

Limestones and dolomites, phosphorites, rock salt, chalk, quartz sands, and various clays are also of economic importance.

The region has a significant reserve of groundwater. In the upper horizons, the waters are usually fresh; they feed numerous springs, giving rise to streams and small rivers.

Mineralized waters with medicinal value are of great importance (Rameno, Laguna, Dvortsovaya, etc.). The Sergievskie Mineralnye Vody resort uses hydrogen sulfide springs effectively.

In connection with the development of quarries along the Volga banks, the problem of protecting the unique landscape of Zhiguli is very relevant.

Relief.

The territory of the region is divided into 5 geomorphological provinces: the Volga Upland, Samara Luka, Lowland Trans-Volga, High Trans-Volga and Syrtovoye Trans-Volga.

The first province is located in the western part of the region on the right bank of the Volga River. The massif is dissected by deep river valleys, ravines and ravines. A special feature of this province are chalk hills up to 180 m high, located near the village of Novodevichye. Chalk outcrops in the form of cones up to 50 meters high are found in the Syzran region.

Samara Luka is part of the Volga Upland and is separated from the main massif by a tectonic boundary. On its territory are the Zhiguli Mountains, which begin near the village of Usolye and stretch 75 km to the village of Podgory. The coastal strip of Zhiguli is heavily dissected by deep ravines and has the character of a mountainous country. At the confluence of the Usa River with the Volga there is one of the peaks - Molodetsky Kurgan, which rises almost 200 meters above the level of the Kuibyshev Reservoir. Between Bakhilova Polyana and the Shiryaevsky ravine there is the highest point of Zhiguli - Mount Strelnaya. Its height reaches 350 meters above the level of the Volga. It offers a beautiful view of the Volga expanses.

The length of the Volga bend from Molodetsky Kurgan to Perevolok is 135 km. This water route, popular among tourists, has long been known under the name “Zhigulevskaya Around the World”.

The province of Low Trans-Volga region is located along the left bank of the Volga. The height of its surface ranges from 20 to 150 meters above sea level. Its western part is the Volga valley, within which there are a floodplain and three above-floodplain terraces.

To the east of the Volga valley there is the syrt plain of the Lowland Trans-Volga region with a characteristic gently undulating relief of soft outlines. The river valleys cutting this territory (the rivers Samara, Chapaevka, Chagra, Bolshoy Irgiz and others) are characterized by asymmetrical terraced slopes.

The province of Vysokoe Zavolzhye occupies the northeastern part of the region.

Along the right bank of the Sok and Bolshoy Kinel rivers, the Sok and Kinel mountains stand out. The former reach the highest point of 317 meters, and the latter 200 meters and above. Along the left bank of the Volga below the mouth of the Sok River are the Sokoly Mountains. On the right bank of the Sok River, near its confluence with the Volga River, Tsarev Kurgan is located.

Sokoly Mountains are very picturesque. They are dissected by forested ravines, of which the most famous are Studeny and Koptev. The famous cave of the Greve brothers is located here.

The fifth of the provinces - the Sublime Syrt Trans-Volga region - is part of a hill called General Syrt. Here, on the border with the Orenburg region, are the sources of the Bolshoi Irgiz, Chapaevka, Sezzhaya and other rivers. The slopes of the watershed plateau abound with numerous springs.

Soils.

The ambiguity of bioclimatic factors determined the difference in soil cover in the northern and southern parts of the region. Gray forest soils, leached and typical chernozems predominate in the northern regions, and in the south they are replaced by southern chernozems, chestnut soils, as well as solonetzes and solonchaks.

In terms of humus content, the soils of the region are predominantly classified as medium- and low-humus. Rich chernozems occupy only up to 1% of the total territory. According to the size of the humus horizon, soils are classified as medium-dense and thin.

The region's chernozem soils are the most valuable natural resource. They formed under perennial grass vegetation of steppes and forest-steppes under conditions of moisture deficiency. As a result of incomplete decomposition of plant residues, humus or humus was formed. The area of ​​chernozems is 3921.4 thousand hectares. They occupy 73.3% of the entire territory of the region and are represented by podzolized, leached, typical, ordinary and southern chernozems.

In recent years, the region's lands have lost 20 to 30% of humus, the most important indicator of soil fertility. Almost a quarter of farmland is subject to water and wind erosion. Growing ravines destroy about 100 hectares of land annually. Numerous pipelines pass through the region, accidents on which lead to contamination of local soils with petroleum products and other harmful substances.

Reservoirs

The region's water bodies include large and small rivers, springs, lakes, ponds and reservoirs.

The largest river in the region is the Volga, which originates on the Valdai Hills. Among its largest tributaries within the region are the Samara. Bolshoi Irgiz, Sok, Chapaevka, Usa, Bezenchuk, Bolshoi Cheremshan and Syzran. These rivers with their tributaries form the river network of the Samara region.

The total length of the Volga is 3690 km, of which a section of 340 km falls in the Samara region. Currently, the bed of the Volga River is regulated and turned into the Kuibyshev and Saratov reservoirs.

In the river valleys of most rivers there are numerous oxbow lakes, which often occupy very large areas and are an important element of the landscape.

Among the local reservoirs there are many unique ones that are valuable natural monuments. These are lakes Yaitskoe and Jordan. Big

Shelekhmetskoye, Kamenny, Mokhovoe, Klyukvennoye, Uzilovo swamps, Fedorovskie oxbows and many others.

There are mineralized reservoirs on the territory of the region, the bulk of which are located in its northeastern and northern regions (lakes Sernoye, Goluboe and others). Water and mud from the bottom sediments of local mineralized reservoirs are used to treat diseases of the joints, cardiovascular and nervous systems, as well as skin, gynecological and some other diseases.

Forests.

Forests have enormous national economic, economic and social significance; they have climate-regulating, hydrological, anti-erosion, soil-protective effects and stabilize the natural environment as a whole. The forest supplies the population with clean air and serves as a place for recreation and tourism. Numerous animals and birds live here, the most valuable tree species, mushrooms, and medicinal plants grow.

In the Samara region, forests occupy about 11% of its territory. The area of ​​coniferous forests makes up 12% of the entire forested area of ​​the region. This is the most valuable part of forest resources.

Small areas of pine forests exist in the northeast of the region; in the High Trans-Volga region, on dark gray slightly podzolic soils. Thin areas of pine forest have been preserved in a number of places along the right bank of the Sok River. Areas of pine forest in the Sergievsky district (Minushkinskoye forestry) have been declared a natural monument. There are such areas in the Klyavlinsky district. Pine trees grow along the banks of reservoirs, in the valleys of the Kondurchi, Binaradka, Kurumoch, and Buyan rivers.

Forests play a very important soil-protective role, preventing siltation of springs and rivers, ensuring their full flow and preventing other unfavorable processes.

The Buzuluksky pine forest is a large island forest with an area of ​​110.6 thousand hectares. On the territory of the Samara region there is 53.6. thousand hectares of this forest, the rest is located in the neighboring one. Orenburg region. In the forest, about 40% of the area is currently occupied by pine, 21% by oak, 11% by maple, linden and alder, and approximately 28% by birch, aspen and other small-leaved species. This is an interesting and unique natural site.

On the right bank of the region, natural and artificial pine forests grow in the Volzhsky, Stavropol, Syzran and Shigonsky regions. On the territory of Samarskaya Luka, now declared a state national park, the forests are included in the zone prohibited for logging and have extremely important soil-protective, forest-reclamation and landscape-forming significance, and therefore require especially careful treatment.

Artificial pine trees also grow on Samarskaya Luka. They were laid more than 150 years ago and replanted several times in the following years.

Rare species such as lingonberries and blueberries grow in the right-bank forests, and cranberries and sundews grow in the swamps. Due to the great value and uniqueness of the right-bank pine forests, blocks 103, 112 and 113 of the Muransky pine forest, as well as block 91 near the village of Staraya Racheika, have been declared natural monuments.

The basis of the forest fund of the Samara region is made up of deciduous forests (oak, linden, maple, birch, elm, poplar, aspen, alder, willow and many others). Part of the territory of Samara from Voskresenskaya Square (now Samara) to the modern glade named after. M.V. Frunze at the end of the 19th century were covered with forests, and the local population called them “oak forests”.

Among the steppe expanses, the valleys of the Bolshoi Irgiz, Karalyk and Kamelik rivers stood out for their forest vegetation. Dense impenetrable forests grew here, where “many bears, foxes, martens, beavers and other fur-bearing animals lived.”

Aspen forests are quite widespread throughout the region - on Samarskaya Luka, in Klyavlinsky, Chelno-Vershinsky, Sergievsky, Isaklinsky and other areas. Linden forests are confined to relatively fertile soils. Pure birch forests are rare here.

The forest cover of the steppe zone of the region is extremely small. Therefore, the soil cover is almost defenseless against wind and water erosion.

Among the artificial forests of the steppe zone in the Samara region, a special place is occupied by forest belts created in 1889-1906. under the leadership of the famous Russian forest scientist N.K. Genko (1839-1904). They were planted along watersheds and have been successfully developing for more than 100 years. The forest belts, 639 m wide, have a total length of more than 150 km.

On the watersheds of the Sok and Padovka rivers there are Shilansky, Samara and Chapaevki - Dubovsky and Teplovsky, Chapaevki and Chagry - Kamyshlinskaya, Bezenchukskaya and Vladimirovskaya forest belts. They have noticeably changed the climate and hydrological regime of the Trans-Volga steppes, protect arable lands from dry winds, and prevent the formation of ravines.

In total, more than 30 natural monuments have been identified in the region. They represent a variety of objects, such as springs, river sources, steppe communities, forest areas, which are of great scientific value.

Steppes.

These are herbaceous, usually devoid of trees, plant communities confined to chernozem type soils. In the composition of these communities, xerophytic plant species play a major role. In the past, steppes occupied large areas not only in the southern, but also in the northern part of the region, where areas of steppe vegetation alternated with forest ones. The steppe regions were the base of Volga agriculture. Leveled watershed areas were plowed first. The cultivated areas in the region account for 70-80% of the territory. In the Samara region, meadow (northern) steppes, true or feather grass-fescue (southern), as well as special types of steppes - shrubby, rocky and sandy - are common.

Fertile, chernozem and chestnut soils have long been plowed, and pasture lands have shrunk. In this state of affairs, it is necessary to save even small areas of steppe vegetation that have scientific, educational and aesthetic value from further destruction.

Meadows.

Meadows are located in river valleys, in ravines and ravines, and less often on watersheds. They are divided into floodplain (floodplain) and. continental (watershed). And although meadow vegetation in the region does not occupy large areas, its role in nature and the national economy is great and varied.

The meadow fauna is usually divided into four main groups: grasses, sedges, legumes and forbs. Meadow vegetation mainly owes its origin to human activity. Forest regeneration in the meadows is hampered by annual haymaking, and dense turf does not allow tree and grass seeds to germinate.

The Middle Volga meadows serve as a good forage base for livestock farming. Historically, meadows produced high-quality hay. The meadows are also a favorite vacation spot for townspeople and rural residents.

Vegetation of water bodies.

The vegetation of reservoirs provides food for many water inhabitants; their thickets create shelters that serve as feeding grounds for juvenile commercial fish and nesting areas for waterfowl. Plants weaken the waves of the water and prevent the erosion of the banks. In the summer, during the process of photosynthesis, they enrich the water with oxygen, necessary for the breathing of most inhabitants of reservoirs.

A number of coastal aquatic plants, such as reeds, reeds, cattails and others, are used as building and wicker materials. Among the plants of reservoirs there are edible, medicinal, poisonous, honey-bearing, tannin-containing species, and some can be used as feed for farm animals. Some species are indicators of water quality. Plants purify water well from various harmful impurities, acting as powerful biological filters and have great decorative value. But at the same time, the annual mass death of plants contributes to the rapid siltation of water bodies, leading to their waterlogging and shallowing. In the reservoirs of the region and along their damp banks, 134 species of herbaceous plants grow, as well as a variety of moisture-loving trees and shrubs.

Animal world

The fauna of the Samara region is rich and diverse. More than 60 species of mammals, about 260 species of birds, dozens of fish species, and thousands of insect species are found in the region. The richness of the animal world determined the diversity of natural conditions in the region in the past. Therefore, among the wild animals of the region there are inhabitants of the taiga, mixed and broad-leaved forests, steppes and even more remote zones - tundra, semi-deserts: elk and wild boar, white polar owl, tundra partridge, steppe animals, bustard and little bustard, jerboa, fox-corsac mole rat and others .

Moose, roe deer, wild boars, badgers, and stoats live in forest and forest-steppe areas. There are black grouse, wood grouse, hazel grouse, nutcrackers, and jays. All natural complexes are inhabited by foxes, hares (hare and hare), and horis. European red deer brought from the Voronezh region have taken root in a number of forest places.

The seemingly deserted steppes are densely populated. The brown hare, polecat, hamster, gopher, mouse, gray partridge, steppe kestrel, swift, and black lark live in it.

The region is inhabited by marten and European mink, the numbers of which are very low. The number of beavers and river otters is low. American mink is more common. The number of muskrats is high. The numbers of pine marten, badger, black and light ferrets, ermine and weasels are relatively good, and weasels are rare.

Wolves, raccoon dogs, lynx and steppe cats are rare.

In the spring, starlings, warblers, nightingales, flycatchers, cuckoos, orioles, rollers and others come to us from warm countries. Bullfinches, sparrows, waxwings, finches, and tits remain for the winter. Some birds are migratory and vagrant. These include the whooper swan, the gray crane, the rough-legged buzzard, the humpback, the duck and others. 22 species of birds of prey from the order Falconiformes nest in the region. These are hawks - sparrowhawk and goshawk, harrier - field, meadow, steppe and marsh, black kite, white-tailed eagle, eagles - golden eagle, imperial eagle, steppe and great spotted eagle, common buzzard, honey buzzard, snake eagle, osprey, saker falcon, hobby hawk, peregrine falcon, falcon, common kestrel and steppe kestrel. Nine species of them are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. They exterminate a huge number of rodents and harmful insects.

The reservoirs are rich in game. Ducks are especially common among us: mallards, shovelers, gray ducks, pintails, teals (wheezers and waders), red-headed pochards, and ogre (red ducks) - now a rare bird in our country.

The rail family unites water and marsh birds: coot, corncrake, moorhen, Sultan's hen, crakes (3 species). Gray goose, mute swan, and demoiselle crane nest in a number of places.

Beneficial insects are of great importance in nature: beauty beetles, ladybugs, which eat a lot of harmful caterpillars. Bumblebees, bees, and butterflies are plant pollinators.

The Middle Volga is part of the famous Volga-Kama fishery region, which produces more than half of the all-Russian catch of pike perch and bream, almost three-quarters of the roach catch and more than half of the world sturgeon catch.

The unfavorable ecological situation on the rivers of the region led not only to a reduction in the number of individuals of many fish species, but also to the disappearance from the ichtofauna of the region of beluga, Russian sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, thorn, Caspian salmon, white fish, Volga herring, Caspian belly and shemaya. Of the sturgeon species, only the sterlet is found in our country.

The species diversity of fish in the region's water bodies is concentrated in the order Cypriniformes. It includes 31 species, distributed in 20 rows: bream (bream, white-eye, bluegill), silver bream, roach, rudd, minnows (common and lake), asps, dace (common dace, chub, ide), tenches, subdus, gudgeons , tops, bleaks, sabrefish, bitterlings, crucian carp (golden, silver), carp (carp is a domesticated form of carp), grass carp, silver carp, buffalo. The leading place in the catches belongs to bream, roach, and blue bream.

Fish from the order Perciformes (bersh, ruffe, perch, pike perch, rotan) are also common. More rare are catfish, burbot, river eel, and pike.

In a number of areas of the region there is a pond fishery. Large fisheries are organized in the Suskansky Bay of the Kuibyshev Sea, in Pestravsky, Bolshe-Chernigovsky, Bolshe-Glushitsky, Elkhovsky and other areas of the region.

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MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

FEDERAL STATE BUDGET EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

ST. PETERSBURG STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF SOIL SCIENCE AND AGROCHEMISTRY NAMED AFTER L. N. ALEXANDROVA

COURSE WORK

SOILS OF THE SAMARA REGION AND WAYS FOR THEIR RATIONAL USE

Is done by a student

Groups 022121

Doroshev V. S.

Checked:

Senior Lecturer

Ivakhnova O. F.

St. Petersburg, Pushkin

Introduction

1.1 Climate

1.3 Soil-forming rocks

1.4 Relief

2. Soil cover

3.2 Agrochemical properties

4. Reclamation state of arable soils

5. Agroproduction assessment of arable soils

5.1 Assessment of humus status

5.2 Soil grading and agrogrouping

Bibliography

Introduction

Today, during the revival of agriculture in Russia, while cultivating more and more land, it is very important to do this with care in relation to the soil - it is very easy to lose fertility, it is much more difficult to restore it: “The annual loss of humus is on average 0.7 tons in the region /ha, in some areas more than 1 t/ha. The decrease in humus content is explained by the increased level of intensification of agriculture, insufficient application of organic and mineral fertilizers that do not compensate for the removal of nutrients by the crop, and the low specific gravity in the soils of perennial grasses that accumulate humus.

Farmland with unfavorable properties accounted for more than a quarter of the total area of ​​agricultural land: saline, solonetz complexes, acidic, waterlogged, swampy, rocky, overgrown with bushes and small forests, downed.

The processes of pasture degradation continue as a result of excessive load.

Soil erosion causes great damage to fertility. In total, 895.1 thousand hectares are affected by washouts of varying intensity, 25.4 thousand hectares are subject to wind erosion, 1,527 thousand hectares are subject to deflationary hazardous lands, and 1,706.2 thousand hectares are susceptible to erosion. The area under the ravines is 15.7 thousand hectares, or 1660 ravines, under the sands - 3.1 thousand hectares.

Unfavorable trends prevail in irrigated agriculture: the area of ​​flooded and secondary salinized lands is growing, the return of irrigated lands is insignificant.

Most of the region's arable land is subject to anthropogenic pollution. Pollution with petroleum products, pesticides, heavy metal salts, agricultural and industrial waste, as well as household waste is progressing. Most settlements do not have treatment facilities or equipped waste disposal sites. It has been established that in the soil cover of the region the most common foci of pollution are heavy metals: chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, lead, molybdenum.

The region is among the most saturated with pipelines. Both the construction of pipelines and their further operation have a negative impact on the environment. During construction, these are various forms of disturbance of the earth's surface, activation of erosion processes, channel deformations, relief formation in hilly areas, etc. During operation, this means contamination of the territory with pumped products (oil and its products, gas, ammonia, etc.).”

study the characteristics of soils and factors affecting the soil;

identify the most important factors;

determine the most sustainable farming methods in the region.

Goal: To develop an understanding of the problems of agriculture in the Samara region and ways to solve them.

1. Geographical location and characteristics of soil formation factors

1.1 Climate

“The characteristic features of the climate of the region are the predominance of clear and partly cloudy days throughout the year, cold and little snow winters, short springs, hot and dry summers, short autumns, and a relatively high probability of spring and autumn frosts.

Air temperature. The coldest month of the year for the entire region is January or February and, in rare years, March (1915). The average air temperature in January varies across the region from west to east from -13.0 to -14.8 degrees. The absolute minimum for the year is observed in January and drops to -49 degrees on the left bank, and to -43 degrees on the right bank. The transition of the average daily air temperature through 0 degrees occurs throughout the region in the first ten days of April. The transition of the average daily literature through 10 degrees occurs on the right bank on April 27-29, in the Low Volga region on May 2. Thus, the spring rise in air temperature is very intense and the duration of spring is short. Spring is especially fleeting and sunny in the south of the region. The warmest month of the year is July. The average air temperature in July increases from north to south from 19.4 degrees to 21.8. The maximum air temperature reaches its highest values ​​in July from 35 degrees in the north to 40 in the south, with a shift in some years to June or August and even, as was the case in 1950, to April. From the second half of August the air temperature begins to decline. The first frosts appear in September. The earlier ones are in the lowland part of the High Trans-Volga region (September 17-20), the later ones are in the right bank and the steppe part of the region (September 26-October 2). The sum of average daily active temperatures (>10 degrees) is in the range of 2200-2700 degrees.” (Agroclimatic reference book for the Kuibyshev region, Leningrad, 1956 p. 7)

Soil temperature.“On bare soil in summer, the temperature at a depth of 25 cm is 3-4 degrees higher than under soil with vegetation. Wet soils in summer have a lower temperature in depth than dry soil. The duration and depth of soil freezing on the right bank is less than on the left bank of the region, where the greatest depth of soil freezing reaches 2 m. The maximum depth of soil freezing is observed in March and early April. Thawing of the soil occurs very quickly and almost simultaneously at all depths and closely coincides with the moment the snow cover melts.” (Agroclimatic reference book for the Kuibyshev region, L, 1956 p. 8)

Air humidity. “The average monthly relative humidity at 13:00 is lowest in July and decreases from north to south from 50 to 37%. The deficit of air humidity in the cold season, from November to March, is very small and the diurnal variation is insignificant. In spring, the air humidity deficit increases sharply, and the average daily air humidity deficit reaches its highest values ​​in June from 10 mb in the north to 30 mb in the south of the region.” (Agroclimatic reference book for the Kuibyshev region, Leningrad, 1956 p. 8) Atmospheric precipitation and snow cover . “The right bank and forest-steppe region of the High Trans-Volga region are characterized by the most favorable moisture conditions, where precipitation falls up to 470 mm per year. The steppe part of the region is characterized by the least annual precipitation, especially in the southeast, where only 270 mm falls per year. In years with a normal distribution of precipitation, more of it falls during the growing season, with a predominance in July-August, and less in the winter. However, this distribution of precipitation in some years is disrupted and the maximum precipitation shifts to the autumn months; This is usually observed in dry years. Particularly unfavorable consequences for vegetation are cases of combined action of autumn and subsequent spring-summer drought. Examples of such prolonged droughts were 1935-1936 and 1953-1954. Precipitation falls unevenly throughout the region, which is due to the features of the relief. Elevations cause an increase in precipitation above or in front of them and a slight decrease in the valleys. Precipitation instability is characteristic not only over the territory, but also over individual years and months. There are years when 50% of the normal annual precipitation falls within one month and, conversely, when there is no precipitation for a month or more. Dry periods interrupted by light rainfall can last much longer (up to 90 days), as in 1921. The largest number of days with precipitation occurs in December-January, the smallest in July-August. On the right bank, the number of days with precipitation reaches 155, in the south and southeast of the region - 140-145 days. During the warm period (April-September), the number of days with precipitation in the south of the region does not exceed 73. The average long-term duration of precipitation (in hours) according to Kuibyshev, calculated on the basis of visual observations by month and year, is characterized by the following values: January - 210, February - 144, March - 150, April - 75, May - 60, June - 37, July - 44, August - 39, September - 46, October - 100, November - 137, December - 205, overall for the year - 1247. A stable snow cover forms at the end of the second or at the beginning of the third ten days of November. The average duration of its occurrence is from 158 days in the forest-steppe part to 141 days in the steppe part. The snow cover reaches its maximum height and greatest density in the first or second ten days of March. The snow cover melts in the steppe part of the region at the beginning of the second ten days of April, in the forest-steppe part at the end of the second ten days of April.” (Agroclimatic reference book for the Kuibyshev region, Leningrad, 1956 p. 8-9) Wind. A characteristic feature of the wind regime of the region is the predominance of southwestern and southern winds in the cold part of the year and western and northwestern winds in the warm part of the year. The average wind speed for the year is from 4 to 5 m/s. In winter, strong winds with speeds of up to 40 m/s can be observed in the steppe part of the region.” (Agroclimatic reference book for the Kuibyshev region, Leningrad, 1956 p. 9)

1.2 Vegetation - cultivated and wild

“...On the scale of a generalized geobotanical division, the region is located in two plant zones - forest-steppe and steppe. The forest-steppe occupies the entire right bank and half of the left bank, lying north of the Maly Kinel-Bolshoy Kinel-lower reaches of Samara. To the south of this line there is a steppe zone. The geography of natural landscapes reconstructed from botanical, soil-geographical and historical data leads to the conclusion that in the pre-agricultural period immediately preceding the widespread development of agriculture, the modern picture of the demarcation of forest-steppe and steppe zones was generally preserved in the territory under consideration; At the same time, the characteristics of the vegetation cover in various parts of these zones were preserved, or rather, were even greater. The right-bank forest-steppe is distinguished by significantly more forest cover than the left bank: 30 and 20% of the territory is occupied by forests, respectively. The central and northern parts of Samara Luka are almost completely covered with forests; there are also large forests in the Shigonsky district. Soil mapping materials indicate that in the recent past there were significantly more forests in the right-bank forest-steppe, since many areas with gray forest soils were identified among arable lands. But nevertheless, among the forests even in the pre-cultural period there remained treeless spaces of cereal-rich forb meadow steppes, and in some places real feather-grass-fescue steppes (I. I. Sprygin).

On the left bank, the most forested are the basins of the upper reaches of the Sok and Cheremshan, the Sok-Surgut-Bolshoy Kinel interfluve, the massif between the Volga and the lower reaches of the Kondurchi; but in general, forests are found dispersed on almost all watersheds in the form of small tracts, individual ridges, forest tracts near ravines, as well as in the floodplains of most rivers. The forests of the forest-steppe zone are mainly complex oak forests with greater or lesser participation of Norway maple, linden, and birch. The undergrowth developed in them consists of hazel, rowan, buckthorn, and euonymus; in forest clearings and edges - rose hips, spirea, broom, etc. The grass cover is dominated by shade-tolerant forest grasses - common grass, sweet woodruff, hairy sedge, forest fescue, budra, etc. The second type of forest characteristic of the region is pine forests, confined to sandy hillocks on ancient alluvial terraces (Murmansk and Buzuluksky forests) and heavily rugged rocky slopes (Zhigulevsky Mountains). The herbaceous cover of coniferous forests is quite monotonous and consists mainly of xerophytes (speedwell, sedum, cat's paw, ground reed grass, Marshall cornflower).

In more humid conditions, deciduous species are mixed with pine - linden, oak, birch, aspen, forming one or two tiers. In river floodplains, the most elevated, well-drained areas are usually occupied by oak and aspen, and sometimes birch. The herbaceous cover is abundant (bromeless brome, creeping wheatgrass, meadow bluegrass, meadow grass, blackberry, meadowsweet, bedstraw, sedge). Areas close to the shoreline, less elevated and less drained, are covered with elm forests with a similar herbaceous cover. The coastal strip is occupied by sedges, low places near the water on clay soils are occupied by willows and alders, the grass cover is dominated by plants of damp wetlands: sedges, rush grasses, chastukha, commonweeds and others.

Vast treeless spaces of flat watersheds, their gentle and wide ancient river terraces, now mostly arable agricultural lands, create the background of the natural landscape of the Trans-Volga forest-steppe. The vegetation of these spaces in the pre-agricultural period was represented by associations such as meadow steppes, which transformed into steppe meadows in the north of the zone, and into real steppes in the south. The basis of the grass stand of meadow steppes was made up of turf grasses - fescue, tonkonogo, bluegrass, some types of feathery feather grass, partly rhizomatous grasses (sheep, awnless brome and others). A large role in the formation of the grass stand also belonged to abundant colorful forbs, which created characteristic picture changes in aspects in late spring and the first half of summer. Such meadow steppes in the forest-steppe Trans-Volga region existed in some places until the middle of the 19th century, and in some places their small areas have survived to this day.

Along with rich forb-grass associations, the meadow steppes of the forest-steppe Trans-Volga region are characterized by associations with the dominance of steppe shrubs - bean, steppe cherry, spirea, chiliga, broom and others, which preferably develop along the uneven eroded sides of beams, sloping slopes of syrts or hills, in hollows on the watershed plateau; No less characteristic are the peculiar sparse tyrso-forb associations of the carbonate-stony steppe, specific for strongly sloping, well-lit slopes, ridges of watersheds, shikhans and similar convex relief elements, with frequent outcrops of bedrock. The bottoms of wide ravines are usually covered with forb-grass-bluegrass upland (steppe) meadows.

With a relatively close occurrence of groundwater along the bottoms of soil beams and ravines, low-lying meadows with forb-sedge-grass vegetation are formed. The grass stand is in good condition and has high feeding value, but sometimes the surface of the meadows is uprooted. The vegetation of river floodplains in the forest-steppe is very diverse and closely related to the soil cover of the floodplains, the depth of groundwater and the duration of the flood. These are short- and medium-season wet meadows, swampy meadows and swamps, steppe meadows, sometimes saline, and downed in pasture areas.

The steppe zone, to which the southern strip of the Volga region belongs, in its natural state, not disturbed by humans, is characterized by an almost complete absence of forests on watersheds, the dominance of frost-drought-resistant perennial herbaceous plant communities with a predominance of turf grasses. Following certain spatial changes in environmental conditions, podzol strips and smaller regions with a predominance of certain types and variants of steppe vegetation are differentiated in the steppe zone. Adjacent to the forest-steppe from the south, the landscape strip of real or typical (according to E.M. Lavrenko), open (according to I.I. Sprygin) steppes in its northern locations and in more moistened private positions of the relief was represented by plant groups close to the meadow steppes of the forest-steppe zones.

Species-rich forbs here continue to be the dominant component of the vegetation cover. Such variants of open steppes are especially common in the northern part of the transitional steppe strip of the Volga region (according to L.I. Prasolov), that is, in the interfluves of the Bolshoi Kinel-Maly Kinel, Maly Kinel-Kutuluk-Samara. The main space of the open steppe subzone, lying between Samara and the Greater Irgiz, was characterized by the predominance of forb-turf-grass plant associations, in which the main role was played by fescue, bluegrass, steppe narrow-leaved feather grass, wheatgrass, partly tonkonogo, bluegrass, steppe timothy. Dicotyledonous forbs, compared to meadow steppes, are significantly depleted in species and are less abundant in number. Plots of such steppes have been preserved here and there in places inconvenient for arable land - at a distance from villages, on the slopes of some ravines and gullies, among their branched openings, etc. When used for haymaking or moderate grazing, such a steppe is distinguished by a relatively developed and uniform grass stand with a predominance of feather grass and a large participation of fescue, a small amount of thin-legged grass, creeping wheatgrass, wheatgrass, astragalus, yellow alfalfa, steppe sage, and yarrow. As livestock grazing increases, the amount of wormwood among forbs increases significantly. The productivity of these pastures is 12-15 c/ha of green mass. Most often on pastures one can find depleted wormwood-fescue steppe and its variants, depending on the degree of slaughter and soil erosion.

In conditions of rugged terrain, on steep eroded slopes with undeveloped soils, associations of steppe shrubs and xerophilic associations of rocky steppes, similar to similar associations of forest-steppes, find their place. With the increasing aridity of the climate to the south of the Karalyk and Bolshoi Irgiz rivers, the forb-fescue-feather grass true steppes turn into colorless feather grasses (according to V.V. Alekhin), forming a subzone of dry steppes. In the cereal base of such steppes, Lessing's feather grass becomes an edificator, together with tyrsa and fescue; Poa bulbous takes a significant part in the formation of late spring grass. Forbs are small in number and often include subshrubs of wormwood, chamomile, urinea, corticovegetative perennials and bulbous ephemerals that develop in early spring, when the soil is saturated with melt water.

In mid-summer, a distinct period of semi-dormancy begins in the development of vegetation of dry steppes. An important feature of the vegetation cover is the general sparseness of the grass stand, the predominance of incomplete, semi-closing associations: between the tufts of cereals, bushes of subshrubs and forbs, open areas of soil remain, on which small, quickly dying plants develop after rains. In addition, in the dry steppe, spotted, mosaic vegetation associated with solonetz soil complexes is strongly expressed: they are characterized by associations of fescue, wormwood, kochia prostrata, camphorosma, and chamomile. The steppe zone of the Trans-Volga region is now a region of high agricultural development. However, the period of widespread development is relatively short, hardly exceeding two or three centuries; Moreover, during the first half of this period, agriculture was very extensive, fallow and not continuous (focal, near settlements). Therefore, the steppe vegetation cover, disturbed by plowing and grazing, could periodically be naturally restored, more or less approaching the original virgin state. Typological analysis of the vegetation cover of the pre-cultural period provides important material for understanding the processes of soil transformation, their properties, geographical distribution and regional characteristics (Soils of the Kuibyshev region, 1985, Kuibyshev, pp. 39-43)

The average amount of litter on virgin chernozem lands per year is 15-25 t/ha. soil formation arable reclamation agro-industrial

Cultural vegetation. The climatic conditions of the Samara region allow the cultivation of heat-demanding crops, but they must be drought-resistant or intensively irrigated. As an example of crops cultivated in the region, the Agricultural Innovation Center "Orlovka Agro" grows: potatoes 357 c/ha; soybean variety Samer-1 10 c/ha; durum spring wheat of the Marina variety 22 c/ha; spring barley SDS Dolly 24 c/ha; corn 43 c/ha, winter wheat - 29 c/ha

1.3 Soil-forming rocks

“The geological structure of the territory of the Kuibyshev region includes deposits of the Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quaternary systems. Outcrops of the most ancient coal deposits, represented by limestones and dolomites, are found only on the northern outskirts of Samarskaya Luka, in the region of the Zhigulevsky Mountains: they almost do not take part in soil formation. Permian deposits are composed mainly of the north-eastern left bank part of the region, the region of the High Trans-Volga region. In addition, they occupy a significant area between the Bolshoy Kinel and Samara rivers in the area of ​​the city of Kuibyshev, on the Zhigulevskaya Upland, and are found in separate islands in the upper reaches of the river. Chagry, along the river. Vyazovki, near the city of Chapaevsk and in other places. Permian deposits are represented by rocks of the Kazan and Tatarian stages. The constituent rocks of the Kazan stage are various dolomites, layers of gypsum, limestone, marls and greenish-gray clays. The eluvium of these rocks serves as the soil-forming basis of the south-eastern part of the territory of Samara Luka, Sokoli Mountains, the upper reaches of the Cheremshana River, Soka and Surgut. The predominant development among the Permian formations was the rocks of the Tatarian stage, represented by pink, red, brown clays interlayered with pink, purple, green and gray marls, limestones, lenses of sands and sandstones. In the High Trans-Volga region, north of the Bolshoy and Maly Kinel, between Kutulk and Samara, eluvium of the Tatarian stage rocks is widely involved in the formation of the soil cover. To the south of the Kutuluk River, over Permian rocks lie continental sediments of the Triassic system, which are more widespread and protrude along the slopes of watersheds south of the river. Samara. They are represented by a complex suite of red-brown, yellow and gray sands, red and green thin-layered clays with thick, obliquely set slabs of conglomerates composed of Ural jasper pebbles, quartzites, sand inclusions and carbonate cement.

Rocks of the Jurassic system are represented in the region by the middle and upper sections. The Middle Jurassic is composed mainly of sands, with lenses of sandstones, less often with interlayers of clays; the upper layer consists of clays with sulfur pyrites, phosphorites, and layers of oil shale. Outcrops of rocks of the Jurassic system can be observed on Samarskaya Luka, near the village. Usolya, to the west and east of the city of Syzran, in areas adjacent to Oshchy Syrt, along Chapaevka, Karalyk, Bolshoi Irgiz and Syezzhay, where they cover high watersheds and passes.

Jurassic clays and their eluvium contain significant concentrations of sodium chloride and sulfate salts, therefore, in places where they are distributed there are often shales and shaly soils. Sediments of the Cretaceous system are recorded only in the right bank part of the region. From the city of Syzran to the border with the Saratov region and from the villages of Novodevichye and Balasheyka to the border with the Ulyanovsk region there are outcrops of the Lower Cretaceous, characterized by black and dark gray clays with a high content of gypsum and iron sulfide. The central part of the Volga Upland is composed of Upper Cretaceous deposits, among which light calcareous rocks predominate - chalk and marls. Emerging along the hilly ridges of the watersheds on the right bank of the Volga directly to the surface, Upper Cretaceous deposits create unique landscapes, characterized by bare, heavily rugged slopes covered with fine gravel eluvium with poorly developed soil cover. A fairly significant area in the Right Bank along the border with the Ulyanovsk region is occupied by the Paleogene, represented mainly by quartz sands with sandstone blocks.

In this regard, soils of sandy loam sandy mechanical composition have become widely developed here. In the Trans-Volga region, after the Jurassic deposits, a large break is noticed in the sequence of geological strata. Throughout the entire area of ​​the left bank of the region there are no Cretaceous rocks, with the exception of individual small areas with traces of Lower Cretaceous clays, in some places overlying the Jurassic deposits in a thin cover along the spurs of the General Syrt. No Paleogene deposits were also found. It is assumed that they were completely washed away in subsequent times by intense erosion. But sediments of the Neogene (its upper part - Pliocene) are widespread in the southern half of the Volga region, the nature of which shows obvious transgressiveness: they lean against massifs of older rocks or cover them in places with lower hypsometric levels. Starting from the east, from the spurs of the General Syrt, the thickness of Neogene (Pliocene) sediments quickly increases to the west and, near the Middle Volgian accumulative terraces, goes 100 m deeper under the modern Volga valley. The lower part of the Pliocene consists of a variable complex of freshwater lake-swamp alluvial layered clay and sandy deposits that filled the valley of the Proto-Volga and its main tributaries in the pre-Akchygal time (Kinel Formation). On top of the latter lie deposits of the Upper Pliocene, consisting of sediments of the marine Akchygal transgression, which are represented by black-gray, yellow-greenish, brown saline clays, with thin layers and lenses of sand, sandy loam, weakly cemented marls, and shell rocks. Both the thickness and composition of Akchagyl sediments are highly variable due to the bizarre coastline of marine transgression and depositional facies. Akchagyl clays contain a large amount of sulfate and chloride salts of sodium and magnesium, therefore the soils formed on them are characterized by salinity and alkalinity. Upward, the marine Akchagyl facies is replaced by freshwater, with the subsequent transition of the latter to the uppermost continental facies of the Pliocene, represented by syrt clays. They play a vital role in the formation of the modern relief and soil cover of the Syrtov Trans-Volga region south of the river. Samara, as well as north of Samara Luk - along the right bank of Kondurchi. Syrt clays reach their greatest thickness on the gentle northern slopes of the main interfluves: at the tops of watersheds and narrow inter-beam ridges their cover is much thinner. This gives reason to assume that deluvial processes played a major role in the formation of syrt clays. In terms of color (light brown), non-stratified composition and mechanical composition (from silty heavy loams to loess-like clays), syrt deposits are homogeneous over large distances. They are always carbonate, regardless of the relief.

Deep horizons often contain large calcareous nodules, crystalline accumulations of gypsum, and in places water-soluble chlorides and sulfides. Syrt deposits usually almost imperceptibly transform into surface quaternary formations - deluvial clays and loams, which are also characterized by a brown color, moderate carbonate content and lack of layering. This gives reason for many researchers to attribute the entire thickness, including Syrty clays, to the Quaternary. Deluvial deposits in areas of distribution of Permian, Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks have a predominantly clayey and heavy loamy mechanical composition (they have a dominant place), Paleogene deposits have a loamy and sandy loam. The former are characterized by moderate carbonate content, the latter are practically carbon-free. Clayey and heavy loamy colluvium is characterized by a dense composition and a tendency to split into prismatic units. Loams are looser in composition, darker in color, and are characterized by sufficient water permeability. Sandy loam is loose, structureless, highly permeable. Ancient alluvial Quaternary deposits, composing the above-floodplain terraces of the Volga, as well as the terraces of Sok, Samara, Bolshoi and Maly Kinel, Chapaevka, Bolshoi Irgiz and Syzran, have become widely developed in the region. The rocks that make up the most ancient, Mindel terrace of the Volga, practically do not differ from the deposits of the Syrt part.

The basis of the second terrace above the floodplain (Risskaya) is made up of light, light yellow and yellow-brown sands, often with interlayers of loam. The upper soil-forming horizons consist predominantly of yellow-brown, moderate-carbonate loams, and less often of sandy loams and sands. The ancient alluvium that formed the first floodplain terrace of the Volga consists of gray, brown and yellow-brown layered clays and loams, as well as yellow and gray sands. At their base there is often a layer of gray calcareous sand, a higher-layered sandy-clayey formation. The upper soil-forming horizon is light brown, finely porous, slightly carbonate loams, sometimes sandy loams and sands. Loams predominate in flat areas, sandy loams in elevated areas, and pure quartz sands in ridges. The above-floodplain terraces of the main Volga tributaries are distinguished by a more uniform composition of the sediments that form them: they are predominantly clayey and heavy loamy, with thin layers and lenses of sand and sandy loam. The youngest rocks of the Quaternary period are modern alluvial deposits that make up the floodplains of rivers. Their formation is associated with the frequency and conditions of sediment deposition by flood waters, therefore they are very heterogeneous geographically, in structure and composition.

The vertical profile of the floodplain formations clearly shows layering. The leveled spaces of the central floodplain are usually composed of silty clays and loams, often alternating with layers of sand and inclusions of pebbles; depressions are filled with silty sediments, and riverbed areas are filled with sandy loams and sands. The above reviews of the relief and geological structure show that on the territory of the Kuibyshev region in its different parts and relief conditions, geological formations of various genesis, age, mineralogical and mechanical composition, various products of their weathering and redeposition act as soil-forming (parent) rocks. Moreover, the qualitative features of the latter are largely determined by local climatic factors.

Data from the analysis of the loose soil-forming rocks prevailing in the region indicate their heterogeneity in mechanical composition. Most of them are coarse silty clays and heavy loams. The content of physical clay in sediments of clayey and heavy loamy mechanical composition ranges from 50 to 77%; The share of coarse dust accounts for an average of 15-30%, and the silt fractions account for 25-45%. As the mechanical composition of rocks becomes lighter, the content of fine fractions decreases and the number of sand particles increases. In the mechanical composition of medium loams, along with the predominant coarse silty-silty fractions, the fraction of medium sand, which dominates in the composition of light loams, increases.

The mechanical composition of rocks has a great influence on soil formation and the physicochemical properties of soils. Soils formed on silty-silty clayey, heavy and medium loamy sediments have a stronger structure, are more humified and are provided with nutrients. Soils formed on deposits of light loamy and sandy loam mechanical composition are loose, structureless, less humified and poor in nutrients. In addition to the listed dominant loose soil-forming rocks, there are many rocks of a coarser composition, to one degree or another crushed, gristly and rocky, heterogeneous in composition.

In most of the region, the soil-forming rocks are not salinized with easily soluble salts; Salinity is partly inherent in the Syrto sediments and especially in the eluvium of the Jurassic and Akchagyl. In syrt deposits, the total content of easily soluble salts averages 0.328%, the chloriodine-sulfate type and an average degree of salinity predominate.” (Geology of the USSR, edited by Sidorenko A.V., M. Nedra, 1973)

1.4 Relief

“The Kuibyshev region, although not distinguished by its particularly vast territory, is characterized by significant heterogeneity of natural conditions and soil cover... The right bank part of the region belongs to the Volga Upland and is characterized by a coarsely undulating topography, with raised plateau-like ridges and deep river valleys, gullies and ravines. In some places, especially along the banks of the Volga, the relief is crossed so significantly that it is called mountainous... In general, the relief of the Volga Upland is characterized by strong erosional dissection: 0.78-0.89 km/sq. km, the depth of local erosion bases is 138-142 m...The left bank part of the region, or Trans-Volga region, is generally characterized by the predominance of flat relief elements, which is associated with the geological history of the formation of this territory.

In the most general scheme, the geomorphological structure of the Kuibyshev Trans-Volga region is represented as the western wing of large tectonic uplifts of the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland and the general Syrt, decreasing and then being replaced by a vast pre-Volga depression with the Volga valley. The most elevated is the north-eastern part of the region, delimited from the south by the Kinel and Samara rivers, from the West by the Kondurcha, the lower reaches of the Sok and the Volga (in its section from the mouth of the Sok to the mouth of the Samara), called the High Trans-Volga region...Casters are widespread throughout the High Trans-Volga region relief forms: funnels, depressions of various sizes and depths... In terms of the density of erosional dissection, the High Trans-Volga region ranks second after the Volga region (right bank).

The total dissection of the territory is 0.8-1.1 km/sq. km. The south-eastern edge of the Kuibyshev Trans-Volga region, bordering the Orenburg region, is also distinguished by significant elevation and strong dissection... Large ridged ancient erosion relief is developed here, with remnant flat or hilly peaks reaching 220-260 m in absolute height (Blue Syrt)... To the west of the High Trans-Volga region and The spurs of the General Syrt extend to vast undulating-plain territories, gradually descending towards the Volga...

Currently, in the geology of the Volga region, several ancient alluvial terraces of different ages are distinguished, formed in the Quaternary under conditions of intermittent tectonic uplifts of the territory... Differences in the structure of the relief have a large and diverse impact on all elements of nature, including the soil cover of the Kuibyshev region.” (Soils of the Kuibyshev region, 1985, Kuibyshev, pp. 13-19)

2. Soil cover

2.1 Systematic list of soils in the Samara region

Typical chernozems - 1178.5 thousand hectares (regular - 562.1 hectares, carbonate dug - 68.7 hectares, residual carbonate - 339.2 hectares, underdeveloped - 27.8 hectares, solonetzic - 2.3 hectares, residual - meadow - 178.4 hectares);

Southern chernozems - 1113.4 thousand hectares (regular - 408.4 hectares, carbonate - 576.0 hectares, solonetzic - 2.1 hectares, residual meadow - 126.9 hectares);

Leached chernozems - 935.2 thousand hectares (regular - 844.0 hectares, residual meadow - 91.2 hectares);

Ordinary chernozems - 636.8 thousand hectares (ordinary - 345.3 hectares, carbonate - 55.8 hectares, residual meadow - 235.7 hectares);

Gray forest soils - 392.4 thousand hectares (light gray 34.1 hectares, gray - 45.1 hectares, dark gray - 313.2 hectares);

Residual meadow - 178.4 thousand hectares

Dark chestnut - 152.1 thousand ha

Solonetzes and their complexes - 130.1 thousand hectares

Podzolized chernozems - 57.5 thousand hectares

Meadow-chernozem - 52.0 thousand hectares

Meadow - 13.7 thousand hectares

Sod-carbonate - 9.6 thousand hectares.

List of soilsaccording to soil map:

Podzolized medium loamy chernozem on loess (including weakly, moderately and strongly washed away);

Podzolized sandy loam chernozem on loess (including moderately and heavily washed away);

Podzolized sandy chernozem on loess (including slightly washed away);

Leached, heavily loamy chernozem on loess (including weakly reclaimed);

Leached, medium loamy chernozem on loess (including weakly reclaimed);

Typical medium loamy chernozem on loess (including weakly reclaimed);

Typical sandy loam chernozem on loess, slightly washed away;

Alluvial meadow heavy loamy on alluvium.

Note: all soils on the soil map except the last one are arable land, the last one is meadow.

2.2 Profile structure of the most common soils and the main soil-formative processes

The Samara region is located in two natural zones - forest-steppe and steppe. This determines the difference in soil cover: “Within the forest-steppe zone, areas of gray forest soils, podzolized, leached and typical chernozems alternate...The steppe zone is a zone of predominance of ordinary and southern chernozems in the soil cover” (Soils of the Kuibyshev Region, 1985, Kuibyshev, p. 53) .

There are also soddy-carbonate soils in the region, but their content is only 2-3% and they are located under forests.

Gray forest soils are heterogeneous: light gray, gray and dark gray. Light gray and gray occupy only 0.5 and 0.8%, respectively, so they will not be considered either. Dark gray forest soils occupy 4.9% of the total territory of the region, with 22.3 thousand hectares under arable land. “...The soil-forming rocks for them were colluvial deposits of predominantly clayey and heavy loamy mechanical composition, weathering products of dense (Permian) and loose bedrock... Below is a description of the morphological profile of the most common clayey variety of dark gray forest soil. Section No. 37 was laid west of the village of Timashevo (collective farm named after Lenin, Shentalinsky district) on the crest of an interravine ridge. The land is arable land, cut depth is 170 cm, boiling from hydrochloric acid from 90 cm, release of carbonates from 116 cm.

And 0-36 cm - dark gray, lumpy-powdery, clayey, compacted, porous, sparse roots, gradual transition;

AB 36-47 cm - brownish-brown, coarse-grained, clayey, porous, slightly compacted, moist, with siliceous powder, gradual transition;

B 47-61 cm - dark brown, coarsely nutty, siliceous powder in the upper part, clayey, porous, moist, gradual transition;

BC 61-90 cm - yellow-brown, lumpy, clayey, porous, moistened, compacted, transition along the boiling line;

From 90-170 cm - yellow-brown, lumpy, clayey, moist." (p.72-73)

“Chernozems create the main background of the soil cover and are the main natural resource of agriculture in the region... The genetic profile of chernozems (in a generalized typified form) is characterized by a well-developed upper strata of intensive accumulation of humus, deeper than which there is a carbonate-illuvial (or carbonate-gypsum-illuvial) strata, passing into the parent rock not changed by soil formation. When morphologically characterizing chernozem soil, its profile is divided into the following horizons:

A - humus horizon of uniform, homogeneous and darkest humus color, with a clearly defined lumpy-grained structure. The transition to the next horizon is gradual, marked by the appearance of brown tints in color;

AB is a humus horizon with a not completely uniform and weakened humus color, against which the appearance of brownish or dark gray spots and areas is noticeable. The lower boundary of the horizon is distinguished by the beginning of the appearance of brown wedges; carbonates are possible;

B - illuvial, heterogeneous color, dark humus tongues, spots, drips alternating with patches of the color of the parent rock, lightened areas, carbonate deposits are possible;

BC is a transitional horizon of heterogeneous color, with a clear predominance of the color of the soil-forming rock, against the background of which there are individual spots or thin humus streaks. Whitish discharges of carbonates in various forms are common;

C - soil-forming rock, usually enriched with carbonate secretions.” (pp. 77-82)

Podzolized chernozems occupy 1% of the area; we do not consider them.

Leached chernozems. “...Developed mainly on deluvial and ancient alluvial deposits of moderately heavy and medium mechanical composition, less often on eluvium of various bedrocks, including marly and sandy ones. The characterized chernozem reflects the dominance of the meadow-steppe turf soil formation process, accumulating organic matter in the form of humus in the upper root layer..." (p.90)

“...description of section D-796, laid out on the Telma collective farm, Koshkinsky district, on the upper part of a very gentle, slightly undulating southwestern slope. The land is arable land. Cutting depth - 180 cm. Boiling from hydrochloric acid - from 83 cm. Release of carbonates in the form of pseudomycelium - from 88 cm, in the form of white-eye - from 120 cm.

Aroma 0-26 cm - homogeneous, gray-black, loose, powdery-lumpy, clayey;

And 26-42 cm - grayish-black, homogeneous, slightly compacted, powdery-grained, coarse-grained downward, clayey, gradual transition;

AB 42-67 cm - brownish-black-gray, dark brown downwards, powdery-coarse-grained, significantly compacted, clayey, gradual transition;

67-92 cm - unevenly colored due to the alternation of dark humus streaks with reddish-brown patches, compacted, granular-lumpy, clayey, clear transition;

BC 92-118 cm - yellow-brown, with rare dark streaks, dense, nutty-lumpy, clayey;

Sk 118-180 cm - yellow-brown dense clay.” (p. 92)

Typical chernozems. “...The genera are distinguished: ordinary, residual carbonate, carbonate dug, solonetzic, residual meadow (terrace)... Among typical chernozems, the most widespread is the genus ordinary... In this genus... formed along the flat tops of watersheds, ridges and slightly undulating slopes on brown eluvial soils. colluvial carbonate clays and loams. Below is a description of a section of typical medium-humus, medium-deep clayey chernozem. Section 6131. ​​Found on a plateau 350 m southwest of the Zagotskot estate in the Kinel-Cherkasy region. The land is a long-term fallow land. Effervescence from hydrochloric acid from 75 cm.

Aroma 0-25 - dark gray, slightly compacted, the structure is lumpy-powdery, fragile, penetrated by a dense network of grass roots, fresh, heavy loamy, lower limit in plowing depth;

A 25-45 - dark gray, with a faint brownish tint, compacted, porous, moist, lumpy-grained, heavy loamy, no visible discharge, gradual color transition;

AB 45-68 - dark brown, dense, porous, fissured, granular-lumpy, fewer roots than in the previous one, heavy loamy, the transition to the next horizon is clear at the end of massive deposits;

B 68-105 - dark brown, uneven color from rock wedges and molehills, dense, porous, heavy loamy, lumpy-nutty with a prism-like appearance, the release of carbonates in the form of blurry spots, the transition to the next horizon is clear at the end of massive deposits;

BC 105-140 - yellow-brown, spotted with molehills and weak humus deposits, dense, weakly expressed porosity, heavy loamy, nutty-prismatic, carbonate deposits in the form of a dense network of veins, gradual transition to the next horizon;

From 140-170- yellow-brown, fresh, clayey, dense, boils violently... Significant areas of them (typical residual carbonate chernozems - explanation) are occupied by pastures (120.9 thousand hectares) and forest lands (28.3 thousand hectares )…For morphological characteristics, a description is given of a section of typical residual carbonate, medium-humus, thin, medium-crushed clayey chernozem. Section 71. Founded on the collective farm named after. Kubyshev, Kinelsky district, 50 m southeast of the covered drain. The relief is wavy and undulating. The depth of the cut is 120 cm, boiling from hydrochloric acid from the surface.

Smell 0-23 - homogeneous, dark gray in color, loose, fresh, lumpy-powdery, fine gravel, the transition to the next horizon is clear by plowing;

AB 23-43 - somewhat lighter than the previous one, unevenly colored, slightly moistened, compacted, slightly crushed, fragile lumpy-fine-grained structure, clayey, gradual transition;

In 43-59 - red-brown, with streaks of humus and an abundance of calcium carbonate efflorescences in the form of vague spots, clayey, fresh, contains more fine crushed stone than the previous horizon, the transition is clear in color;

BC 59-85 - reddish-brown, highly crushed stone, clayey, gradual transition;

C 58-120 - pinkish-brown, soft marl, alternating with limestone slabs...

Ordinary chernozems...The soil-forming rocks for them are yellow-brown syrt loess-like clays and loams, eluvial-deluvial and ancient alluvial deposits...An example is the description of the following section. Section 133-A. Ordinary chernozem, medium-humus, heavy loam...

Smell 0-25 cm - grayish-black, evenly colored with humus, fresh, lumpy-silty, structureless on top, loose, heavy loamy, many roots, transition along the plowing line;

A 25-41 cm - grayish-black, evenly colored, slightly moistened, lumpy-grained, compacted, heavy loamy, average number of roots, gradual transition;

AB 41-56 cm - brownish-black, unevenly colored from humus streaks, moist, lumpy-coarse-grained, heavy loamy, denser than the previous one, the transition is gradual at the beginning of the spells;

56-88 cm - brown, heterogeneous color from rock wedges and humus drips, dense, lumpy-prismatic, moist, single roots, heavy loamy, gradual color transition;

BC 88-145 cm - brown-yellow, with rare gray streams of humus, mainly along the roots, moist, dense, prism-shaped structure, with white-eye spots;

From 145-185 cm - brown-yellow, very dense heavy loam...

Southern chernozems...The parent rocks for southern chernozems are predominantly yellow-brown syrt colluvial and ancient alluvial clays and loams, and in some places eluvium of pre-Quaternary rocks...Southern chernozems (ordinary)...Below is a description of a typical section. Southern chernozem, medium-thick, heavy loamy. Mine AL-98. Founded on the territory of the Chagrinsky state farm (Khvorostyansky district), 1 km west of the Glinny ravine and 2.5 km south of the railway. Cutting depth - 125 cm, boiling from hydrochloric acid - 43 cm, release of carbonates - from 72 cm.

An 0-29 cm - brownish-dark gray, uniform in color, heavy loamy, fresh, dusty-unstable-lumpy, loose, transition to the next horizon is gradual;

Av 29-52 cm - brownish-dark-gray, less uniform in the lower part due to rock wedges, compacted, contains plant roots, heavy loamy, fresh, granular-clumpy, gradual transition to the next horizon;

At 52-73 cm - brown, heterogeneous in color: humus streams along the roots, fresh, heavy loamy, nutty-lumpy, prism-like-lumpy downward, dense, carbonate secretions in the upper part in the form of spots, downward - in the shape of a white-eye;

BC 73-90 cm - heterogeneous in color due to the alternation of dark humus streaks and wedges of the parent rock, dense, prismatic-lumpy, carbonate discharge in the form of white-eye, gradual transition;

From 90-125 cm - yellow-brown carbonate heavy loam, less dense...

Southern chernozems are carbonate... In some places, especially in the more elevated south-eastern part of the Steppe Trans-Volga region, the carbonate content of southern chernozems is determined by their formation on the eluvium of bedrock - limestone, marls, etc....

Mine AL-863. Founded on the territory of the Vostok state farm in the Bolshechernigovsky district, 3 km northeast of the village of Rikosovsky, on the gentle slope of a ridge. The depth of the cut is 190 cm. Effervescence from hydrochloric acid from the surface is violent. Release of sulfates - from 170 cm.

Aroma 0-22 cm - brown-dark gray, fresh, clayey, loose, lumpy-silty, many small roots, lower limit on plowing depth;

AB 22-38 cm - dark brown, with lightened patches of parent rock, clayey, vaguely powdery-lumpy, fresh, slightly compacted, gradual transition to the next horizon;

At 38-66 cm - dark brown with patches of parent rock, fresh, compacted, nutty-lumpy, clayey, noticeable transition;

BC 66-127 cm - yellowish-brown, with whitish spots of carbonates and narrow dark-brown humus streaks, slightly moistened, clayey, prismatic-lumpy, denser than the previous one, carbonates in the form of whitish spots and rare white-eyes, the transition to the parent rock is gradual;

Sk 127-190 cm - pale yellow-brown, clayey, white-eye-shaped carbonates, white gypsum crystals, highly compacted.” (Soil cover of the Samara province, Bezsonov A.I., Samara, Gubizdat, 1924)

2.3 Degree of agricultural development of the territory

The soil map gives us a clear idea of ​​the agricultural development of the territory - almost all the soil is under arable land, which allows us to conclude that there is a high degree of development.

3. Physicochemical characteristics of the main arable soils

3.1 Particle size distribution, physical properties, structure

Leached chernozems.

“The mechanical composition varies from clayey to sandy. The most common are clayey and heavy loamy varieties, occupying 591.2 thousand hectares, which is 63% of the total area of ​​leached chernozems... An essential feature of such chernozems is the weak differentiation of the soil profile, the reduced depth of boiling and the release of carbonates. Their profile as a whole has a loose build; the humus horizon is poorly structured and characterized by a low humus content (such chernozems could be classified as a special genus of weakly differentiated ones). In the mechanical composition of clayey and loamy varieties, in typical cases there is a slight accumulation of the silt fraction (<0,001 мм) в горизонте В по сравнению с её содержанием в материнской породе… «С.98

Table No. 1 Physical properties of leached chernozems (Soils of the Kuibyshev region, 1985, Kuibyshev) Leached chernozem, medium-humus, medium-deep clayey (average of 8 sections)

Typical black soil.

Table No. 2. The main indicators of the water and physical properties of typical clayey and heavy loamy chernozem. (Soils of the Kuibyshev region, 1985, Kuibyshev) Arithmetic average indicators for 8 observations:

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