Paleolandscape Reconstruction Based on the Study of A Buried Soil of the Bronze Age in the Broadleaf Forest Area of the Russian Plain

• Published in: Geosciences (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 3; p. 111
• Main Authors: Aseyeva, Elena, Makeev, Alexander, Kurbanova, Fatima, Kust, Pavel, Rusakov, Alexey, Khokhlova, Olga, Mihailov, Evgeniy, Puzanova, Tatiana, Golyeva, Alexandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2019
• Subjects: Abashevo archaeological culture; Atlantic; broadleaf forest; Cambisol; Cemeteries; Decomposing organic matter; Earth science; Forest management; Forest soils; Forest vegetation; Forests; Geomorphology; Holocene; Humus; kurgans; Morphology; non-reactive parent material; paleosol; Pollen; Precipitation; Soil; Soil erosion; Soil morphology; Soil surfaces; Soils; Subboreal; Trends; Vegetation
• ISSN: 2076-3263; 2076-3263
• DOI: 10.3390/geosciences9030111

Late Holocene landscape evolution at the southern frontier of the forest belt of European Russia is studied based on detailed morphological, analytical and microbiomorphic research of a soil chronosequence that included a surface soil and a soil buried under the Bronze Age kurgan. Both soils (Folic Eutric Cambisols) are formed on similar geomorphic surfaces in the same parent material and in close proximity to each other. The soil morphology and the key analytical features are controlled by low-reactive parent material and imply close similarity of the present landscapes and those of the Bronze age. At the same time the morphological features show that the buried soil was influenced by the phase of weak aridization, which led to the formation of a dark mull humus horizon. Microbiomorphic assemblages (phytoliths, pollen) support the earlier conclusion that the soils of the study area had being developed mostly under forest vegetation.