THE AEOLIAN COMPONENT IN SOIL AND PLANT DIVERSITY OF THE NORTH-WESTERN CASPIAN
In the arid regions, such as the North-Western Caspian, the aeolian factor is a major one in the formation of soil and plant diversity (SPD). At the macro level the influence of wind on SPD happens due to the flat nature of the area; in the soil cover the participation of Cambisols composed by overblown sediments on mesoelevations increases in the direction from east to west. At the meso level in SPD there are differences depending on the relative windward or leeward slopes; decreasing soil diversity correlates with higher plant diversity that indirectly indicates the influence of external factors such as the wind. At the micro level, the multidirectional effect of the wind has led to formation of the aeolian deflation-accumulative relief. The SPD is evident in the expositional differentiation of vegetation and microslopes' parameters of the limit structural elements of the hummocky solonchak.