REGULARITIES OF EURASIAN SOILS EVOLUTION IN HOLOCENE: DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
Introduction. Soil is a highly dynamic system that transforms and develops at different rates under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors. Knowledge of the laws of soil evolution is both of great theoretical and practical importance. It allows to get a unique information on particular features of the change of the climate and landscapes in different parts of the world, which have a huge impact on the life, economic activity, and well-being of people. On the basis the data, it will be possible to compose a coherent picture of the development of our civilization and choose the optimal strategies for nature management. The goal of the research is to review the literature sources on soil evolution, to assess the degree of knowledge of this problem, and to reveal the unresolved problems. Results. It was found that the Eurasian soils had begun to form mainly in the Holocene 10-12 thousand years ago. Self-development of soils is characterized by a gradual slowdown in the rate of development of a structurally differentiated profile which occurs depending on the characteristics of climate, topography, and undersoil. Soils are slow-developing natural objects. The rate of soil development is much slower in comparison with the changes in biota and climate, but it is higher than geological events. Researchers revealed several types of soil evolution that were mainly of zonal nature. Climate is the key factor in the soil evolution and the ecosystem on the whole. It was changing significantly during the Holocene. It was demonstrated that the soils forming on the sand were more changeable to the geographical environment in comparison with soils on the loam. The soils of river basins, bottoms of gullies, and other topographic lows are more dynamic for development. The development of the soil profile is also complicated by a number of variations, which differ in the impact factors and the nature of spatio-temporal performance. Conclusion. Despite a large number of published works, the problem in focus is studied insufficiently. There are still many unexplained specific questions, the answer to which is possible only on the basis of complex interdisciplinary researches and further development of the theory of soil evolution.