ESTIMATION OF HUMUS CONTENT IN THE SOILS OF COAL SECTION RECLAIMED HEAPS IN KUZBASS
On the basis of the approach suggested by the authors and resting on functional characteristics of pedogenic organic substance the content of humus is determined in soil heaps of coal-mining sections reclaimed following different technologies. It is shown that the distribution of nitrogen-containing organic substances across the profile reflects the specificity of organic substances transformation systems in the soils examined. This index is the most reliable in estimating the content of humus in initial embryoearths where nitrogen consumption by plants is minimum and in humus-accumulative ones where pedogenic organic substance is deposited. The humus content increase is revealed in the evolutionary series of soils, on average, from 2.4 % in the initial soils to 3.6 and 4.2 % in organ-accumulative and cespitose soils, respectively, the 4.7 % increase being marked in humus-accumulative embryoearths. The content of humus in embryoearths is identified to depend much more on reclamation technology applied and soil formation stage, the same content depends much less on organic substances system status inherited from soil formation rocks.