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In the natural reserve "Belogorie" at the Yamskaya Steppe site, located in the south of the Central-Russian Upland, a wide range of subjects were studied aiming identification and analysis of paleo-pedological and paleobotanical indicators of environmental change in different historical periods of the Holocene. The study subjects included paleosoil buried under the earth mound of the Bronze Age, background virgin Chernozem near the mound, soil buried under the cast of marmot, and the soils in the ravine-gully deposits on bottom of gully. Using a complex of methods, including soil-archaeological, palynological, microbiomorphic, pedoanthracological, radiocarbon and paleogeographic reconstructions, was allowed to reveal a complicated combination of natural and human-induced changes in the meadow and meadowsteppe landscapes of the Yamskaya Steppe site in the Holocene. Watershed spaces were characterized by contrasting changes of vegetation types during studied period. The high degree of natural afforestation was observed for 6000-6500 yrs BP. Later, up to nowadays, on the watersheds the meadow-steppe type of landscape was dominated. The phase of increased afforestation was also observed in the beginning of the Subboreal period of Holocene (before 4600 years ago), but this time the development of forests was limited by their spread in the ravines. The Late Holocene was heterogeneous in relation to bioclimatic onditions with alternating wet and relatively dry phases, but their exact identification is complicated by the increasing of anthropogenic impacts on vegetation. Starting with the Subboreal period of Holocene the anthropogenic disturbance of landscapes became apparent, first in the form of periodic burning of steppes, and in the Sub-Atlantic period of Holocene - as a combination of burning and cultivation of agricultural crops on individual plots within the study area. Thus, the meadow-steppe environments in the south of the Central-Russian Upland, preserved nowadays only in the reserves, had a complex history of development in the past including climatogenic and anthropogenic transformation of soils and vegetation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 75-89 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Izvestiya Rossiiskaya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Geograficheskaya |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2016 |
ID: 35467387