Specific features of paleosols of burial mounds involved in current farming practices and their contemporary pedogenesis (using the early Alanian burial mounds in the North Caucasus region as an example)

• Published in: Eurasian soil science Vol. 40; no. 10; pp. 1052 - 1061
• Main Authors: Khokhlova, O S, Khokhlov, A A, Oleinik, SA, Gabuev, T A, Malashev, VYu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Silver Spring Springer 01-10-2007; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural industry; Agricultural practices; Agriculture; Analysis; Archaeology; Comparative analysis; Intensive farming; Mounds; Paleoclimate; Paleosols
• ISSN: 1064-2293; 1556-195X
• DOI: 10.1134/S1064229307100031

Paleosols of three burial sites--Brut 1, Brut 2, and Beslan--in the Northern Osetia Republic (Alania) of the North Caucasus region were studied. A part of the Brut 2 burial site was subjected to intensive agricultural use (more than 30-year-long irrigation and regular tillage). This led to the leveling of the burial mounds and changes in some properties of the buried paleosols. A comparative analysis of paleosols of the same age under the burial mounds involved not included in the intensive agricultural use made it possible to determine the degree of preservation of the initial properties in the irrigated paleosols and to use them for reconstruction of the paleoclimates. Some specific features of the soil evolution were revealed, and paleoclimate reconstructions were performed for the period of the Early Alan civilization in the North Caucasus region (from the second half of the 2nd century AD to the middle of the 5th century AD).