The definitions of “alkaline” and “alkaline-solonetzic soils” are given in the paper. The data on the alkaline soils distribution in the national Soil Fund and in Russian agricultural areas are represented based on the summary of materials from late XX and early XXI centuries. It is shown that the data provided in the State reports of 2016 and 2019, in the monograph “Global climate and soil cover of Russia” (2019) and in other reviewed sources do not always coincide and do not allow us to get a clear idea about the alkaline soils distribution throughout the territory of the country and within the agricultural lands. However, the most important issue is to become acquainted and evaluate methodological approaches, currently used to obtain information about the distribution and changes of alkaline and alkaline-solonetzic soils on the territory of certain regions of the country and Russia as a whole. The materials presented in the paper indicate that the data on the areas of alkaline and alkaline-solonetzic soils need to be clarified on the basis of state-of-the-art remote sensing methods and ground-based soil mapping. At the same time, it is necessary to develop and approve unified methodological approaches for consideration of alkaline and alkaline-solonetzic soils on the territory of the Russian Federation. It is noted that the areas of irrigated lands need to be independently monitored and separated from the total Soil Fund of agricultural land, as well as a separate calculation of fallow, alkaline and solonetzic soils on irrigated land.

Recent advancements in soil digital mapping have opened new opportunities for handling the scientific and applied problems of ecological soil monitoring, inventory of land and soil resources, and are generally helpful in optimizing the management of natural resources. For Karelia the development of forest soil assessment techniques is essential, considering that 95% of the republic’s land is forest soils. This paper tells about the process of creating an updated digital map of forest soils fertility in Karelia, scale 1 : 500 000. To this end, the archival soil productivity map of the republic, produced in paper version by R.M. Morozova in 2000, was scanned and converted into a vector layer with the use of the MapInfo Professional 8.5 software package. The resultant layer was aligned with the existing digitalized soil map of Karelia, which served as the basis for constructing the thematic layer according to the data on the fertility of each soil type. As a result of this study, the soil fertility assessment scale was specified and the percentage ratio of soils of different productivity in Karelia was calculated. The digital soil fertility map is an important information source of archival and modern data, and also is a part of the GIS for soils of Karelia.

In order to evaluate the chemical composition of natural background environments of Pur-Taz interfluve (Western Siberia), the mineral components of soils, peats, lichens, and sphagnum mosses have been analyzed. The samples were tested using X-ray fluorescence technology. The average contents of hazardous metals in the soils of the Pur-Taz interfluve are either lower (for Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Sr) or equal to (for Hg, Co) the average values of these elements in the Earth's crust. This finding corresponds to the commonly held view that the contents of elements in the soils located in the north of Western Siberia are lower than the world averages. Additionally, in our samples low concentrations of copper and zinc have been observed. Since these microelements are important for soil physiology, this finding indicates unfavorable biochemical conditions in the research area. On the other hand, high concentrations are observed for inactive elements such as Mo, Sn and Zr. The significant differences have been identified in the composition of mineral and organic soil horizons. For instance, the average concentrations of P, Zn and S in organic horizons are 7.1, 8.1 and 18 times greater than in the illuvial mineral horizons, respectively. The intense accumulation of Zn, Cu, Cd, Hg has been recorded, all of them are chalcophiles in the ombrotrophic peat. This means that the chemical composition of soil is largely determined by biological accumulation of chalcophile elements. The content of lithophilic Al, Si, Ti and Zr, coming with dust precipitation from the atmosphere increases in the peat of dwarf shrub-moss-lichen tundras and larch woodlands. The revealed values of the elemental composition of soils can be recommended as background in the course of the environmental monitoring.

One of the most justified and applied approaches to isolating pools of soil organic matter is fractionation in heavy liquids. The main problem with this approach is rather large losses in the separation of fractions at the stage of washing fractions from heavy liquids. The paper presents a densimetric fractionation protocol that can significantly reduce these losses. It is suggested to use 0.001 M HCl for washing. This approach, in comparison with distilled water, allows reducing losses of weight from 15 to 5% and of carbon from 7.5 to 2.5%. The paper provides a detailed protocol, used by the Laboratory of Soil Biochemistry of V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, to isolate four densimetric fractions using sodium polytungstate solutions: free and occluded SOM with a density of <1.6 g/cm³, occluded SOM – of 1.6–2.0 g/cm³, and a mineral residue with a density >2.0 g/cm³. In the work we used samples of typical chernozems of different land use types. It was shown that the processes of soil restoration and degradation significantly affect the content of light occluded soil organic matter.

The rheological parameters of structured soddy-podzolic soils (Albic Glossic Retisols (Lomic, Cutanic)) and chernozems (Haplic Chernozems (Loamic, Pachic)) in their natural state and involved in agricultural use were studied by the oscillation amplitude sweep test. Shear resistance parameters of the studied soils (shear stress at the end of the linear viscoelasticity range – LVE-range t_L, shear stress t_F at the Crossover point and maximum shear stress t_max) were more informative and indicated pronounced differences between soil genetic horizons in contrast to viscoelasticity parameters (deformation γ_L at the end of the LVE-range and the integral zone Z) when comparing natural and arable soils. The agricultural land use resulted in decreased organic carbon content and, as a consequence, reduced viscoelasticity and shear resistance of the soils. At the same time, the higher bulk density of arable horizons and the redistribution of fine soil particles (physical clay) could explain maximal values of the rheological parameters in the upper arable horizons and their slight differentiation with depth. Further development in the application of the proposed and studied rheological parameters can give insight into the nature and strength evaluation of interparticle bonds, the soil processes under the impact of agricultural machinery, and can also be integrated into the system of physical indicators of soil structural changes.

It is shown that the use of electrophysical methods and GIS technologies allows revealing soil coverage structure and spatial distribution of individual biological indicators, in particular, greenhouse gases production, in drained histosols (eutrophic peat soils) located in complex landscape and hydrological conditions of the Yakhroma Valley in the Moscow Region. The combination of GIS technologies and soil electrophysics made it possible to bring together the various aspects of the soil composition and functioning. Consequently, it generates easily readable “image” of soil in a given place and at certain times. The used approach is based on the idea that the electrical resistance of soils, associated with the density of mobile charges (cations and anions of soil absorbing complex and solution), is formed under the influence of soil-forming processes and it is an integral indicator of a wide range of soil properties. Taking into account that the evolution and degradation of peatlands after their drainage is a microbiological process primarily, we paid special attention to the research in this area. The experience has been obtained in the mapping of the microbial formation of CO₂, N₂O and CH₄ in peat soils. On the one hand, it allows estimating the current intensity of organic matter decomposition and losses of nitrogen and carbon by peat soils of different botanical composition, terms and methods of meliorations, and on the other hand, to determine the contribution of these soils to the greenhouse effect. It was established that the electrical resistance of the soil, basal, substrate-induced respiration and denitrification activity (specific form of anaerobic respiration) depend on the same set of soil properties and correlate with each other within the studied area. The high speed and productivity of electrophysical methods allow them to be used for primary soil diagnostics, selection of key points for further research, detailing the cartographic contours and refining the calculations of greenhouse gas fluxes from large areas.

Excessively acidic soils account for one third of arable land in the Russian Federation (35.1 million ha). Over the post-reform period (1990–2019), the relative share of acidic soils increased by 2%, due to a sharp decrease in the area of liming, and thus restoration of acidic properties of genetically acidic soils previously limed, as well as the involvement in agricultural use of some abandoned fields and fallows covered by acidic soils. This paper demonstrates a new approach to prioritize areas for liming by the example of the Vladimir region. The study makes use of newly established database “Soils of agricultural lands in the Russian Federation” which includes 10,000 soil quality typological unites and 57,678 soil quality mapping units (SQMU). National “Grain equivalent model” calculates the standard yields for grain crops by each SQMU. The GIS analysis allows joining spatial distribution of soil acidity and standard yields of grains in order to determine the priority areas for lime application. Acidic soils with the highest grains standard yield are proposed to be considered as high-priority ones for liming. Application of the given method in two districts of the Vladimir region showed significant reduction in the payback period of liming.

Modern Russian Pedology is a young science and emerged a little more than 100 years ago. The article is devoted to the analysis of modern scientific schools in the field of soil science, which are developing in Russia. The investigations are based on the analysis of candidate's dissertations (PhD theses equivalent in Russia) defended on a specialty “soil science” in Russia for the last ten years, as well as on information about the scientific advisors supervised these dissertations and their belonging to this or that scientific school. It has been found that the most actively developing schools are the ones of immediate disciples of V.V. Dokuchaev, A.V. Sovetov or A.N. Sabanin. The schools of S.S. Neustruev and I.V. Tyurin are singled out as separate “branches” in the development of Russian soil science. At present, the main training resource centres in pedology are the Faculty of Soil Science of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, Bashkir Agricultural Institute, Voronezh and Kuban universities. Number of soil scientists with advanced degrees over the past 10 years has tended to decrease, which is associated with the low demand for the profession in modern conditions of the country.

The article provides the summary analysis of the content of the monograph “Soils of the Republic of Belarus” published in 2019 in Minsk. The book is a synthesis of the main achievements of scientific thought in the field of theoretical and applied soil science. It represents the new reading of the accumulated works over the past 40 years in the field of genetic research, soil mapping and land assessment. The monograph “Soils of the Republic of Belarus” will attract a lot of attention of specialists and scientists of various natural science profiles, as well as of practitioners who constantly work in the field.