The History of Research in the Laboratory of Soil Geography and Genesis of the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry (SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia)

Abstract

The Laboratory of Soil Geography and Genesis of the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry (SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia) is the oldest in the Institute. For more than half a century of its existence, the scale and details of soil and soil cover studies have steadily increased. At the beginning of the Laboratory's research, soil cover surveys in the main agricultural regions of West Siberia were carried out, serving as the basis for the subsequent production of various thematic small-scale maps of the southeastern part of West Siberia, medium-scale soil maps of several regions of Siberia, as well as a series of sheets of the USSR State Soil Map. Along with the applied work, fundamental problems of the specifics of the genesis of Siberian soils were also addressed. At the following stages, the geography of cartographic work gradually expanded; the specifics of the regimes and properties of Siberian soils of different taxonomic groups were revealed. Participation in the international research programs and the USSR projects laid the foundation for the deployment of large-scale research in various natural areas and regions. Subsequent work on the qualitative assessment of soils served as the basis for the development of their classification, the theoretical basis for the introduction of adaptive landscape farming systems, and studies of the influence of anthropogenic and climatic factors on the current genesis and evolution of soils. In recent decades, the laboratory has used the latest approaches and methods for developing digital soil maps, geoinformation systems, and data modeling, along with classical studies of individual soil properties.