EVOLUTION PROCESSES OF ACCUMULATIVE LANDFORMS AND SOIL GENESIS IN COASTAL ZONE OF UNTIDAL SEAS

Abstract

The purpose of this publication is to determine and analyze natural conditions and the development of soil formation on accumulative landforms in the coastal zone of non-tidal seas. As an example, long-term instrumental measurements were used in stationary sites within the coastal sandy forms of the Black and Azov Seas, in Ukraine. The complexity, originality of the structure, and the high rate of change of these landforms make it necessary to answer the question: can typical soils be formed in such an environment, with an appropriate profile and fertility, and the ability to conduct various types of agriculture? First of all, it should be noted that the sandy coastal-marine forms, in contrast to the upland ones, are formed by the mechanical hydrogenic factors of the sea. The building material for the forms is sedimentary sediments that have undergone coastal-marine mechanical differentiation. Consequently, their composition differs in origin and hydraulic size of alluvial, aeolian, glacial, fluvial, etc. sediment on the mainland. The contours of the searched reliefs and the transverse and longitudinal profile can change dramatically within one round the clock. At the same time, waves of strong storms can completely wash away and mix the entire thickness of radical sediments together with plants, animals, groundwater of a certain composition, and accumulations of mineral and organic compounds. Also, the humus is washed out, and the humus layer cannot be fixed. But then, within 1–2 years, the studied forms are restored in a complex in general. In this case, the transverse profile is restored in a similar form in total contour. This process happens many times over several decades, and centuries yet. Therefore, the process of soil formation is always disrupted and the formation of typical soils (“pedolites” inclusive) is practically impossible in the environment of the coastal zone of the seas.