System Analysis of the Functioning of Salt Soils and Features of Their Use in Arid Conditions

Soil cover as a systemic formation is characterized by the formation of properties of different taxonomic levels and signs of structural organization with hierarchical subordination. As an integral natural formation, soils have resource potential, subject to the active influence of factors of the physical and geographical environment. Individual soil properties and their overall functional purpose may differ in time and space. Such properties are formed in different regions, reflecting the influence of local conditions. Typical representatives of soils with signs of salinity, excluding the implementation of production processes, are formed in arid conditions (Caspian lowland, Volga delta). The difference in the target functioning of soils in the region is expressed in the presence of a special natural combination of properties that the components of a typical soil profile do not possess (Neustruev, 1915). This is due to the fact that, when determining the classification characteristics of saline soils, processes that occur between individual horizons and are reversible in nature remain unaccounted for to date. The possibility of reversibility and restoration of physicochemical properties to the level of indicators characteristic of the climatic regime with the duration of geological periods of time remains in the shadows for many types of soils to this day (the water-soluble part of carbonates, silicates, and organic matter). We consider it appropriate to use a systematic approach when analyzing the temporal and seasonal functions of various types of soils (especially saline ones) under conditions of desertification and arid degradation.