Soil-Ecological Properties of Post-Technogenic Landscapes Formed on Sugar Industry Waste in Kursk Oblast

The article considers the soil-ecological properties of post-technogenic landscapes of treatment facilities— filtration fields of a sugar factory, the chemical composition of technogenic sugar wastewater and the features of accumulation of chemical elements in post-technogenic soils; agroecological indicators of the soils that are significant for their potential use in agriculture and their differences from background Chernozems of the forest-steppe territory are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the soils formed in the bottoms of the settling ponds (checks) abandoned and drained from 1 year to 45 years ago, and on the surrounding them earth walls. Depending on the duration of abandonment of the checks and the degree of hydromorphism, organic-humic and dark humus stratified soils and dark humus zooturbated soils are distinguished; on the earth walls on the mixed material of Chernozems and loess-like loams dark humus soils are developed. It was revealed that the main agroecological indicators of newly formed soils of post-technogenic landscapes of the filtration fields are close to those of background soils, while their increase or decrease is associated with the duration of period of abandonments. The physical parameters of studied soils are similar to those of background Chernozems and do not limit their possible use in agriculture. In terms of organic matter content, the properties of soils of long-abandoned locations are within the range of parameters characteristic of background soils; in waterlogged positions of checks recently taken out of operation, enrichment of the organic soil matter with nitrogen is noted. Limiting factors for use for certain crops may be the alkalinity of post-technogenic soils and excess content of mobile phosphorus and exchangeable potassium in them, caused by the input of wastewater substances. From the point of view of environmental safety, the content of all the studied microelements in the soils of post-technogenic landscapes does not exceed the approximately permissible concentrations.

1. Abakumov E.V., Gagarina E.I. Pochvoobrazovanie v post-tekhnogennykh ekosistemakh kar’erov na Severo-Zapade Russkoi ravniny [Soil Formation in Posttechnogenic Ecosystems of Quarries in the North-West of the Russian Plain]. St. Petersburg, 2006. 208 p.

2. Akulov P.G. Vosproizvodstvo plodorodiya i produktivnost’ chernozemov [Reproduction of Fertility and Productivity of Chernozems]. Moscow: Kolos Publ., 1992. 223 p.

3. Arep’eva L.A. Sinantropnaya rastitel’nost’ goroda Kurska [Synanthropic Vegetation of Kursk’s City]. Kursk: Izd-vo Kursk. Univ., 2015. 203 p.

4. Chekmarev P.A., Lukin S.V. Monitoring of fertility of arable soils in the Central Chernozemic regions of Russia. Agrokhim., 2013, no. 4, pp. 11–22. (In Russ.).

5. Goleusov P.V., Lisetskii F.N. Vosproizvodstvo pochv v antropogennykh landshaftakh lesostepi [Soil Reproduction in Anthropogenic Landscapes of the Forest Steppe]. Belgorod: Izd-vo Belgorod. Univ., 2005. 232 p.

6. Goryachkin S.V. Geography of Extreme Soils and Soil-Like Systems. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci., 2022, vol. 92, no. 3, pp. 335–341.

7. Goryachkin S.V., Mergelov N.S., Targulian V.O. Extreme pedology: elements of theory and methodological approaches. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2019, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229319010046

8. Gracheva R.G., Zamotaev I.V., Belonovskaya E.A., Konoplianikova Yu.V., Dobryanskiy A.S. Newly formed soils of the sugar industry treatment facilities and invasion of Acer Negundo (Chernozem zone of Russia). IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci., 2021, vol. 817, art. 012037. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755–1315/817/1/012037

9. IUSS Working Group WRB. World Reference Base for Soil Resources. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. 4th edition. Vienna: International Union of Soil Sciences, 2022. Available at: https://www.isric.org/sites/default/files/WRB_fourth_edition_2022–12–18.pdf (accessed: 27.01.2025).

10. Kalinina O., Krause S.E., Giani L., Goryachkin S.V., Karavaeva N.A., Lyuri D.I. Self–restoration of post-agrogenic chernozems of Russia: soil development, carbon stocks, and dynamics of carbon pools. Geoderma, 2011, vol. 162, no. 1–2, pp. 196–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2011.02.005

11. Karelin D.V., Sukhoveeva O.E., Glagolev M.V., Dobryanskiy A.S., Sabrekov A.F., Zamotaev I.V. Annual carbon budget of biogenic greenhouse gases under mixed land use: Lgov district as a model object of the Central Chernozem Zone of Russia. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2023, vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 1043–1054. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229323600872

12. Klassifikatsiya i diagnostika pochv SSSR [Classification and Diagnostics of Soils of the USSR]. Moscow: Kolos Publ., 1977. 224 p.

13. Klassifikatsiya i diagnostika pochv Rossii [Classification and Diagnostics of Russian Soils]. Smolensk: Oikumena Publ., 2004. 342 p.

14. Kostenkov N.M., Purtova L.N. Post-technogenic soil formation on waste rocks as a factor in the restoration of natural landscapes. Izv. Samarsk. Nauch. Tsentra RAN, 2010, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1032–1038. (In Russ.).

15. Kozhevnikov N.V., Zaushintsenna A.V. Problem of accelerated pedogenesis in land reclamation. Vestn. Kemerov. Gos. Univ., 2015, no. 1, pp. 26–29. (In Russ.).

16. Kudeyarov V.N. Emission factor of nitrous oxide when using nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture In Russia. Agrokhim., 2021, no. 11, pp. 3–15. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31857/S0002188121110089

17. Kupriyanov A.N., Manakov Yu.A., Barannik L.P. Vosstanovlenie ekosistem na otvalakh gornodobyvayushchei promyshlennosti Kuzbassa [Restoration of Ecosystems in the Dumps of the Kuzbass Mining Industry]. Novosibirsk: GEO Publ., 2010. 160 p.

18. Mamontov V.G., Artemyeva Z.S., Lazarev V.I., Rodionova L.P., Krylov V.A., Ahmetzyanova R.R. Comparative characteristics of the properties of Halpic Chernozem of the Kursk Region of different land use. Byull. Pochven. Inst. Dokuchaeva, 2020, vol. 101, pp. 182–201. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.19047/0136-1694-2020-101-182-201

19. McMahen K., Anglin L., Lavkulich L.M., Grayston S.J., Suzanne W., Simard S.W. Small–volume additions of forest topsoil improve root symbiont colonization and seedling growth in mine reclamation. App. Soil Ecol., 2022, vol. 180, art. 104622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2022.104622

20. Medvedev V.V. Monitoring pochv Ukrainy. Kontseptsiya, predvaritel’nye rezul’taty, zadachi [Soil Monitoring in Ukraine. The Concept, Preliminary Results, and Tasks]. Kharkov: Antikva Publ., 2002. 428 p.

21. Mikhal’chuk N.V., Dashkevich M.M., Mikhal’chuk S.N., Galuts O.A. Features of the qualitative composition of high–tonnage sugar production waste in the context of the prospects for their optimal use. In Aktual’nye nauchno–tekhn. i ekolog. problemy sokhraneniya sredy obitaniya. Sb. Statei mezhdun. nauch.-prakt. konf. Chast’ 3 [Actual Scientific and Technical Issues and an Ecologist Problems of Habitat Conservation. Collection of Articles of the Int. Sci. and Pract. Conf. Part 3], 2014, pp. 196–203. (In Russ.).

22. Mikheev P., Zamotaev I., Telnova N. Microbial features of newly–formed soils of disposal fields from sugar refineries. E3S Web Conf. Actual Problems of Ecology and Environmental Management (APEEM), 2021, vol. 265, art. 03009. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202126503009

23. Trudy Tsentral’no–Chernoz. Gos. Zapovednika. Vyp. 20: Monitoring prirodnykh ekosistem Tsentral’no–Chernozemnogo zapovednika [Works of the Central Black Earth State Reserve. Vol. 20: Monitoring of Natural Ecosystems of the Central Black Earth State Reserve], 2021. 411 p.

24. Motuzova G.V., Bezuglova O.S. Ekologicheskii monitoring pochv: uchebnik [Ecological Monitoring of Soils]. Moscow: Akademicheskii Proekt Publ., Gaudeamus Publ., 2007. 237 p.

25. Orientirovochno dopustimye kontsentratsii (ODK) khimicheskikh veshchestv v pochve: Gigienicheskie normativy 2.1.7.2511–09 [Approximate Permissible Concentration (APC) of Chemical Substances in Soil: Hygienic Standards 2.1.7.2511–09]. Moscow: Fed. tsentr gigieny i epidemiologii Rospotrebnadzora, 2009. 10 p.

26. Pochvoobrazovanie, biota i emissiya parnikovykh gazov v tekhnogennykh landshaftakh: polya fil’traytsii sakharnoi promyshlennosti v Tsentral’nom Chernozem’e [Soil Formation, Biota and Emission of Greenhouse Gases in Technologenic Landscapes: Infiltration Fields of the Sugar Industry in the Central Chernozemic Region]. Zamotaev I.V., Gracheva R.G., Goryachkin S.V., Eds. Moscow: GEOS Publ., 2024. 187 p.

27. Polevoi opredelitel’ pochv Rossii [Field Soil Determinant of Russia]. Moscow, 2008. 182 p.

28. Prirodno-antropogennye geosistemy tsentral’noi lesostepi Russkoi ravniny [Natural–Anthropogenic Geosystems of the Central Forest–Steppe in the Russian Plain]. Grin A.M., Mukhina L.I., Eds. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1989. 276 p.

29. Puzanova L.N. Agroecological assessment and agricultural use of the substrate of sugar beet treatment plants: on the example of Sugar Combine Lgovsky, JSC. Abstract of Cand. Sci. (Geogr.) Dissertation. Kursk: Kursk State Univ., 2009. 19 p.

30. Puzanova L.N., Sysoeva T.I. Infiltration fields — potential agricultural lands. In Agroekologicheskie problemy pochvovedeniya i zemledeliya: Sb. dokladov mezhdun. nauchno–prakt. konf. Kurskogo otd. MOO “Obshchestvo pochvovedov im. V.V. Dokuchaeva” [Agroecological Problems of Soil Science and Agriculture: Collection of Articles of the Int. Sci. and Pract. Conf. of the Kursk Branch of the Int. Public Organization “Society of Soil Scientists named after V.V. Dokuchaev”], 2019, pp. 319–321. (In Russ.).

31. Rakhleeva A.A., Mikheev P.V., Zamotaev I.V., Gracheva R.G., Konoplyanikova Yu.V., Belonovskaya E.A., Karelin D.V. Communities of invertebrates and microorganisms in the soils of filtration fields of the Lgov sugar factory (Kursk region). Byull. Pochven. Inst. Dokuchaeva, 2024, vol. 121, pp. 152–199. (In Russ.). Rukovodstvo po okhrane okruzhayushchei sredy, zdorov’ya i truda dlya sakharnoi promyshlennosti [Environmental, Health and Occupational Safety Guidelines for the Sugar Industry], 2007. Available at: https://www.ifc.org/content/dam/ifc/doc/2000/2007–sugar–manufacturing–ehs–guidelines–ru.pdf (accessed: 26.03.2025).

32. Sveklosakharnoe proizvodstvo. Kratkoe posobie dlya rabotnikov sakharnyh zavodov [Sugar Beet Production. A Short Guide for Sugar Factory Workers]. Kursk, 2003. 59 p.

33. Spichak V.V., Bazlov V.N., Anan’eva P.A., Polivanova T.V. Vodnoe khozyaistvo sakharnykh zavodov [Water Economy of Sugar Plants]. Kursk, 2005. 167 p.

34. Tordoff G.M., Baker A.J.M., Willis A.J. Current approaches to the revegetation and reclamation of metalliferous mine wastes. Chemosphere, 2000, vol. 41, pp. 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045–6535(99)00414–2

35. Tyutyunnik Yu.G. Vyrobnychii landshaft і iogo demutatsіya [Viral Landscape and Its Demutation]. Kyiv, 2021. 142 p.

36. Vadyunina A.F., Korchagina Z.A. Metody issledovaniya fizicheskikh svoistv pochv [Methods for Studying the Physical Properties of Soils). Moscow: Agropromizdat Publ., 1986. 416 p.

37. Vorob’eva L.A. Khimicheskii analiz pochv [Chemical Analysis of Soils]. Moscow: Izd-vo Mosk. Univ., 1998. 272 p.

38. Zamotaev I.V., Gracheva R.G., Konoplianikova Yu.V., Dolgikh A.V., Karelin D.V., Belonovskaya E.A., Dobryansky A.S., Mikheev P.V. Soil formation on sugar industry waste in the Central Chernozemic Zone. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2023, vol. 56, no. 11, pp. 1784– 1802. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229323601890

39. Zamotaev I.V., Gracheva R.G., Mikheev P.V., Konoplianikova Yu.V. Formation and transformation of soils in the areas of sugar industry waste disposal: a review. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2022, vol. 55, no. 8, pp. 1005–1015. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322080154