Succession of flooded soils of coastal area of the Caspian Sea in periods of drying and aridization

Abstract

Oscillations of the Caspian Sea level and regular alternation of land flooding and drying enable the observation of rare natural processes: the succession of sea ecosystems, their replacement by land biogeocenoses, and the regular appearance of new formations. Regularly dried and flooded coastal lands are characterized by high biological activity and represent a battlefield of land and sea ecosystems (Soldatov, 1956; Kaspiiskoe more, 1990). The variation in the features of land and subaquatic soil formation and their manifestation rate depend on the duration of the drying period and on the contact of the surface with the atmosphere. The goal of this work is to reveal specific features of soil succession (salinization, swamping) at drying stages of different duration in the western Caspian Sea region.