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SOILS OF MOSCOW
AND URBAN
ENVIRONMENT
Марина Строганова
Алла Мягкова
Татьяна Прокофьева
Ирина Скворцова
ПОЧВЫ МОСКВЫ
и
ЭКОЛОГИЯ ГОРОДА
Marina Stroganova
Alla Myagkova
Tatiana Prokofieva
Irina Skvortsova
SOILS OF MOSCOW
AND
URBAN ENVIRONMENT
List of Contributors
Marina Stroganova is an associate professor at the department of soil geography,
faculty of soil science, Moscow State University. She is the expert in the
field of geography, cartography, and genesis of soils. Her field studies have
covered Eastern and Western Siberia, the Far East, and the center of the
European part of Russia. Among the most recent works are the Soil Map of
the World (co-author, 1975, in Russian), textbook Soil Cover of Foreign
Countries (1979, in Russian), monograph Soil and Biogeocenotic Studies
in Forest Biogeocenoses (1989, in Russian). The last 10 years she studies
the soils of cities in the center of Russia. She is the executive editor and co¬
author of the papers in the bode Soil, City, and Ecology (1997, in Russian).
Alia Myagkova is a senior instructor at the department of soil science, faculty of
soil science, Moscow State University. She is a specialist in the field of soil
science, mineralogy, and geochemistry of soils. Starting in the 1960s, she
have studied geochemical, mineralogical, and micromorphological properties
of different types of soils. Her papers are devoted to the soils of the Tien-
Shan, Caucasus, Polar Urals, Kola Peninsula, Karelia, Valdai, and Baltic
Region. Soils of cities have gained her interest in the last 10 years with re¬
spect to general problems of urbanization. She is the co-author of papers in
the book Soil, City, and Ecology (1997, in Russian).
Irina Skvortsova is a senior researcher at the department of soil biology, faculty
of soil science, Moscow State University. She possesses a profound exper¬
tise in the field of microbiological properties of natural and anthropogenic
soils. The area of scientific interests is development of methods of indication
of soil pollution by means of microbiological and plant tests. She partici¬
pated in writing of the monograph Microorganisms and Soil Conservation.
She is the author of textbooks on identification of soil bacteria. She is also
the author of papers in the bode Soil, City, and Ecology (1997, in Russian).
Tatiana Prokofieva is a junior researcher at the department of soil science, faculty
of soil science, Moscow' State University. Her expertise lies in the field of
ecology of urban soils, including sealed soils. She is the co-author of papers
in the book Soil, City, and Ecology (1997, in Russian)
e-mail: marina@soil.msu.ru
CHAPTER 1
Global Problems of Urbanization
The global environmental changes such as aridization, greenhouse effect, en¬
vironmental pollution, and degradation of soils and vegetation exert a consid¬
erable effect on the urbanized areas.
The term urbanization involves city growth and development, growing
proportion of urban population in a particular region, and acquisition by rural
areas of industrial and social features of towns. Industrial, especially heavily
populated, cities intensively grow since the middle of the 19th century. After
cities had been involved in sophisticated production, they started to form spe¬
cialized industrial areas covering the area comparable to that under public houses.
1.1. Development of Urbanization
In countries with a high fraction of urban population, urbanization is an acute
problem. For example, in the Russian Federation, 100 million people, or 75%
of the country's total population, live in towns and settlements, which occupy
0.65% of the area of the country. Of the total amount of towns in Russia in
1995, approximately two-thirds have acquired the status of the town in the
20th century and one-third has done it after the World War II (1945).
In the mid-1990s, 43% of the w’orld's population, or 2.3 billion people,
lived in urbanized areas in comparison with only 29% in 1950. If the growth
of urban population follows the predicted tendency (by 2.5 times by the year
2005), then the proportion of urban population will exceed 50%. By the year
2025, more than three-fifths of the world's population (5.2 billion people) will
live in the urban environment. Of this amount, 77% will account for devel¬
oping countries. As estimated, the urban population of developing countries
will exceed that of developed countries by four times by the year 2025 (Fig. 1.1).
Fig. 1.1. Daily increase of the categories of population over the period of 1950-2025
(data of the International Congress Habitat-H, Istambul, 1996).
In Australia, New Zealand, Northern and Western Europe, the urban
population exceeds 80%, whereas in Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, and
the former Soviet Union it is 66, 63, and 66%, respectively.
In Europe, the proportion of urban lands is the greatest in Belgium
(28%), United Kingdom (12%), and Germany (11%). According to the Or¬
ganization for Economic Cooperation and Development, during the last 25
years, the area under construction has been increasing twice fast as the
population. The world statistics does not give reliable data about areas under
houses and industrial objects. According to the estimation of the Executive
Committee of UNEP, urbanized lands comprise about 60 million ha or
0.46% of total land. As predicted, 3 .2 billion people will live in towns by the
year 2000. The area of urbanized lands will exceed 100 million ha.
Accelerated development of large cities increases the human impact
both on the urban environment and on vast nearby rural areas. Typically, the
area affected by the city- is 20 to 50 times greater than that of the city itself.
Since suburbs are frequently contaminated with liquid, gaseous, and solid
household and industrial wastes, cities are poorly provided with natural re¬
sources. Pollution is accompanied by the development of dangerous geody¬
namic processes (karst, subsidence, landslide, waterlogging, etc.). So, the sta¬
250
■ 1 00
Qurban (developed countries) ■ urban(developing countries)
□ rural (developed countries ) Hrural {developing countries)
bility of lands decreases, while the role of abiotic factors and the ecological
risk for all components of the environment (air, vegetation, water, and soils)
increase (Osipov, 1994).
The city is a model of the extremely unstable system incapable of self ¬
restoration and unable to withstand adverse environmental effects, including
those induced by humans. The cost of maintenance of the stability in the ur¬
ban environment is very high and requires constant significant supply with
material and energy.
The ecological status of urban lands in megalopolises was analyzed by
the example of Moscow. Large cities are characterized by rapid deterioration
of the quality of all components of the environment and by high ecological
risk because of accelerating urbanization and technogenic pressure on the en¬
vironment (About the Status..., 1993).
The proportion of urbanized lands under cities and settlements and of
lands under buildings, yards, streets, industrial enterprises, railway installa¬
tions, etc. significantly vary throughout republics of the former Soviet Union.
According to the data of the Land fund of the Soviet Union, the urban lands
on average occupy 1%. In more agriculturally developed republics of the
former Soviet Union, the proportion of lands under settlements is greater, be¬
ing 8.95% in Ukraine (including 6.30% under rural settlements) and 8.29%
(7.35%) in Moldova, respectively. In Russia, lands controlled by city and ru¬
ral administrations occupy 2.2% of the total country's area (Tabic 1.1).
Table 1.1. The urban and settlement area in Russia
Lands
Percentage
Lands under buildings, roads, streets, etc.,
10.72
including those under buildings
5.07
Agricultural lands,
65.21
includmg arable lands
16.35
Forested area, includmg parks, squares, boulevards
9.85
Lands under trees and shrubs
3.00
Bogs
3.25
Water bodies
2.07
Disturbed lands
0.27
Other lands
5.63
Overall
100%
Source: Stale (National) Report about the Status and Use of Land Resources in the Russian
Federation in 1996.
1.2. Natural-Urban Ecosystems and
Their Soils
Research of urban soils is a new line in soil science. However, already 100
years ago V.V. Dokuchaev, the founder of modem soil science, paid attention
to the necessity of studying soils of St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia.
In 1890, he argued for “the detailed natural historical, physicogeographical,
and agricultural study of St. Petersburg and its vicinities”. Dokuchaev devel¬
oped the ecologically comprehensive program of studies and recruited the
most outstanding scientists to fulfill it.
Under the leadership of Dokuchaev, the special commission worked on
compiling the atlas of St. Petersburg, which included the following maps:
hypsometric, geological (with mapping of groundwater and mineral re¬
sources), soil, zoological, botanical, agricultural, hygienic, and veterinary. “It
is necessary to study genetic interrelationships between all diverse divisions
and branches of natural science mentioned above, mostly concerning humans.
... The explanation of these relationships makes the essence of all truly scien¬
tific research and the highest, clear as a crystal, as beauty or as truth, pleas¬
ure of any science” (Dokuchaev, Selected works, vol. VII, 1953). The initi¬
ated work was stopped because of insufficient financing. Earlier the task to
study soils of St. Petersburg has been set before the City Duma in 1875. The
St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists (Section of Geology and Mineralogy')
proposed to take a chance of extensive earthworks conducted by the City
Government to establish horse railroads for the study of urban soils. So, the
research of urban ecosystems and their soils may be regarded as old as the
study of Russian chernozem.
In 1982, Dolotov and Ponomareva already stressed the necessity of de¬
velopment of urban soil science—a direction in applied soil science.
Presently, much research is devoted to fundamentals of the doctrine of
urban ecosystems and to the role of soils in them. A number of works was
published on urban ecology. In addition, the concept of modem “ecopolises”,
maintenance of ecologically optimal conditions for human life, is developed
by Kavtaradze (Zheveleva, Ignatyeva, and Kavtaradze, 1993). Thus, there is
a widely known Vink's monograph Landscape Ecology and Land Use
(1983), in which special attention is paid to urbanized ecosystems. Recently,
the collective volume Soil in the Urban Environment (1991) and the mono¬
graph of Craul Urban Soil in Landscape Design (1992) devoted to urban
soils were published.
The collective volume Ecogeochemistry of Urban Landscapes (1995)
issued by the faculty of Geography (Lomonosov Moscow State University)
was devoted to ecological and geochemical analysis of towns of Russia,
Mongolia, and Poland. This book was the one to present geochemical princi¬
ples for ecological and geographical systematics of towns. They are based on
quantitative and qualitative geochemical parameters, which characterize natu¬
ral and technogenic situation in cities. A number of towns has been studied
using the same methodology that enabled the authors to develop guidelines for
classifying towns and their components. Thus, N.S. Kasimov and A.I. PcrePman
proposed two levels of systematics: (1) town as an integrated natural-
tcchnogenic system and (2) individual urban landscapes within it.
The geochemical systematics of towns (Table 1.2) proposed by Kasi¬
mov and Perel'man (1995) considers the intensity and character of techno¬
genic impact and the natural-technogenic geochemical situation (facilities for
migration of pollutants). The urban geochemistry significantly depends on the
location of town in the basin of atmospheric transfer, pollution peculiarities,
and the self-cleaning capacity of the atmosphere. The type of cascade land¬
scape-geochemical system is also important.
Table 1.2. Basic taxonomic units for the geochemical classification of
towns (first level) according to Kasimov and Perel'man (1995)
Taxonomic unit
Recognition criteria
Order
Leading role of technogenic migration, artificial relief, and concen¬
tration of population
Category
The degree of technogenic impact on the population and urban envi¬
ronment
Group
Group of natural geochemical landscapes
Type
Type of natural geochemical landscape
Family
Peculiarities of air migration of technogenic products
Class
Class of water migration of technogenic products
Genus
Geochemical speciation of substratum
The geochemical systematics of landscapes within the city limits is
based on the analysis of technogenic flows of pollutants, transformation of the
natural environment, and resistance of natural-anthropogenic landscapes to
pollution (Table 1.3).
Table 1.3. Basic taxonomic units of the geochemical classification of ur¬
ban landscapes (second level) according to Kasimov and Perel'man
(1995)
Taxonomic unit
Recognition criteria
Order
Occurrence in the functional zone and the type of pollution
Division
Peculiarities of deposition and emission of pollutants, geo¬
chemical speciation of emissions and wastes
Family
Severity and danger of pollution
Group and type
Peculiarities of nutrient cycling
Class
Class of water migration of technogenic products
Genus
Peculiarities of air and water migration, position in landscape-
geochemical catenas
Species
Geochemical speciation of substratum
Rapidly developing urbanization and expansion of areas under towns
and settlements permanently modify the urban environment through the action
of both internal and external factors. The process of urbanization produces an
urban ccosystem.
The urban ecosystem is an integrated natural-urban system composed
of fragments of natural ecosystems surrounded by residential areas, industrial
zones, roads, etc. The urban ecosystem is characterized by new types of hu¬
man-made systems resulted from degradation, destruction, and (or) substitu¬
tion of natural systems.
The extent to which the functions of individual components of the urban
environment are disturbed depends on the source, type, and intensity of hu¬
man impact and on the quality of the environment itself (Table 1.4).
In urban ecosystems, the nutrient cycle is disturbed. Their biodiversity
decreases as structural and functional characteristics worsen. The number of
pathogenic microorganisms increases. So, the change in the quality of the ur¬
ban habitat deteriorates the living conditions for humans. Medical and demo¬
graphic parameters in towns become worse: disease incidence and the fre¬
quency of genetic diseases grow, new diseases appear, and the life expectancy
decreases.
Table 1.4. Anthropogenic disruptions in the functional cycle of the urban ecosystem
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The majority of urban areas, including Moscow, are subject to
adverse processes that change ecological functions of soils. As esti¬
mated by ecologists, development of these processes will diminish the
area under vegetation and soils, while the territory sealed with stone,
asphalt, etc. will expand. In addition, worsening of soil hydrological
properties (waterlogging and bogging), increase of ground-level pol¬
lution, and overuse of recreation facilities are expected. The other
adverse ecological consequences are strong compaction within the
rooting layer, contamination by wastes deposited on the soil surface,
environmental pollution caused by regular and accidental emissions and
global mass transfer, loss of soil organic matter, and changes in soil reaction.
In addition, the diversity of the soil microflora decreases, while its struc¬
ture is transformed; soils are infected with pathogenic microorgan¬
isms (See Chapter 4).
In modem soil science, there is an understanding of the necessity' of
studying the surface cover of urban territories, while so far it was refered to
as soil-ground, urban land, or merely land. There are two possible ap¬
proaches to this nontraditional object:
(1) Urban soil is not a soil in Dokuchaev's pedological perception — it
is a geological sediment. Therefore, it is the subject matter of engineering ge¬
ologists. At its best, urban soils can occur only in forest-parks and urban for¬
ests. These are the only sites in towns to which soil scientists may experience
some interest.
(2) Urban soil is a soil,.but its definition somewhat differs from the clas¬
sical view of soil as a natural historical body.
We presume that the urban soil is a bio-mineral system that consists of
solid, liquid, and gaseous phases and, obligatory, of living organisms. It per¬
forms certain ecological functions. Soils develop in town under the action of
the same soil forming factors as natural soils. However, the leading role be¬
longs to the urban-anthropogenic factor.
• • •
Urban soils are distinguished from natural soils mainly because:
• of occurrence of fragments of constructional and household waste in
the topsoil;
• of changed acid-alkaline balance with a tendency for alkalization;
• of high pollution with heavy metals and oil products;
• of changed physicomechanical properties (lower water retention ca¬
pacity, strong compaction, stoniness, etc.);
• of upward growth of the soil profile due to intensive aerial deposition;
• they develop on filled, washed or mixed sediments, and cultural layers.
The methodology of “pure” soil science, its field and analytical methods
as well as its classification approaches can be definitely applied to urban
soils. According to the second definition, this rather unique object deserves a
greater attention of soil scientists and more thorough research. The additional
argument to this is the great area occupied by urban soils.
CHAPTER 2
Basic Concepts of Urban Soils.
Role of Soil in the Urban
Environment
What is an Urban Soil?
• In a broad sense, an urban soil is any soil that is located in the
urban environment
* In a more restricted meaning, the urban soil is a soil directly
affected by “the urban load”, and/or human-made soil in the
town, with the human activity being simultaneously a trigger
and a permanent regulator of the urban soil formation -
urbopedogenesis
2.1. Urbanozem as a New Soil Type
Urbanozems arc genetically individual soils that combine properties of natu¬
ral soils and some specific features.
We presume that a mature urban soil (or central image of the urban soil)
is presented by a deep urbanozem on an ancient cultural layer. The profile
starts with a deep dark-colored organic horizon — urbic (U) — growing up¬
wards owing to dust accumulation or anthropogenic input of matter.
In humid areas, it lacks horizonation of the eluvial-illuvial type that is
inherent to natural soils adjacent to towns. It is worth reminding that the con¬
cept of urbanogenesis and urban soils as its derivates is discussed in this book
basing on the experience and data concerning the eastern European taiga.
The majority of the profiles of urban soils are either turbated or de¬
stroyed, whereas the time required for the development of a mature profile is
insufficient, since normal pedogenesis is incompatible with the life time of
towns and cities (The “Eternal City”, Rome, may be among very rare excep¬
tions).
Pedogenic processes, such as humus accumulation, gley formation, re¬
moval or redistribution of solid and liquid phase operate in urbanozems along
with truncation, disturbance, and/or artificial input of matter and the effect of
abundant artifacts (Stmganova et al., 1990, 1993, 1997; Burghardt, 1993.
1994, 1995). These pedogenic processes are more or less advanced in accor¬
dance with the age of the substrate, climate, and land use. The imprint of
zonal pedogenetic features is thought to be obedient in all urban soils and
their manifestations are rather evident in urbanozems on cultural layers or
loose sediments.
Nevertheless, the concept of urban soil applied by specialists in urban
ecology now is more oriented to soil functioning in the environment than to
morphology and traditional soil characteristics. Functioning presumes per¬
forming functions in the urban environment that are proper to natural soils
and that complement with those originating from the specific behavior of ur¬
ban ecosystems.
Urbanozems have been compared with the natural zonal soils — soddy-
podzolic, or Podzoluvisols in the FAO system (Table 2.1).
Summing up, it seems worth to emphasize that the most conspicuous
properties of urbanozems are inclusions of wastes, compaction, alkaliniza-
tion, accumulation of technogenic pollutants and growth of pathogenic mi¬
croorganisms.
Table 2.1. Common and specific properties of urbanozems and Podzolu-
visols
Common properties
(1) Organomineral body
(2) Importance of biological component
(3) Organomineral compounds, humus
(4) Pedogenic processes: lessivage, humus accumulation, gleying, redistribution of mineral
compounds
(5) Similarity of ecological functions: productive, sorptive, gaseous
Specific properties of urbanozems
Morphological properties
(1) No genetic bonds between topsoil and subsoil
(2) High horizontal and vertical variability
(3) Artifacts, wastes, waste and other inclusions
(4) Stratification; fabric diversity of strata
(5) Cultural layers, paleosols as parent (underlying) rock
Chemical properties and processes
(1) Elevated alkalinity
(2) High carbonate content
(3) Predominance of humates
(4) Accumulation of pollutants
(5) Violation of nutrient cycling and dynamics
Physical properties and processes
(1) Abundant rock fragments
(2) Compaction, structure degradation
(3) Specific gaseous regime, low aeration
(4) Stronger warming, weaker freezing
(5) Contrasts in water regime
Biological properties and processes
(1) Low biodiversity, suppressed activity ofbiota, changes in its composition and structure
(2) Low species diversity along with high biomass
(3) Occurrence of specific pathogens
2.2. Classification of Urban Soils
2.2.1. Approaches, Definitions, Criteria, and Terminology
An overview of the literature on urban soils has shown the high abundance of
data on chemical and agrochemical properties for the urban soils in the
Kuzbass region (Bachirova, 1970), Baltic states (Nicodemus et al., 1984),
and Moscow (Lepneva et al., 1987, 1988, 1990; Obukhov et al., 1987, 1989,
1990 a, b; Nikiforova et al., 1995). This is in a strong contrast to the scarcity
of information concerning their classification, functioning, and morphology
(Gantimurov, 1966; Dolotov et al., 1982; Rokhmistrov et al., 1985; Short et
al., 1986; Craul, 1992; Stroganova et al., 1993, 1997). Weakly studied re¬
mains the diagnostics of both disturbed and newly formed layers and soil ho¬
rizons, controversial is the system of their terminology and horizon designa¬
tions, which either derives of the knowledge of natural soils or follows formal
substantive parameters. The importance of the problem and the growing in¬
terest of scientists forced them to insert translocated, turbated or artificial
soils of towns into the already existing soil taxonomic systems.
The definition of urban soils was coined by J.G. Bockheim in 1974, it
was the following: “Soil material with a human-made non-agricultural layer
deeper than 50 cm formed by mixing, filling or pollution of the land in urban
and suburban territories'’. This definition was widely accepted and is used
almost without any changes in many countries.
• • •
Following Bockheim (1974) and Bridges (1989), we define urban soils
as soils having a human-made upper layer deeper than 50 cm resulting
from mixing, filling, burial and/or pollution of town-produced material.
The depth of 50 cm was chosen, since when thinner, the added material
does not strongly affect the soil, which behaves like a natural body, except for
drastically transformed soils, for example, those covered by a 15-cm-thick
layer of asphalt or concrete.
First classifications of urban soils are known since the 1980s, when they
were developed in Germany, Great Britain, the United States, and Poland for
the purposes of soil survey in towns. These issues were especially successful
in Germany, where a special Working Group on Urban Soils (Arbeitskreis
StadtbodenlSoils of urban, trade, industrial, and mining sites) was organized
in 1987 within the framework of the German Society of Soil Science —
Deutsche Bodenkundliche Gesellschaft.
In the last versions of the FAO Revised Legend for the Soil Map of the
World (1989, 1994), there is a subunit of Urbic Anthrosols (within the An-
throsols) comprising soils of towns and mines. Urbic Anthrosols have “more
than 50 cm of accumulated wastes from mines, town waste, fills from urban
development, etc." (Revised legend, 1989, p. 75).
In the majority of national soil classifications, the soils of towns, even
when considered, are dispersed over different taxonomic levels. Therefore,
their nomenclature is far from being holistic. For example, in the German
system (Blume, 1989) and in the last version of the New Russian Taxonomy
(.Lebedeva et ai, 1997) the human-transformed or -made soils refer to the
highest levels. In the American Soil Taxonomy (1975), they may be recog¬
nized as suborders in Entisols and Inceptisols, i.e., at the second level; al¬
though their separation from the natural soils is not clear enough. That is why
the new order of Anthrosols was proposed in the mid-1980s, and a special
commission (INCOMMANTH) elaborates a comprehensive svstematics of
anthropogenically transformed soils and, as we hope, of urban soils in par¬
ticular.
We presume that the taxonomic systems oriented at the natural soils are
inapplicable to the urban ones, so special systems should be developed.
Criteria for separating taxa in urban soil systematics comprise soil mor¬
phology; origin and evolution and the properties of the substrates. An applied
approach was proposed by the Soil Survey of England and Wales (Clayden
and Hollis, 1984). In it, a great soil group of man-made soils was subdivided
into man-made humus soils (with a dark topsoil at least 40-cm thick) and
disturbed soils (disturbed subsurface layer that extends below 40-cm depth)
of open-cut mines
G. Antonovic of Yugoslavia (1986) uses the name damaged soils to
specify various types of contamination and/or physical disturbance; he em¬
phasized the difference between transformed natural soils and soils on human-
made substrates. The same approach was used by Hollis (1991), Agarkova
and Stroganova (1991).
According to Polish scientists, the properties of substrates are thought to
be of primary importance. Konecka-Betley et al. (1985), and Czerwinski and
Pracz (1991) subdivide soils at the highest level into mechanically trans¬
formed, loose sediments superimposing the natural soil, and chemically trans¬
formed soils. The character of transformations, origin and properties of sedi¬
ments are used at the next level.
Of special interest for us is the legend to the map of Western Berlin; it is
in the same time a classification of urban soils that has much in common with
the approaches used for soil investigations in Moscow. At the highest level
Blume (1989) identifies three categories of soils: soils of closed surfaces,
transformed soils preserving natural features, and soils on filled and/or mixed
substrate. For the natural soils, traditional soil names were applied, such as
Pararendzina, Pararegosol, Parabraunerde, etc. Special artificial names were
also introduced, such as Nekrosols for soils on cemeteries in the town.
Arbeitskreis Stadtboden of the German Soil Science Society' published
in 1989 the first draft of guidelines for urban soils mapping, where the term
Urbic Anthrosols was substantiated for soils on human-made substrates. The
soil evolution promoted by the natural environment comprises initial stages,
when soils are comparable to syrozems; later on, they may evolve into Re-
gosols, Rankers, Rendzina, and Pararendzina. Urban soils, that are more ad¬
vanced in their evolution should be categorized according to the rules applied
for natural soils (Blume, 1989). Arbeitskreis Stadtboden suggests to combine
the origin of substrate and stages of development for classifying urban and
industrial soils (Table 2.2).
Great importance is attached in the German system to human-produced
substrates: truncated by scalping, mixing, impregnated by gases and liquids.
They correspond to Meiktosols and Deposols — soils on mixed or deposited
material, respectively. Meiktosols comprise Hortisols under gardens in towns,
Nekrosols, in cemeteries and church yards. Deposols are formed by addition
of material more than 40-cm deep; if this material overlays the natural sub¬
strate, Allosols are formed, if the substrate is technological, these are Techno-
sols, if the lower substrate is mixed, soils are qualified as Phyrosols. Soils
with strong reductive features confined to organic garbage are termed Re-
ductosols, oil-impregnated soils near the gasoline stations are recognized as
Intrusols. Individual categories are formed by Denusols — denuded, or trun¬
cated soils — and Lithosols that comprise soils with high content of rock
fragments along with soils under asphalt or stony pavement.
Table 2.2. Class: Urbic Anthrosols
1. Meiktosols (mixed substrates)
Without material input
Treposols
(deep-ploughing)
Rigosols
(mixing > 30 cm)
With humus input
(Ah > 40 cm)
Hortisols
(garden soil)
Nekrosols
(church yard soil)
2. Deposols
(deposited material >80 cm)
Allosols (natural substrates).
Phyrosols (mixture of natural
and technological substrates).
Technosols (technological sub¬
strates)
Allosyrosem*;
Alloregosol**;
Allorendzina***
Phyrosyrosem*;
Phyroregosol**;
Phyrorendzina***.
Technosyrosem*;
Technoregosol**;
Technorendzina * * *.
3. Reductosols
(reduced by methane)
No further subdivision
4. Denusols
(scalped to depth > 40 cm)
No further subdivision
5. Intrusols
(recently penetrated by ground¬
water, dust, gases, and organic
liquids)
No further subdivision
Source: Arbeitskreis Stadlboden. 1989; Schraps, 1989; cited from Burghardt, 1994.
* development of Ai-C-Profile (Syrozems);
** development of Ah-C-profile, without carbonates (Regosols);
*** development of Ah-C-profile, with carbonates (Calcaric Regosols).
Note: Allosols, Allosyrosem, Alloregosol, and Allorendzina evolve to Braunerde (Cambisols)
and are classified like soils of natural origin.
Basing on the analysis of these and some other sources and following
the ideology' of the New Russian Taxonomy, the authors proposed their own
systematics of urban soils for substrates occurring in the European taiga .
2.2.2. Urbic Diagnostic Horizon
We think reasonable to specify the urbic (urbs, urbanus—town, city) diag¬
nostic horizon as an individual horizon basing on its individual features and
taking into account the pedogenetic agents responsible for its properties, as
well as processes inherent to this horizon. Urbic horizon is regarded as a di¬
agnostic one for the majority of urban soils and as a criterion to discriminate
them with the natural soils. It is worth reminding that the concept of diagnos¬
tic horizons is widely applied now in the New Taxonomic System in Russia.
The urbic horizon is being formed in towns and cities during centuries,
or it may be “constructed” in a few days in the course of landscape design¬
ing, forming lawns or gardens. Once being made, it gradually adjusts to the
urban soil body, presumably, this process is quicker than pedogenesis under
natural environment. Such “adjustment”, or tending to equilibrium with the
soil body, may be never reached: urbic horizon does not display any genetic
bonds with the underlying material. We consider this discrepancy to be one of
the indications to recognize and classify an urban soil.
• • •
Properties of urbic horizon in different soils of towns vary in a wide
range, and this is also its diagnostic feature. High variability is recognized for
texture, bulk density, some chemical properties, and abundance of artifacts.
The latter feature is expedient; artifacts comprise municipal wastes, remnants
of pottery, wire, plastic bags and the like.
The urbic horizon is always a topsoil (unless buried), mixed; although it
is not necessarily heterogeneous. It is made in most cases by accumulation of
loose, partly oiganic matter over a buried soil (paleosol), or its remnants, or
any other ground (Fig. 2.1). The contribution of eolian processes — urban
dust transfer to the pool of fine earth in urbic horizon is not negligible.
(Chapter 4). Texture and consistence strongly vary' in accordance with the
contribution of different materials, although loamy sands or sandy loams pre¬
dominate. Measurements of the bulk density in Moscow soils showed its
fluctuations within 1.1 and 1.6 g/cm3.
The structure of the urbic horizon is mostly weak; aggregates are rather
unstable and dominated by clods, angular blocks or crumbs. Crumby or
granular aggregates occur locally near the sleeping chambers or channels of
earthworms.
Most of urbic ho¬
rizons are dark in color:
according to Munsell
soil colour charts, the
value should be four or
less.
The upper part of
the urbic horizon is en¬
riched in humus; the
bulk of it contains more
humus than the back¬
ground soils. The com¬
position of humus may
be termed as relatively
humate: the proportion
of humic acids and of
their second fraction
(bound with Ca) is more elevated than it should be under the existing climatic
conditions. Rather elevated are the values of nonhydrolyzable residue, testi¬
fying to rather unfavorable conditions of oiganic remains transformation into
humus substances.
The urbic horizons are mostly base-saturated and have a neutral to
moderately alkaline pH, which is explained by the addition of cement or lime¬
stone dust, and by the neutral to weakly alkaline pH of atmospheric fallout:
industrial and/or town dust and “alkaline” rains'. Effervescence with hydro¬
chloric acid has been registered for some urbic horizons.
Micromorphological data confirm the major specific features of the ho¬
rizon. Thus, the hindered transformation of oiganic residues is recognized in
thin sections by the frequent occurrence of weakly decomposed plant tissues,
similar to organic skeletal material of podzolic soil litter (S. Sedov, personal
Fig. 2.1. Ingredients of the urbic horizon substrate.
1 Along with '“acid rams ', very popular among ecologists, large industrial centers are
known lor their elevated pH fallout owing to industrial emissions (Kasimov et al., 1995).
communication). Fine organic matter is flaky, brownish in colour.
Calcite grains are common in the majority of uibic horizons. These are
mostly primary, rock-inherited carbonates; however, indices of carbonates re-
distriburion — coatings (calcitans) and plasma impregnations were identified.
The S-matrix is often heterogeneous—composed of microfragments, or
inclusions, among which remnants of initial soil horizons are frequent, such
as ВТ horizon “outliers”, or those of the Al horizon of a young humus-
accumulative soil formed on a sandy embankment.
Thin section studies of urbic horizons are not yet numerous. Neverthe¬
less, three main features are thought to be diagnostic for the urbic horizon:
weak oiganic matter decomposition, heterogeneity, and presence of active
carbonates. Along with these, proper to “the central image” of urbic horizon,
we have encountered such pedofeatures as iron-manganic nodules, vivianite
neoformations and bleached skeletal grains in oiganic matter-enriched micro¬
zones. This assemblage is indicative of current gley and eluviation processes.
Urbic horizon should be at least 5-cm thick. It is made by land trans¬
porting and may comprise the cultural layer with its artifacts (Fig. 2.1).
Processes inherent to the urbic horizon are dominated by the natural
ones. Among the main processes operating in the urbic horizon, the following
should be enumerated: humus accumulation, structuring (comprising biogenic
reworking), biopedoturbation, weak lessivage, gley + iron segregation, and
mobilization of carbonates. There are two more processes, which may be re¬
ferred to human-induced: pollution by heavy metals and polycvclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, the occurrence of pathogenic microoiganisms, and ephemeral
discontinuous salinization.
We have tried to look for analogues of the urbic diagnostic horizon in
other taxonomic systems.
The diagnostic horizons were not identified in the former Russian sys¬
tem (Classification and Diagnostics of Soils of the USSR. 1977).
In the FAO list of diagnostic horizons, urbic horizon is absent w hereas
the list of soils includes Urbic Anthrosols. which are qualified as soils of cer¬
tain sites (1989).
The WRB system — the FAO derivative — along with diagnostic hori¬
zons, comprises anthropogenic soil material for towns, oil spills, landfills, and
mines (1994). Anthrosols were also recognized there, although the Urbic
Anthrosols unit was excluded. Only strongly transformed agricultural soils
are ingredients of the Anthrosol group.
Soil Taxonomy (1975) has its anthropic horizon which covers at least
the major part of the proposed concept of the urbic horizon
The modem literature does not contain examples of the diagnostics, de¬
scription, and notation of soil horizons with special respect to urban soils.
However, recently, A Field Manual on Description of Soils in Urban, In¬
dustrial, and Mining Areas was published in Germany (Empfehlungen des
Arbeitskreises Stadtboden..., 1997). It contains a list of major and minor
symbols of horizons. The major indices of horizons (capital letters) designate
natural horizons grouped in subaquatic, oiganic, and mineral. Minor indices
of horizons (small letters) designate “geogenic, anthropogenic, and pedogenic
properties”. Thus, the category of anthropogenic and geogenic horizon sym¬
bols reflects the content of carbonates, marlstones. and humus, relict and al¬
luvial features, impregnation with oil, types of natural and artificial substrates
redeposited by humans, seaside deposits, etc.
The category of pedogenic horizons symbols indicates lessivage, ferrali-
tization, degree of oxidation, clay depletion, presence of concretions, biogenic
mixing, secondary salinization, etc. However, this system (ideology) does not
recognize peculiarities of urban soils by themselves. Furthermore, anthropo¬
genic and landscape (geogenic) properties are separated from pedogenic ones.
We proposed the other system of horizon indices that was tested and re¬
fined during soil surveys in Moscow. We think it is easy to use and embraces
reflects the main properties of urban soils. The notation categories are in good
agreement with the principles of horizon notation used by the New' Russian
Soil Classification System.
The main elements of horizon notation in urban soils are shown below'.
The urbic horizon is designated as U (always capital letter), one soil
profile may have several urbic horizons. This index is followed by an Arabian
numeral — Ul, U2, etc. — similarly to that as it is used for many natural
diagnostic horizons (BT1, BT2; Al, A2). For indication of processes
(features) superimposing the major process, the following letters are used:
Major indices of urbic horizons
Ud—soddy urbic horizon;
Uh—humus-enriched urbic horizon;
Uih—illuvial-humus urbic horizon. Humus illuviation is identified along root
channels and animal passages.
Ug—gley urbic horizon;
Uca—calcareous urbic horizon;
Upt—petroleum-enriched urbic horizon.
Minor indices are used for weakly manifested properties of urbic horizons
and when urbic features superimpose on “natural” genetic horizons:
Au—humus accumulation with some urbic features;
Elu—eluviation with some urbic features.
Indices of other layers, which can be specified:
Cu—parent rock that at the same time is a part of the cultural layer;
Du—underlying rock that may be presented by the cultural layer;
L—stony layer, e.g., remnants of basements and old brick walls;
L—artificial barrier like asphalt or concrete layer within the soil.
The abundance of inclusions of construction, industrial, and municipal
wastes as percentage of the total volume of the layer or horizon are indicated
by the letter a (anthropogenic) (Draft for Soil Horizons Notation, 1982).
Thus, the following grades are recognized: al — few; a2 — <25%; a3 —
25-50%, a4 — >50%.
Each soil has its own set of horizons, for example: weakly disturbed
soddy-urbo-podzolic soil: О—Uld—U2hal—ELB—В—С; medium thick
urbanozem consisting by 25% of artifacts and underlain by a concrete plate:
Ulha2—U2a2—U3al-—U4al—3—L.
Thus, the small letters are practically the same as those used for similar
purposes for designation of natural soils. Among possible exceptions is a
mixed urbic horizon composed of fragments (morphons) of natural horizons
and cultural layer, waste, garbage, etc.
2.2.3. Urban Soils within the Framework of the New
Russian Taxonomic System
The urban soils were not included into the former official Russian system
{Classification and Diagnostics of Soils of the USSR, 1977). However, the new
system proposed by Dokuchaev Soil Institute in Moscow (Lebedeva, Tonkono-
gov, and Shishov, 1993) that is underway now, provides high-level taxa for an-
thropogenically transformed soils and for soil-like bodies. Taking this approach
for the basis and assimilating the experience of colleagues from other countries
concerning urban soils systematics properly, we made an attempt to insert soils of
towns that we have studied in Central Russia into die New Russian Taxonomic
System We consider this attempt to be the “first approximation”, partially be¬
cause of the feet that our urban soils are not yet full ingredients of the system; the
system itself is flexible and the place of different urban soils may be shifted. In any
case, we have to cope with the new national basic system, and further studies are
expected to make contributions to the problem.
In accordance with the principles of the New Russian Taxonomic System,
soils of towns are classified by their profile as universal and comprehensive crite¬
rion, which is supported by recognition of properties of parent materials.
Soils of towns comprise natural (undisturbed) and human-transformed
soils, which are further subdivided into surface-transformed (urbo-soils), and
strongly transformed (urbanozems and chernozems). There are also human-
made, or technogenic, soil-like bodies—urbotechnozems (Table 2.3). Major mor¬
phological features of these groups of urban soils are given on Fig. 3.9. The natu¬
ral undisturbed soils preserve the normal sequence of horizons and occur under
urban forests and forest-paiks located within the town. They have some features
caused by the effect of town, which may be mainly disclosed by chemical analy¬
ses, e.g. elevated concentrations of heavy metals, higher pH than in similar soils
outside the town. They may also contain artifacts that do not exert any influence
on the composition of their profiles.
The surface-transformed soils comprise soils with transformations not
penetrating deeper than 50 cm. Hence, their profile is composed of two different
sequences of horizons: the topsoil is presented by urbic horizon less than 50-cm
thick; the subsoil is undisturbed and preserves the initial set of horizons.
The nomenclature of surface-transformed soils is in complete accor¬
dance with the principles used in the new system for such “semi-natural” soils
changed by fanning, erosion, mining etc. It is composed of the prefix indi¬
cating the type of disturbance: agro-, abra- (abraded = eroded), chemo-
(changes in chemical poperties), respectively; in our case we have urbo-. The
second member of the name indicates the original soil, so we have urbo-
podzolic, urbo-alluvial, urbo-peaty soils in Moscow.
ТаЫе 2.3. Categories of soils occurring in towns
Soils
Soil-like bodies
Natural
Human-transformed
Human-made
Surface
transformed
Strongly transformed
physically
chemically
natural
urbosoil
urbanozem
chernozem
urboteduwaan
Podzolic,
alluvial,
peaty
urbo-podzolic,
uibo-podzolic-gley,
uibo-alluvial
urbanozem
agrouibanozem
ekranozem
nekrozem
industrizem
intruzem
replantozem
constructozem
Strongly transformed soils in the New Russian Taxonomic System are
classified separately: special high-level units are provided for them, which are
compatible with such units as soils with textural profile, alluvial soils, Al-Fe-
humus soils, etc. These units (orders — second level) comprise agrozems,
abrazems (abraded, or eroded soils), chernozems (chemically intoxicated
soils), stratozems (stratified soils with non-fluvial accumulation of material,
they may originate by both natural and artificial ways). The majority of
strongly-transformed soil orders are still weakly studied, and they cannot be
regarded specific for the urban environment.
Urbanozems
Strongly transformed soils in towns are subdivided in accordance with domi¬
nating conspicuous changes in their properties: either physical (mechanical),
or chemical. Soils with predominant strong physical transformations are pre¬
sented typically by urban soils — sensu stricto urbanozems. Their urbic ho¬
rizon is deeper than 50 cm; they occur on cultural layer, mixed or filled rocks,
which are also more than 50-cm thick. Soil profiles comprise a set of U hori¬
zons (Ul, U2. . .), frequendy with admixture of town waste and followed by
impermeable layers (asphalt, concrete plates, pipelines); no other genetic ho¬
rizons may be recognized to the depth of 50 cm and even lower.
Urbanozems comprise some speicfic soils, which are termed in accor¬
dance with the agent of their mechanical pedoturbation: culturozem, nekro-
zem, and ekranozem.
Culturozems (agrourbanozems) are urban soils of city gardens, old
kitchen gardens, and botanical gardens. Culturozems have a thick humus ho¬
rizon, mucky-peaty-compost layers or lenses, the total depth exceeding 50
cm. This horizon is underlain by the original illuvial subsoil (argic horizon),
cultural layer, or any other sediments. Culturozems may be also named
agrourbanozems, if following the rules of the New Taxonomic System.
Nekrozems are soils of cemeteries in towns; the depth of turbation is
above two meters.
Ekranozems is a preliminary name for sealed soils under asphalt or
other impermeable layers as well as under stony pavements; the term origi¬
nated from the Russian word “ekran”, i.e., “screen” or “barrier”, and empha¬
sizes on the isolation of the soil body.
Chernozems
Properties of chernozems — chemically altered soils — are strongly changed
by pollutants, penetrating the soil body both in a gaseous and liquid forms.
They comprise industrizems and intruzems.
Industrizems. Soils of industrial and municipal areas, severely polluted
by heavy metals and/or other toxicants that change the CEC, almost eliminate
the biodiversity, and even approximate them to abiotic bodies. Nevertheless,
the initial soil profile (natural soils, or any of urbanozems) is recognized as
basically unchanged. Soils are compact, lack structure, contain toxic non-soil
inclusion—more than 20% by volume. The name is conventional and may be
substituted by “pollutozem”
Intruzems. Soils impregnated by organic oil and benzene liquids near
refilling stations, or any oil-producing or transporting systems. As in the pre¬
vious case, the initial profile may be preserved; the leakage of oil products
makes it “greasy” and smelling. The alternative names may be “neftezem”
(neft = oil), or “urbochemozem” if the topsoil meets the criteria of urbic hori¬
zon. This means that polluted (impregnated) might be a natural soil, an urbo-
soil, urbanozem or industrizem.
Urbotechnozems
Along with these soils, soil-like human-made superficial bodies occur in
towns — urbotechnozems. These are artificial soils — replantozem and
constructozem — made by application to parent rock of fertile soil material,
peat and/or composts. The soils are intergrades between “technozems”, which
are non-soils and any urban soils; formerly they were termed “soil-grounds”
(Zemlyanitskiy, 1962) in towns. Replantozems (the term was proposed for
agricultural soils) comprise a thin humus horizon or a layer of peat-compost
mixture placed over the surface of the rock in the course of rehabilitation pro¬
cedures. Soils are common in industrial areas on newly made lawns or in
“sleeping blocks”.
Construcrozem are completely artificial soils fully made from different
materials with a humus-enriched layer on the top. Such soils are more hypo¬
thetical than real and may serve as an objective of further research.
The criteria to further subdivision of human-affected soils are based on
soil properties indicating a weak development of either natural or human-
induced processes. The set of adjectives for the former processes and features
is the following: soddy, carbonate, gleyic, leached, peaty, skeletal, primitive.
Soils and soil-like bodies with artificial processes and properties are described
by the following terms: ekranic, chemically-polluted (composition of pollut¬
ants is worth mentioning), low-biotic, oil-impregnated (intrusic), scalped
(abraded).
We presume that parent material is of primary importance for classify¬
ing the urban soils. This aspect was traditionally regarded in the Russian soil
systematics at the level of genus. Parent rocks are specified in terms of origin,
chemical composition, and texture. Three major groups of parent rocks are
the most common for urban soils: mixed (in situ), filled (transported), and
dredged.
The degree of disturbancc/prcscrvation of the solum ranges from weak
(in soils disturbed to the depth of 10-25 cm) to the strongly disturbed ones
(up to 25-50 cm); buried soils with partially or completely preserved profile
are also identified.
Following traditional approaches, the extent of development of any phe¬
nomena in soil, or abundance of anv other qualitative parameter is referred to
as the species level. Thus, there are several soil properties characterized at the
species level:
• profile thickness: weakly developed soils <10 cm; shallow soils 10-50 cm,
moderately deep soils 50-100 cm; deep soils >100 cm.
• type of artifacts: (construction and municipal waste, industrial waste),
or peat-mucky inclusions and fragments of soil horizons.
• abundance of artifacts, percentage of the soil volume; few <25; com¬
mon 25-50; many >50.
• depth of humus-enriched layer: shallow <15 cm; moderate 15-30 cm;
deep >30 cm.
• manifestations of gley: superficially and deeply gleyed.
Examples of full names of soils are rather long and intricate: urbo-
podzolic deeply gleyed lead-polluted loamy soil on loamy till; shallow car¬
bonate low-humus stony loamy sandy replantozem on construction waste, etc.
Thus, in a large town, soils occur both on the land surface as natural
soils, urbo-soils (seminatural soils), urbanozems (strongly human-
transformed soils) and urbotechnozems (soils-sediments) and at a certain
depth as soils or paleosols. The last are urban soils within the cultural layer or
natural soils that existed before humans have inhabited this area. Along with
these diverse bodies, there are plots with garbage and other town waste domi¬
nated by mineral rock or weakly humus-enriched thin upper layers.
2.2.4. Some Aspects of Urban Soils Evolution
The driving forces of the evolution and transformation of urban soils are the
following.
• functional properties and land-use pattern: residential area, industrial
zone, recreation or natural zones;
• kinds of substrates, their physical and chemical features: the cultural
layer, land fills, mixed and dredged sediments, and remnants of natural
soils;
• age: large time intervals starting with the Middle Ages (or even earlier)
when cloisters, palaces, etc. had been established on deep cultural
layer or series of artificial and natural paleosols and lasting until the
present time when new "sleeping quarters” were constructed either
over former arable or forested lands or over garbage and municipal
wastes disposal sites.
The formation and evolution of urban soils comprises:
• changes of natural soils: zonal soil—^weakly or strongly disturbed
zonal soils (urbo-soil)—Hirbanozem.
• development of soils on sediments: sediment (mineral sub¬
strate)—>organosediment (fresh peat-compost mixture on a sediment,
urbotechnozem)->urbanozem.
• development of soils on cultural layer: cultural layer—>urbanozem
Formation of urban soils in time, or evolution trends, may be the fol¬
lowing:
• transformations of quasi-natural and urbo-soils—natural evolution in
town gardens or forests slighdy affected by urbogenesis;
• development of soils on mineral sediments—zero-moment for pe¬
dogenesis in recently constructed residential areas;
• formation of soils on organomineral mixed, filled or dredged sediments
in suburbs and middle part of towns (“soil on sediment”) from zero-
moment to nowadays;
• changes in properties of soils on cultural layer (dated surfaces in the
downtown).
A set of specific urban processes is superimposing over the evolution
models enumerated: chemical contamination, alkalinization, calcification, and
salinization.
2.3. Ecological Functions of Urban Soils
The principal postulate of soil science is that pedogenic processes develop
when there are energy input to soil, matter and energy' exchange between soil
and other natural bodies (atmosphere, substratum and living matter), and
their transformation and transfer (Rode, 1971). As our research showed, soils
of urban ecosystems have new components and matter-energy links com¬
pared to natural soils. Therefore, some additions and refinements should be
done when regarding urban soils.
There are the following processes of matter and energy exchange be¬
tween soil and other natural bodies:
(1) Gas exchange in the system of atmosphere (e.g., industrial gas emis¬
sions) — soil — plant (root) — substratum (e.g., leakage from pipe¬
lines);
(2) Exchange between liquid and vapor water in the system of atmos¬
phere (e.g., industrial gas emissions) — soil — plant — substratum
(e.g., leakage from pipelines);
(3) Heat exchange in the system atmosphere (e.g., houses, thermal
power stations, etc.) — soil — plant — substratum (e.g., leakage
from pipelines);
(4) Dust exchange in the system atmosphere — soil — plant — sub¬
stratum — construction and road surfacing;
(5) Removal of organic matter synthesized by higher plants to soil
(absence of forest litter and cutting of lawns);
(6) Synthesis and decomposition of organic compounds (e.g., humification).
The following processes occurring between urban soil (except the soils
of natural complex) and other natural bodies are absent or negligible:
(1) Bilateral exchange of ash elements and nitrogen in the system soil —
higher plant (slow biological cycling). The exchange between soil and
plants becomes one-sided, since leaf residues and dry branches and trees
are removed, lawn grasses are cut;
(2) The transformation of autrophic (detrital) residues by soil biota, when
the quantity' of plant litter is small.
We think that basic functions of soils in urban ecosystems are similar to
those in natural soils (Dobrovol'skiy and Nikitin, 1990). The soils are the
medium, where biogeochemical matter cycling and biochemical transforma¬
tion of filled layers occur and surface water is converted to groundwater.
They also serve as a nutritive substratum for plants, seed bank, regulator of
gas exchange, etc.
Ecological functions performed by soils in towns are variable. Their
main properties are fertility (soil suitability for plant growth) and capacity of
absorption to prevent penetration of pollutants to soil and groundwater and,
with dust, into urban air.
The role of soil in towns is significant and diverse (Fig. 2.2). Soil makes
up the framework of the environment, it alters the chemical composition of
precipitation and groundwater; it is the universal biological sorbent, supplier
and regulator of C02. Ck and N2 in the atmosphere.
Fig. 2.2. Soil functions in the urban ecosystem.
In large cities — megalopolises — especially in highly industrialized
ones, urban soils badly perform their ecological functions (Table 2.4). Degra¬
dation or weakening of ecological functions is especially severe in cities with
strong chemical industry and in those located in northern regions.
Soil in the city is a strong sorptive barrier for gases, including those
emitted by motor transport, thermal power stations, plants, etc. It also regu¬
lates the gas composition of the atmosphere by emitting or sorbing the gases
(methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, etc.).
Table 2.4. Transformation and degradation of environmental functions of
urban soils
Natural soil
Urban soil
Soil-water
Conversion of sewage wa¬
ter into groundwater and its
cleaning.
Sorptive barrier protecting
rivers and lakes from pol¬
lution.
Alteration of the chemical
composition of water
Water passes soil by asphalt or through the surface of
compacted soil and enters rivers.
On its way through soil, water is contaminated with heavy
metals and toxic compounds, so its composition when it
leaves the soil differs from the original one.
When strongly polluted, soil stops to be the barrier against
pollution (saturated sorptive capacity).
Additional water influx from pipelines (soil waterlogging
and bogging)
Soil-substratum
The barrier protecting from
vertical penetration of
chemical and biological
pollution.
Biogeochemical transfor¬
mation of substrate, wastes,
and disposal sites
Protective barrier may not function.
Geochemical link between soil and substratum may be ab¬
sent (soil on communication conduits).
Mosaic or downfall migration.
Substratum is the cause of biological and chemical pollu¬
tion.
Soil on disposal sites accumulates heavy metals and toxic
compounds
Soil-air
Gas absorptive barrier for
gases, including those pro¬
duced by motor transport,
thermal power stations, and
plants.
Regulation of the gas com¬
position in the atmosphere
and its cleaning
Absorption of gases, including those from motor transport,
plants, and thermal power stations.
Dust production at the soil surface.
Gas exchange deteriorates to soil compaction.
Greenhouse effect under asphalt or under compact soil
crust.
The ratio between anaerobic and aerobic microorganisms
changes.
Additional gas influx from communication conduits
Soil-biota
Environment for macro-,
meso-, and microbiola.
The basis of bioproductiv-
ity.
Sanitary barrier
Disturbance of the environment and reduction in its biodi¬
versity (composition, structure and functions).
Lowered bioproductivity.
Appearance of human-associated species.
Appearance of pathogenic microorganisms.
Deterioration of sanitary functions.
The extent to which soil is directly involved in transformation of the air
composition is primarily determined by soil microorganisms, which species
composition and number vary stronger under urban conditions compared to
natural ones. Soil affects the heat and water dynamics in near-surface layers
of urban atmosphere.
Owing to its biogeochemical properties and huge active surface, urban
soil is a sink of toxic compounds, such as heavy metals, pesticides, oil prod¬
ucts, etc. coming from the atmosphere into groundwater and rivers. Soil con¬
verts sewage water into groundwater and cleans it. In addition, it appears to
be a sorptive barrier protecting water of rivers and ponds from pollution.
In large cities and industrial centers, up to 70 to 90% of the soil surface
is sealed with asphalt, occupied by houses and constructions. Consequently,
polluted precipitation passes the soil body by and enters ponds and rivers
through canalization (Fig. 2.3).
Fig. 13. The effects of sealing of the soil surface on the ecological situation in the city.
As noticed by Hobert (1978), sealed landscapes are characterized by
the strongest increase in temperature and its greatest fluctuations.
Asphalt covering protects the soil from most pollutants, prevents pene¬
tration of rainfall to soil, and alters its water and air regime. However, micro¬
organisms may still live under the cover, so maintaining the gas exchange
between soil air and the atmosphere. One of the negative consequences is the
greenhouse effect because from soil sealing. Without natural aeration, soil be¬
comes waterlogged that promotes the increased humidity in basements and
the destruction of foundations. High humidity in rooms and development of
pathogens and fungi, which are very difficult to combat, cause health prob¬
lems for the inhabitants of lower stories. A high percentage of area sealed
with asphalt, as found on boulevards, squares, and other areas, also has an
adverse effect. Thus, anaerobic conditions “kill” the roots that penetrate under
asphalt cover. Therefore, ecologically sound stone blocks or other permeable
materials should be used to replace the impermeable asphalt cover.
Soil is one of the necessary factors for plant growth. Ecologically badly
managed, un vegetated urban areas are the source of the additional emission of
solid matter into the atmosphere, so increasing the effect of toxic compounds
contained in the city atmosphere.
Urban soils should provide optimal conditions for plant growth in urban
phvtocenoses. While urban soils are sufficiently provided with nutrients, their
fertility is limited by the following factors: high pH (7.0 and more), overcom-
paction and pollution with heavy metals, toxic hydrocarbons etc. (Soils in the
Urban Environments, 1991).
Acting through its sanitary and recreational functions, soil determines
human life conditions in a city. Its sanitary and hygienic functions are very
important for the city', since the soil possessing good antiseptic properties to
kill pathogenic microorganisms and decomposes organic debris and metabolic
products of living organisms.
Human-made disturbances of the soil cover seriously disturb and de¬
grade the whole natural complex, so threatening the health and life of people
in the city.
2.4. Optimization of Ecological Functions
and Integral Qualitative Assessment of
Urban Soils
Types of land use are very important for the understanding of the ecological
state of urban lands, since they effect the soil development in the city.
In Moscow, there are the following categories of lands:
• built urban and rural sites—residential areas (including yards,
squares, kindergartens, schools, and lawns along highways;
• traffic, trade and industrial sites (plants, factories, motor services,
thermal power stations, warehouses, gasoline stations, aeration fields,
highways, airports, railroads, etc.);
• natural recreational and nature-protection areas (urban forests, for-
est-parks, parks, boulevards, squares, natural monuments, etc.);
• agricultural lands (arable lands, farms, nurseries, and experimental
fields);
• unused lands (wastelands, dumps, quarries, and badlands).
Each category of urban lands includes:
(1) sealed (impermeable) areas under houses, pavements, roads, ware¬
houses, industrial buildings, and other buildings and communications; the
water-air exchange on these lands is disturbed;
(2) open, unsealed (permeable) areas represented by soils and substrates
variously disturbed by humans. These lands perform sanitary, hygienic,
ecological, and biospheric functions, so maintaining human life standards
and are subdivided into
• vegetated areas, where soils still perform ecological functions
(squares, parks, forest-parks, lawns, etc.) and
• unvegetated or poorly vegetated areas sporadically covered mainly
with ruderal species and herbs (waste lands, yards, etc.). Ecological
functions of soils in these sites are transformed, degraded, and strongly
disturbed. Such plots may be found in all categories of lands.
Thus, the urban area includes various types of lands with different functional
suitabilities. Together with general characteristics, each type has its specific prop¬
erties. Properties of urban lands also reflect the pattern and type of land use.
Functional zones of city and soils located within these zones are affected
by socioeconomic, political, and administrative aspects of city planning.
Therefore, it was assumed that the type of land use is the crucial factor
of soil evolution in urban and industrial areas. After parent material (filled,
washed, and mixed substratum) is deposited, urbic and natural factors begin
to interact. As land is used, individual plots become linked with each other in
a soil-geochemical landscape.
The approach to estimation of the ecological status and quality of soils
and the soil cover is modified dependingly on the type of land use and its spe¬
cifics. It comprises:
• chemical pollution of soils;
• degradation of humus status;
• sanitary status of soils;
• soil resistance to mechanical action and erosion;
• degree of soil disturbance.
Chemical pollution of soils is estimated by learning natural peculiarities
of the area, the subordination of soil-geochemical landscapes, and sorptive
properties of soils (acid-alkaline and redox conditions, humus content, and
particle-size distribution). In addition, bulk and mobile forms of chemical
compounds in the soil are compared to their maximal and estimated allowable
concentrations.
The estimation of the sanitary' status of a soil also varies with the type of
land use and physicochemical and biological soil properties.
The sanitary status of soils is determined by:
• the possibility for pathogenic bacteria and viruses to survive, simulta¬
neously preserving their virulence;
• the role of soil as an intermediate medium for development;
• the ability' of soil to self-purification;
• the content of toxic compounds in soil;
• the ability' of soil for dust production;
• soil radioactivity' (the excess over background values).
Up to the present time, the standards of optimal functioning and quality'
of urban soils have not been developed. The preliminary list of parameters
necessary for the estimation of the ecological status (quality) of urban soils is
given in Table 2.5. As standards we used GOSTs (state standards) for arable
lands within the zone of soddy-podzolic soils corrected in accordance with
results of our studies of urban soils in Moscow. Some estimated values suit
for estimating the status of all types of urban lands, while the others suit only
for a specific type.
Presently, the qualitative assessment of urban soils is insufficiently
elaborated, while it may be used for soil and urban land rating. We attempted
to make the preliminary estimate of the urban land quality by using several
parameters (Table 2.6) ranging from soils that almost do not require reha¬
bilitation to practically unrecoverable ones (strongly degraded soils).
Table. 2.5. Optimal properties of urban soils
Functional zone
Natural-recreational and recreational
Industrial
Criteria, parameters
parks and
forest-parks
squares and
boulevards
lawns
boulevards,
squares, alleys
lawns
(1) Content of stones
in the 0-2 5-cm layer,
%
<10
<15
<25
<15
<25
(2) Content of physi¬
cal clay (<0.01 mm),
%
10-40
10-30
20-40
10-30
20-40
(3) Groundwater
level, m
>3-4
>2-3
>1
4-5>
>3
(4) Thickness of the
fertile layer, including
that for planting pit,
cm
10-75
30-75
>25
30-75
>25
(5) Humus content in
the 0-2 5-cm layer, %
2-3
2-3
3-4
2-A
3-4
(6) pHwaier
5.5-6.5
5.5-7.5
6.5-8.0
5.5-8.0
6.5-8.0
(7) Bulk density in
the
0-25-cm layer, g/cm3
0.80-1.10
1.15-1.20
1.20-1.30
1.25-1.30
1.20-
1.30
(8) Radioactivity,
|jR/h
<20
<20
<20
20-25
20-25
(9) Number of patho¬
genic microorganisms
per gram of soil
Not elaborated
(10) Soil phytotoxic¬
ity (times relatively to
the background
<1.1
1.1-1.3
1.1-1.3
1.1-1.3
11-13
Table 2.6. Integral qualitative assessment of urban soils
Categories
Very good
Good
Mean
Poor
Veiy poor
Parameters
no reha¬
bilitation
required
easily
rehabilta
ted
moderately
rehabili-
ated
poorly
rehabili¬
tated
almost unrecov¬
erable without
energy spending
Morphological parameters
(1) Thickness of humus
layer, cm (percentage of
decrease relatively to the
background)
0
25
50
75
n/d
(2) Degree of surface
dumping, %
sporadic
<25
25-50
50-75
>75
(3) Content of stones in
the 0-0.5-m layer, %
sporadic
<25
25-50
50-75
>75
Physical parameters
(1) Clay content
(<0.01mm), %
20-30
10-20
30-40
5-10
40-50
0-5
50-60
>60
(2) Bulk density, g/cm3
<1.2
1.2-1.4
1.4-1.6
1.6-1 8
>1.8
Chemical parameters
(1) Humus reserves de¬
crease, % (relatively to the
background)
0
25
50
75
100
(2) pH
6.5-7.0
5.5-6.5
7.0-7.5
4.5-5.5
7.5-8.0
4.0-4.5
8.0-8.5
<4.0
>8.5
(3) Content of heavy met¬
als, ГТА
<16
16-32
32-64
64-128
>128
Biological parameters
(1) Mesofauna diversity
1 1 i 1
-H-+
++
+
n/d
(2) Level of active micro¬
bial biomass, times less
relatively to the back¬
ground
<5
5-10
10-50
50-100
>100
(3) Phytotoxicity, times
less relatively to the back¬
ground
<1.1
1.1-1.3
1.3-1.6
1.6-2.0
>2.0
Note: n/d is not determined.
CHAPTER 3
Soils and the Soil Cover of
Moscow
More than 800 years ago the present territory of Moscow and its vicinities
were covered with mixed coniferous-broadleaved forests alternating with
meadows, lakes, bogs, and flooded meadows within the valley of the Moskva
River. The soil pattern was dominated by various podzolic and soddy-
podzolic soils (Podzoluvisols) intermingling with bog and alluvial soils.
Gradually, from century to century', the human activity transformed the area under
natural vegetation The city grew by capturing nearby villages, cloisters, and
posads (suburbs). Finally, the top layer of soil has been replaced by a cultural
layer.
The modern environment in Moscow is the result of the city develop¬
ment during the 18-20th centuries, when the city was growing by enlarging
on suburbs Before the 18th century, Moscow had been limited by Zemlyanoi
Gorod (“Gr >und town”) and occupied the area less than two thousand hec¬
tares. In the 18th century, the city grew within the area adjacent to the
Moskva and Yauza river valleys (7 .2 thousand ha). Since the end of the 19th
century', the city has started its eastern extension toward the Meshchera
Lowland. In the 20th century, it has begun to develop northward to the Lik-
hoborka River. In the middle of our century, the city has acquired the southern
part of the high interfluve area of Teplv Stan. In the 1960s, the city grew
westward (Fig. 3 .1).
As noted by Moscow architects and city builders, the city has the form
of an “amphitheater” with
a densely built-up, rela¬
tively low downtown.
Around it, similar to an¬
nual tree rings, new zones
of city consequently de¬
veloped. The first zones
appeared during pre- and
after-World War II recon¬
structions near the posts
of Kamer-Kollezhskiy
Val. Beyond them there is
an intermediate zone
dominated by five-storied
(“Khrushchev-style”)
apartment buildings con¬
structed between the
1950s and 1960s. The pe¬
ripheral belt with many-
storied houses was built
between the 1970s and
1980s.
Table 3.1. Stages of city development
Stages of city development
Area of the city, km2
1. Kremlin walls of 1495
0.2
2. Walls of Kitaigorod of 1538
0.9
3. Fortifications of Bely Gorod (“White town”, modem
Boulevard Ring) of 1593
5.6
4. Fortifications of Zemlyanoi Gorod (“Ground town”, mod¬
em Garden Ring) of 1630 to 1640
18.7
5. Kamer-Kollezhskiy Val between 1742 and 1864
72.1
6. Moscow Ring Railroad of 1917
212.1
7. Boundaries of 1935-1960
356.7
8 Boundaries of 1960 within the Moscow Ring Road
876.9
9 Boundaries of modem city
1091 0
Table 3.2. Land structure in Moscow in 1997
Type of land
Area, thousand ha (%)
Lands under residential and public buildings
44.4 (40.7)
Lands of public use (streets, plazas, squares, parks,
15.5(14.2)
boulevards, etc.)
Agricultural lands
6.5 (6.0)
Lands for nature conservation, tourism, recreation, his¬
torical and cultural monuments, and urban forests
15.8(14.5)
Lands under communications
8.0 (7.3)
Lands under industrial buildings, municipal services,
13.2(12.1)
warehouses, and military installations
Unused lands
20(1.8)
Water bodies, land water-protection zone
3.7 (3.4)
Total:
109.1 (100)
Source: The Moscow Committee for Land Resources.
The suburbs adjacent to Moscow have received the status of the protec¬
tive belt of forest-parks in 1935. The suburbs include 13 towns and make a
unitary system with the city. They are separated by strongly urbanized rural
areas, which preserved fragments of original nature. Urbanization, which has
started in the second half of the 19th century', resulted in the integration of
Moscow and neighboring areas
The present status of the environment in Moscow is not only a result of
the activity of the city itself but is also due to the strong influence of very' ur¬
banized Moscow region.
Thus, nearly 30% of the surface of urban lands are open and partly
planted. These areas are occupied with various urban soils (Table 3.2).
3.1 Physicogeographical Conditions of
Moscow
In contrast to natural ecosystems, the development of urban ones is deter¬
mined not only by natural processes but rather by the human activity. There¬
fore, all natural pedogenic factors (parent material, climate, topography, and
vegetation) are strongly modified in urban areas.
3.1.1. Geology
Moscow is situated in the center of a platform — a deep depression in Pre-
Cambrian rocks filled with predominantly marine sedimentary rocks up to a
depth of more than 1.5 km.
The Moscow1 Depression is filled with Devonian limestones, dolomites,
and gypsum. The highest point of their occurrence is 200 m below the sea
level. Devonian rocks are overlain by Carboniferous limestones and red clays
with a thickness up to 330 m.
The outcrops of Carboniferous limestones are eroded and dissected by
elongated depressions. They are filled with later deposits and overlain by dark
Jurassic clays and sands, which, in turn, are covered by Cretaceous deposits.
However, throughout the territory of Moscow they were mostly transported
by glaciers and washed out by preglacial and glaciofluvial flows. Only up to
a 52-m thick layer of quartz sands was preserved in the southwestern part of
the city on the Vorob'evy Gory.
3.1.2. Geomorphology and Hydrology
Modem relief of Moscow was sufficiently made by glaciations and erosional
activity- of rivers. Till of Moscow and Dnieper glacial advances covers most
of the city and its vicinity.
In the geomorphological respect, the city mostly occupies moraine and
glaciofluvial plains, flood plain, terraces, and landslide slopes.
Moscow and its vicinity are situated on the joint of the Smolensk-
Moscow Elevation, plains of the Moskva and Oka rivers, and the Meshchera
Lowland (Fig. 3.2).
The northern part of the city occupies the very southern edges of the Klin-
Dmitrov Ridge and the Moscow-Smolensk Elevation and embraces the interflu¬
ves of the Moskva, Klyaz'ma, and Yauza rivers. The topography is hilly with rela¬
tive elevations of 40 to 55 m. Rocks mostly consist of sands and till clays. In the
northern part of the city, the topography was smoothed by filling of gullies and
bogged depressions. The thickness of fills is from 3 to 6 m.
The southern part of the city encloses the area between the Moskva and
Pakhra rivers. The elevation of Teply Stan is the highest place in the southern part
of the region. It reaches 200 m above the sea level, or 80 m above the level of the
Moskva River.
Fig. 3.2. Geomorphological
scheme of Moscow
(Likhacheva, 1997).
(1) moraine plain;
(2) glaciofluvial plain;
(3)-(5) terraces of the Moskva
River (1st, 2d, and 3d);
(6) low flood plain;
(7) landslide and creep slopes;
(8) talwegs:
(a) of ravines;
(b) of technogenically buried
river network;
(9) rivers and lakes.
ЕШ41Ш51 16
Ш 7E38 ^ 9
Steeply Ming, it constitutes the hills of the Vorob'evv Gory. Rolling
topography is dissected by erosional valleys, rills, and ravines. During construc¬
tion, these sites were significantly cut off and filled with ground. The topography
was the most strongly changed in catchment areas of small rivers. Somewhere
more than 85% of ravine network were filled. The thickness of anthropogenic
deposits reaches 20 m.
The eastern part of Moscow belongs to the edge of the Meshchera Low'land.
This is a flat, somewhere bogged plain with elevations from 20 to 40 m above the
level of the Moskva River. Eastern and southeastern parts of the Moscow
downtown, which are the lowest and flattest, border the Meshchera Lowland.
Reclamation of these lands resulted in fills up to 6-m thick. Nevertheless, the
territory is characterized by shallow groundwater and strong waterlogging.
The Moskva River valley occupies more than 30% of the city area. This
river has washed a wide, asymmetric valley within the city boundaries with three
terraces recognized. The youngest is the 1st Serebryannoborskava terrace with ab¬
solute elevation of 126 to 130 m. The more ancient one is the 2d Mnevnikovskava
terrace with elevations of 130 to 140 m. The terraces are composed of sand and
loamy sands with pebble lenses. The greatest area is occupied by the 3d Kho-
dynskaya terrace, which has the highest elevations (absolute elevation of 135
to 140 m, or 30 to 35 m above river level). It is composed of ancient alluvial
sandy and pebble deposits overlain by fine clays and peats.
The valley of the Moskva River is characterized by strongly modified topog¬
raphy. After reservoirs and the Moskva-\blga canal were constructed in the
headwaters of the Moskva River, the water discharge has increased by one cubic
kilometer This makes up 60% of river discharge. Therefore, the water level rose
by 5 m, so that the plain was partly flooded. Gullies and rills dischaiging into the
river valleys were gradually filled. The mouths of small rivers were captured. In
valleys, the thickness of fills reaches 20 m.
Gullies and rills dischaiging into the river valleys were gradually filled.
The mouths of small rivers were captured. In valleys, the thickness of fills
reaches 20-m.
\
Long-term economic and construction activities significantly transformed the
natural topography of Moscow (Fig. 3.3). The land surface was leveled, so that
the branched erosional network disappeared and new Iandforms were created. So,
the leveling of initially rolling topography comprised: filling of gullies and flood
plains, cutting of hills and slopes, and capturing of small river into underground
collectors. These changes were especially evident during the construction of the
subway in the 1930-1960s. Later the gullies were filled, and the depressions were
leveled with sandy and loamy till taken from a 20- to 50-m depth of mines and
tunnels. As calculated by Kotlov (1978), the volume of ground moved to Moscow'
in 1967 was 211 m3. The greatest artificial Iandforms are pits and causeways of
motor and railway roads. However, from the periphery to the downtown, the
ground rises because of the thicker cultural layer.
Nonetheless, the buried topography continues to affect soil formation by
means of abundant concealed confining beds and sandy lenses. Therefore, the ter¬
ritory is characterized by unexpected groundwater discharges, waterlogging under
buildings, and development of karst, and sinkholes.
In addition, within the area of Moscow, the chemical composition and depth
of ground water change. Some areas of the city became waterlogged after the
natural drainage systems were ruptured (Osipov, 1994). In intensively developing
areas, bogs were drained, the valleys of small rivers and springs w ere filled.
Fig. 3.3. Scheme of the assessment of changes in topography within the area of Moscow
(Bakhireva et al., 1989).
The degree of changes: (1) high (changed absolute elevations, filled rivers and lakes); (2)
moderate; (3) weak (almost unchanged topography); (4) lost rivers and streams.
The groundwater raise was also enhanced by leakage from fresh water and
sewer pipelines, seepage from ponds, and pits for building, irrigation, etc. Ac¬
cording to the Geological and Hydrological Expedition, in Moscow, of 510 km of
w aterways of small rivers, 290 km were eliminated. Only seven rivers preserved
their waterways open, including the Yauza, Setun', Skhodnya, and Ramenka riv¬
ers. Other rivers were partly or completely captured into collectors. Throughout
the city, more than one hundred small rivers, creeks, gullies, dozens of dead rivers,
and more than seven hundred ponds were filled. All this modified natural catch¬
ment areas.
Due to the poor quality of potable, sewage, and heating water pipelines,
nearly 400 cubic meters of water per day percolates through soil. In some places,
leakage reaches 40% compared to 4-6% for the city on the average. So, more
than 40% of the city area (especially in Central, Eastern, Northeastern, and West¬
ern Administrative regions) is waterlogged (groundwater is within 3-m depth). At
the same time, the water level can be deliberately lowered to facilitate construction.
This, together with sealing of the territory with asphalt and building of houses and
industrial installations, decreases water reserves within the rooting zone and di¬
minishes the subsurface discharge.
Major sources of environmental pollution of ponds and groundwater are
aeration stations (filtration fields), contaminated surface runoff and land pollution.
The surface runoff within the city depends cm the amount of atmospheric precipi¬
tation, flood water, and the snow cover pattern. High content of dissolved salts in
precipitation and atmospheric dust, discharge of industrial and household wastes
made fresh groundwater more saline (salt content is 2-3 g/1) at 85% of the city
area (Pmsenkov, 1974).
3.1.3. Parent Materials
Parent rocks that occur in Moscow and its vicinity belong to two large
groups: cultural layers and natural grounds.
Cultural layer is a historical system of strata produced by the human
activity during several centuries. The cultural layer is formed through the ac¬
cumulation on the soil surface of different materials resulting from economic
and living activities of humans. It also may originate from transformation of
the topsoil during construction and landscaping, when the alien matter is
added to soil.
The cultural layer of ancient Moscow (tell) is subdivided into several
historicolithological layers (Aleksandrovskaya et al., 1997).
(I) The original soil — typically this is a soddy—podzolic soil developed cm
glacial, glaciofluvial, and mantle deposits. It can be bogged and disturbed
to a different degree by later events.
(II) Above the buried soil lies the “organogenic"’ layer referred to the pe¬
riod of wood city construction in the 12-16th centuries. This is
nearly 2-m-thick layer with clayey texture, high humus content, tim¬
ber and saw residues, and a small amount of inclusions of const rue-
tion material (brick and lime fragments).
(1П) The last layer is overlaid by a thick “lithogenic” layer enriched with
fragments of brick and construction lime. It is referred to the period
of brick and stone construction in the 17-19th centuries. This layer
has a lower humus content but is more sandy in texture.
(IV) The modem cultural layer contains even a greater amount of con¬
struction residues; it can be overlayed by asphalt concrete cover,
otherwise thick urbanozems develop in its upper part (Fig. 3.4).
The cultural layer of Moscow based on loose loamy-sandy brownish
sediments includes quite different materi¬
als: brick fragments, stones, construction
waste, abandoned foundations of build¬
ings, basements, wells, wooden decks,
boulder and asphalt covers, and home ap¬
pliances. It also contains abundant de¬
caying organic residues. For example, the
cultural layer represents a heterochronous
system of buried urban soils, including
paleourbanozems (Table 3.3). The cul¬
tural layer is continuous in the downtown
— within the Garden Ring, while it is
shallow and discontinuous in the areas of
rccent construction. It occurs as rare spots
and strips typically in the valleys of filled
and captured rivers, ravines, quarries, and
other human-made depressions.
The territory of ancient large cities,
such as Moscow, Novgorod, and Kiev
can be divided in two major zones. The
first is the zone of an ancient settlement
with a well-developed cultural layer favorable for the formation of thick ur¬
banozems. The second one is the zone of recent city development with a
poorly developed cultural layer. These areas may preserve variously disturbed
natural soils, while shallow' poorly developed urbanozems or urbotechnozems
(former called soils-gmunds) develop on fresh and old sediments.
Fig. 3.4. Cultural layer.
Table 3.3. The composition of Moscow tell according to Kotlov (1962)
Material
Percentage
Sand
67.6
Loamy sand
10.0
Rock fragments and construction waste
10.0
Loam
3.45
Clay
1.24
Organic matter
3.0
Ancient constructions
4.35
In the ancient part of Moscow, the cultural layer thickness ranges within
2 to 3 m on the watersheds and from 7 to 10 m in depressions. The maximum
thickness of the layer (20 m) was found on Vasil'evskiy Spusk near the
Kremlin. The cultural layer of Moscow is stratified, stony, has an alkaline
reaction and an elevated content of phosphorus and organic matter. It is cal¬
careous and somewhat enriched in heavy metals (Table 3 .4).
Table 3.4. Chemical properties of the cultural layer in the center of
Moscow
Horizon,
depth, cm
Century
pH
water
Humus,
%
Loss by ig¬
nition, %
COz of car¬
bonates, %
РЛ,
mg/kg
A. 25
20
8.1
4.40
9.34
1.90
26.0
A. 70
18-19
7.9
3.45
9.03
2.86
52.4
El. 100
18
7.8
2.90
8.00
1.19
61.1
115
18
7.9
1.72
7.77
3.85
50.4
145
17-18
8.2
1.36
7.12
3.50
29.3
A. 160
17
8.0
2.34
6.84
1.44
49.0
170
17
7.9
1.46
6.41
0.73
52.0
195
17
8.1
1.48
7.16
3.09
41.8
195
16
7.5
3.08
7.85
0.40
63.1
Source: Aleksandrovskaya, 1996.
The oiganic matter consists of detritus, humus, and abundant inclusions
of wooden constmctions and chips in waterlogged layers. Limestone and lime
widely used in the 17-18th centuries are the principal source of СаСОэ. As
carbonates migrate downwards, they change the initially acid reaction to al¬
kaline. Additions of household wastes increase the phosphorous content by
100 to 200 times compared to natural soils (from 1-5 to 200-550 mg/100 g
of soil), so that viviamte is often found in the cultural layer. It foims bright
blue films on the faces of bricks, archeological artifacts, and soil peds
(Aleksandrovskaya and Aleksandrovskii, 1997).
As for macroelements, biogenic potassium accumulates in the cultural
layer and ancient soils of Moscow due to decomposition of wooden materials,
frequent fires, and application of furnace ash as a fertilizer for kitchen gar¬
dens (Table 3.5).
Table 3.5. Content of macroelements (%) in the cultural layer in the cen¬
ter of Moscow
Horizon,
depth,
cm
Century
S1O2
АЪОз
FcjOj
TiOz
CaO
MgO
k2o
NazO
A. 25
1995
70.3
10.5
5.11
0.59
9.42
0.95
1.97
0.5
A. 70
18-19
63.3
10.0
5.69
0. 73
16.0
0.92
2.10
0.5
El. 100
18
71.5
10.6
4.99
0.72
7.38
1.16
2.42
0.5
115
18
67.5
8.30
4.19
0.52
17.3
1.17
1.82
0.5
145
17-18
67.8
11.0.
4.39
0.64
11.4
1.11
2.50
0.5
A. 160
17
70.7
10.8
5.03
0.67
8.28
0.76
2.60
0.5
170
17
72.5
11.9
4.88
0.74
5.41
1.04
2.37
0.5
195
17
66.1
11.5
4.96
0.63
11.7
1.60
2.36
0.5
250
16
75.9
9.8
4.01
0.74
4.63
1.26
2.41
0.5
270
16
78.1
10.9
3.27
0.90
2.25
0.77
2.73
0.5
Source: Aleksandrovskaya, 1996.
The human activity increased the content of different macro- and microele¬
ments in the oiganogemc cultural layer (wooden construction of the 16th and 17th
centuries) and in above-lying wastes derived from lime and brick (the 18th and
19th centuries, Moscow deposits). Thus, the fraction of silica (63-73% Si02) in
the total composition of the cultural layer relatively decreases, while the fraction of
CaO and K20 increases up to 7.5-17.5 and 3%, respectively. Locally, ancient
soils of Moscow were polluted with heavy metals and arsenic.
Natural substrates. The whole range of sediments and rocks typical for this
region occurs in the city. They are composed of a wide range of deposits: (1) till
deposit; (2) mantle-postglacial loams; (3) glaciofiuvial and paleoalluvial sandy
deposits; (4) contrast-texture deposits; (5) modem alluvial and lacustrine deposits;
and (6) the eluvium of original pre-Quatemary rocks. The properties of substrates
and their mixtures affect the soil properties, pedogenesis, and soil functions. There¬
fore, as noted by German soil scientists, the soil properties are mainly conditioned
by properties of the substratum.
Till has been deposited during the Mindel and Riss (Riss I and Riss П
phases) glaciations, which had covered the territory of Moscow. The Wiirni gla¬
ciation had not reached the city vicinity being stopped north. However, its melt-
water significantly promoted formation of the river valleys. Till of the Mindel gla¬
ciation occurs sporadically. It is composed of grayish-black, more rarely reddish-
brown loams and loamy sands and contains pebble and boulders predominantly of
local sedimentary rocks. Intermediate till (Riss I) is coarse, partly very compact
grayish-brown loam with abundant boulders. Till forms a mantle (5 to 20-m
thick) on the watersheds and penetrates along the slopes to river valleys. Upper till
deposited after the Riss П stage consists of reddish-brown loamy-sandy or loamy
deposits. It is more sandy and loose and contains abundant boulders. It is overlain
by buned lacustrine deposits of the last Riss-Wurm inteiglacial.
The composition of till significantly varies by the abundance of boulders and
fine rock fragments and by their clay content. Being poorly sorted, till often con¬
tains fragments of calcareous rocks. Most deposits have a neutral reaction.
Mantle loess-like loams are well sorted both in space and along the soil pro¬
file. They do not contain boulders, fine rock fragments, and coarse sand. Their
composition is dominated by the fraction of coarse silt (0.05-0.01 mm) that com¬
prises 40 to 55% of the total mass of sediment.
Glaciofluvial and ancient alluvial deposits are composed of differendy
grained sands with rare pebbles. Sometimes they contain bands and lenses of
gravel and pebble. On catchment areas, the thickness of glaciofluvial deposits
ranges from 1 to 5 m, while it is 20 m and more in the ancient valley of the
Moskva River. They also can contain fragments of calcareous rocks.
Contrast-texture deposits, e.g., mantle loams above till, sand above tilL etc.
They also affect formation of urban soils by changing water and temperature re¬
gimes, downward migration of compounds, profile distribution of roots, etc.
Recent alluvial and lacustrine deposits occur on terraces of river flood
plains. The upper part of recent alluvium is composed of brown and reddish-
brown sandy loams and loams, sometimes replaced by fine and coarse clays
downwards.
Pre-Quaternary eluvium and slope deposits occur locally. Their composi¬
tion closely relates to the geological structure of slopes and watersheds. They are
enriched with fragments of calcareous rocks on the outcrops of limestones, while
they are darker and contain more clay on the slopes with outcrops of black Juras¬
sic clays.
In cities, substrates are modified to a significant depth, because foundations
of buildings stretch to a depth of 35 m, while the subway is at the depth of 60 to
100 m. Formation of urban parent materials can occur through several processes,
namely, moving, digging, and filling. These processes do not merely mix different
geological strata but also change subsurface and, hence, geochemical flows. Filled
grounds are the loosest. Soils developed on filled grounds are characterized by
deep penetration of oiganic matter (including its dangerous compounds), nutrients
(especially phosphates), and heavy metals. In contrast, natural soils are high in
these pollutants only within the topsoil. Some urban areas develop on dredged
grounds, for example, in the Marino district. Because of abundant construction
wastes filled and mixed grounds are typically alkaline.
Thus, urban soils—urbanozems and urbotechnozems — have the following
parent materials:
(1) cultural layer,
(2) mixed and transported sediments and remains of natural soils;
(3) fresh fills or dredged grounds.
The above-mentioned groups should be subdivided into ecologically safe and
toxic grounds at the lower level.
3.1.4. Climatic Peculiarities
The climate in cities is distinguished from that in their vicinity. The urban
climate somewhat resembles the climate of regions located at a distance of
200 to 300 km southwards. These differences are attributable in large to the
following features of cities. As the area under houses and infrastructure ex¬
pands, the natural course of air and soil temperatures, precipitation pattern,
moisture content, solar radiation, and other meteorological conditions change.
This is primary because of a huge number of stony constructions, extensive
surface of steel roofs, pavements, industrial installations, heating communi¬
cations, etc (Fig. 3.5).
Heat and dust focuses forming in the urban atmosphere essentially af¬
fect the air temperature and precipitation pattern. Mean temperatures in the
downtown are warmer than those in suburbs. Daily minimum temperatures
also rise. Fluctuations of daily temperatures are not so noticeable in the city
fresh air
J> used J) air
water, food, energy, industrial materials, and products
<r
industrial products and wastes
Tj)
<ireen /one
residential zone
of the outskirts
industrial zone residential zone center
Climate
umo of .sun shimnii
j\crage annual (emperatuic
.иегацс annual wind \ clocit>
■uni and iniciisit\ of precipitation
relati\e air huimiidit\
dust in the air
time fif fog existence
' eycialidii
decree of coverage ‘)У’л,
species' ai ieis
introduced species 10-15%
\ arietv •■> l*iotfi|H '
soils
open suiiat'e
.immmt uf пиюрицп
111 inHlci/l'IDS
by 10 - 15%
In 1 - 1,5°C
ti\ 20 - 31) %
by 10-15%
by 10- 15%
10 times as hij:h
by 30- 100%
10 and less
20 % and more
25 % and more
Fig. 3.5. Ecological transect: Moscow city — suburb.
as they are in its suburbs. Denser built-up and expansion of sealed areas from
20 to 50% increase the difference between maximum summer temperatures in
the city and its outlying parts from 5 to 14 °C.
The soil surface temperatures are maximally 10 °C higher than those on
neighboring areas. Furthermore, urban soils are additionally warmed from in¬
side by city- heating communications. The snowmelt occurs in Moscow ear¬
lier, so, in some years, the snow cover persists only for two to three months
(instead of four to five months in suburbs) that increases the duration of the
growing season.
We analyzed data on air and soil temperatures and precipitation ob¬
tained by observations made in 1988 at the Balchug (the center of Moscow)
and Tushino meteorological stations at the edge of the city (Figs. 3.6 and 3.7).
In addition, the temperatures in vicinity of Moscow were measured in the
park of Leo Tolstoy's museum-estate (Khamovniki).
Soil surface temperature
meteorological station Balchug meteorological statnin Tushino —л— park Khamovniky
35 Air temperature
Fig. 3.6. Dynamics of air and soil surface temperatures in Balchug and Tushino
meteorological stations and in the park of Leo Tolstoy’s Museum estatein Khamovniki
from April to November 1988.
The difference in air temperature between center and peripheral parts of
Moscow is significant (4 to 5 °C) during spring, summer, and fell. These dif¬
ferences are reduced to 2 to 4 °C in winter. The course of temperature of the
soil surface principally follows the change in air temperature. However, dur¬
ing warm periods, the temperature of the soil surface is higher than that of the
air; while during cold periods, the temperature of the former is lower than that
of the latter. In the city center, the temperature of the soil surface was by 3 to
—meteorological slalion Tushino —■—Khamovrtiky park
Aug. Sept °ct- Nov.
Fig. 3.7. Dynamics of soil temperature at the depth of 20 cm at Tushino weather station
and in the park of Leo Tolstoy's museum-estate in Khamovniky from Augustto No¬
vember (1988).
5 °C higher from November to March. In August, the well-shaded soil sur¬
face in the park of Leo Tolstoy's museum-estate was cooler than soil with
open surface at both Moscow meteorological stations in the downtown and
suburbs (sometimes by 10°C and more). In fell, this difference gradually dis¬
appeared, so the temperature of the soil surface in the paik was higher by 3 to
6°C and more. In Tushino, the soil temperature at a depth of 20 cm increased
up to 20°C in summer. Later it gradually decreased to 0 to 1°C and remained like
this until spring. At all three sites, the soil temperature at a depth of 20 on was
actually the same from August to December. In the center of Moscow, the sum
of air temperatures was higher by 50 to 100°C compared to the city edge.
More conspicuous was this phenomenon in July. Total precipitation was usu¬
ally 100 mm greater in Balchug than that in Tushino.
The climate of Moscow is also characterized by higher (by 5 to 10%)
precipitation and a lower influx of solar radiation reaching the soil surface
(by 15 to 39%). In winter, the frequency of days with fogs increases by two
times, while the mean wind speed is by 20 to 30% lower than that on neigh¬
boring rural areas. Although the total precipitation is higher in Moscow than
in rural areas, its amount really entering the soil is less, owing to rain water
discharge into collectors and to snow removal. “Overheating” of the city and
the “greenhouse” effect result from heat emitted during fuel combustion,
smog that prevents diurnal insolation, sparse vegetation, and greater areas
under asphalt, houses, and other surfaces that poorly absorb and retain water.
The heat impact of industrial and municipal enterprises and heating commu¬
nications produces the effect of so-called “heat domes”. In this case, sedi¬
ments and groundwater are wanned to a depth of 60 to 100 cm and below.
The distribution of snow cover essentially differs in the city and natural
areas. Depending on site, snow in the city can be either removed or exces¬
sively accumulated by people and wind. Plots cleared from snow develop un¬
der conditions similar to those found in arid cold desert. When developed, its
stony primitive deflated soils are covered with sparse “scale and pillow”
vegetation. Plots with excessive snow cover, especially in shaded sites, have a
microclimate and seasonal regime (phenophases) close to forest and forest-
meadow landscapes and associated pedogenic processes. Frost heaving of
soils and soliQucdonal landslides can develop in both cases.
The major contributors to air pollution in cities are motor vehicles, in¬
dustrial enterprises, and construction sites. Poor weather conditions signifi¬
cantly stimulate the emission of toxic compound by industrial enterprises.
Thus, according to the data of the Moscow Center for Monitoring of the En¬
vironment (1996), the concentration of:
• nitrogen oxides increases by five to ten times throughout the city;
• carbon dioxide and finely divided solids increase by two to five times
in the Southeastern administrative region;
• sulfur dioxide increases by two to five times in the Northern and Cen¬
tral administrative regions;
• formaldehyde increases by two times in the Eastern and Central ad¬
ministrative regions;
• ammonia increases by two and more times in the Central administra¬
tive region.
Air pollution by motor vehicles produces almost 80% of the total emis¬
sion. Recent observations show that the level of air pollution is high and
gradually increases.
Urban climate affects physicochemical and biological processes in soil
as well as its water-physical properties. Elevated temperatures cause a cer¬
tain water deficit in soils and sediments. Since temperature of groundwaters,
soils, and air is generally higher in the downtown, there is a greater probabil¬
ity for the rise of salty groundwater there.
3.1.5. Vegetation
Natural areas of Moscow make one complex with those of Moscow region.
They are composed of lands of unique ecological, landscape, historical, and
cultural importance. These are Losiny Ostrov natural park, Bitsa natural
park, a water-landscape system of Krylatskoe-Serebryany Bor-Strogjno,
historical and cultural ensembles of Kolomenskoe, Tsaritsyno, Kuskovo, etc.
(Fig. 3 .8). These vegetated areas perform important functions of environment
improvement along with sanitary, hygienic, recreational, and aesthetic ones.
There are more than 36 forested areas in Moscow. Their size ranges
from 5 to 3000 ha: Losiny Ostrov (3000 ha), Bitsa forest (1800 ha), Iz-
mailovskiy forest-paik (1437 ha), Kuz'minld (962 ha). Twelve massives have
the size of 150 to 600 ha, while the rest territories are less than 100 ha in
area. Dominant tree species are birch (39%), pine (21%), linden (18%), oak
(10.5%), aspen (4%), and spruce (2%). Parks are absent almost at 20% of
the city area.
Vegetation of parks, boulevards, and squares is represented by poplar,
linden, maple, elm, chestnut, birch, and other species. In city squares and
parks, the total amount of tree and shrub species varies from 4-6 to 15-18.
The state of vegetated urban areas depends on many factors that domi¬
nate the vegetation of Moscow in a way as it is in other cities. The most es¬
sential factors are technogenic and recreation impacts and the soil properties.
According to data of the Moscow Committee for Nature Protection, only in
1992, nearly 1,200,000 t harmful compounds, including 150,000 t nitrous
oxides and 60,0001 sulfur dioxide, were emitted into the atmosphere of Mos¬
cow. The content of chlorophyll decreases, plant tissues become yellow and
ocherous in color. They are also covered with red-brown and brown spots in¬
dicating necrosis. Within the city limits, the degree of damage differs for leafy
and coniferous species. The most damaged are coniferous (pine and spruce)
stands, whose needles are covered with brown spots and bums. Their canopy
becomes thinner, while the tops of their boles die. According to data on the
state of nature in Moscow {About the Status..., 1993, 1996), the largest aure¬
ole of pollution is in the southeastern part of the city. In most parts of the city,
vegetation is characterized by the moderate degree of damage. The data from
state report {About the Status..., 1993) proved the data published by Afonina
Fig. 3.8. Scheme of natural—recreational zones of Moscow, namely:
1 — Krylatskoe—Serebryany Boi^Strogino wateiHandscape system; 2 — Fili-Park; 3—
Park of the Timiiyazev Agricultural Academy, 4 — Main Botanical Garden; 5 — Sokol’ni-
ki park; 6 — Losiny Ostrov park; 7 — Izmailovskiy forest-park; 8 — Kuskovo; 9 — Vo-
rob’evy Gory, 10— Neskuchny Garden and Goririy Park for Culture and Rest; 11 — Bitsa for¬
est-park (northern partX 12— Tsaritsyno; 13— Kolomenskoe, 14— Kuz’minkiparic.
et al. (1990) about a direct relationship between the degree of plant damage
and the accumulation of heavy metals in plants and soil.
Although leafy forests are resistant to recreation, they are also vulner¬
able to diseases. Presently, leafy species are strongly damaged and partially
decline along highways and around industrial enterprises.
According to rough estimations, the area of vegetated lands in Moscow
is 15 to 17%, so providing only one-third of the area required for city popula¬
tion (Table 3 .6). Vegetation is very unevenly distributed throughout the city.
In central districts of the city, the vegetated area ranges from 5 to 1 m2 per
capita. Together with that of yards it does not exceed 4 to 5 km2. Its sanitary
role is insignificant.
Table 3.6. Distribution of areas under vegetation within the Moscow Ring
Highway
Category of vegetated lands
Percentage
(1) Forest-parks, urban forests
40.1
(2) Public parks, including:
59.9
parks for culture and rest
38.8
children parks
0.7
squares and boulevards
14.7
gardens
1.7
sport parks (stadiums)
4.0
Overall planted area
17.0
Source: Mashynskiy and Semenova-Prozorovskaya (About the Status.., 1993J.
In the last years, the protective belt of forest-paiks around Moscow was
intensively destroyed and occupied by constructions. According to ecological
standards, the optimal ratio between the area of a big city and its protection
belt should be not less than 1 to 5. Many Russian cities maintain this ratio;
this ratio for Moscow is 1 to 1.5.
The flood plains of small rivers were significantly disturbed. They are
better preserved on the city periphery. Preserved areas along the Yauza River
and other rivers are not managed. Some are used under unauthorized building
and dumping. Furthermore, they arc subject to further fragmentation and de¬
struction, especially when surrounded by residential areas. Presently, ineffec¬
tively organized industrial enterprises, public utilities, and warehouses occupy
up to 60% of the areas around the Moskva, Yauza, and other rivers. There¬
fore, the city cannot use nearly 3000 ha of territories suitable for landscaping
and recreation.
According to preliminary estimates, the state of vegetation attests to a
quite unfavorable ecological situation, especially in the city center, within a
short distance from ecologically harmful enterprises, and along highways.
Trees are mostly damaged. The share of declining trees is high on streets and
squares.
Natural elanents in urban complexes are very much different with respect to
their ecological conditions. Their properties are best to observe in city and forest-
parks, especially in old paries. Although, being managed by humans, they preserve
natural biological cycling. Specific types of plant communities are created by hu¬
mans. Their ecological functioning is primarily controlled by humans, which re¬
move fallen leaves, apply organic and mineral fertilizers, etc.
Urban vegetation does not completely lose its zonal features, and an-
thropogenization in cities is controlled by zonal and climatic conditions
(Kotlov, 1977 and 1978). In the forest zone, it acquires some “southern”
features with appearance of xeromorphic elements.
The climate of the city affects the whole Moscow region. So, there is a
noticeable tail of air pollution and the temperature anomaly in northeastern,
eastern, and southeastern directions. The precipitation pattern is changed
within 90 to 100 km from Moscow. Within the distance of 30 to 40 km from
Moscow, forests often suffer from diseases.
Summarizing the data of ecologists, the following unfavorable factors
affect the vegetation of Moscow:
• High pollution, smoke and dust content in the air and chemical, bio¬
logical contamination of surface and ground waters.
• Disturbance of soil temperature and water regimes.
• Changes in physicochemical and physicomechanical properties of
soils.
• Excessive areas under asphalt pavement on streets and squares that
deteriorate air and water exchange of rooting systems of trees.
3.2. Soils of Moscow
3.2.1. Morphology of Soils
Today in cities, including Moscow, most of the area with natural soils has been
destroyed or drastically changed (Blume and Runge, 1978; Dolotov and
Ponomareva, 1982; Rokhmistrov and Ivanova, 1985; Short et al., 1986, Bridges,
1989; Stroganova etal., 1990, 1993; Agarkova et al., 1991, Craw/, 1992)
One could hypothesize that the present territory of Moscow once had
the soil pattern typical for southern taiga dominated by coniferous¬
broadleaved forests. Watersheds of moraine and glaciofluvial plains were oc¬
cupied with various podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils, which had different
degrees of podzolization, gleying, and humus accumulation. In addition, sur¬
face- and/or contact-bleached horizons could be found. These podzolic soils
occurred in association with bog-podzolic and high-moor bog soils. The
greatest diversity and complexity of soil profiles were within the top 0.5 m.
Forest soils had well-developed, often raw-humus forest litter.
Soddy-podzolic soils also occur on the slopes of drained terraces,
somewhere composed of lithologically contrast-texture deposits or underlain
by calcareous rocks. Different alluvial soddy, meadow, and bog soil were
formed on the flood plain of the Moskva River.
Our studies revealed that nowadays natural soils were left only as
“islands” within urban forests and forest-parks (Losiny Ostrov, Fili park,
etc.). Forest-paiks are dominated by natural soddy-podzolic soils with differ¬
ent humus content and degree of podzolization and disturbance. The soil pro¬
file of these soils has the following arrangement. Forest litter (O) is up to
3-cm thick. It overlays the humus horizon (A) 5 to 10-cm thick, which is fol¬
lowed by eluvial (El), transitional (E1B), and a series of illuvial (Bt) horizons.
They gradually transit into parent material (C) or underlying rock (D).
Somewhere in parks and forest-park bogs, bog-podzolic, and alluvial soils
with a different degree of disturbance (urbo-soils) can occur along with urba¬
nozems. Modified variants of urbo-soils combine properties of the undis¬
turbed subsoils and human-affected topsoils. Urbo-soils differ in the way of
their origin (filled, mixed), humus content, degree of gleying and profile dis¬
turbance, amount and composition of inclusions (concrete, glass, toxic
wastes, etc.).
In other parts of Moscow subject to stronger human impacts, urban
soils developed. As shown above (Chapter 2), they can develop on natural
parent rocks, cultural layers, and filled or mixed grounds. A peculiarity of
urban soils, especially in the city center, are abundant inclusions of human-
made materials (e.g., solidified lime solutions, slag, and old bricks) found in
middle and lower parts of the soil profile.
Urbanozems developing on the cultural layer have a humus-enriched
topsoil. Morphologically, they differ in a set of filled layers and in their thick¬
ness. The soil profile is characterized by alternating loamy sandy horizons
and sandy and loamy bands. The number of horizons ranges from one
(homogeneously mixed layer) to six and more.
Soils developed within the limits of the thick cultural layer are found in
the center of Moscow. There urbanozems have a thickness from 40 cm (when
underlain by concrete plate or residues of old footings) to 120 cm and more.
In old parks (the Yusupovskiy park, a paric near the old building of Moscow
State University on Mokhovaya Street), urbanozems have a thick humus ho¬
rizon.
Most of the urbanozems are characterized by the absence of genetic A
and В horizons. The soil profile contains different artificial layers varying by
color and thickness. This is testified by short transitional zones and even
sharp boundaries between them. Skeleton is composed of construction and
household wastes, crushed brick and glass, pieces of asphalt, charcoal, etc.
combined with industrial wastes, peat-compost mixture, and fragments of ho¬
rizons of natural soils. Some layers completely consist of waste materials.
Types of the morphology of profiles of these soils are shown on Fig. 3.9.
3.2.2. Water and Physical Properties of Soils
Soils of Moscow differ from soils of adjacent areas not only in morphology
but also in texture and physicomechanical properties. While during formation
of natural deposits particles become naturally sorted by shape and size, urban
soils often develop through arbitrary mixing of different materials. We do not
know well properties of these deposits within the limits of Moscow.
Some producing companies reported that many deposits found in the
city are capable of subsidence due to self-compaction and karst formation re¬
sulting in deformation of buildings. Poor knowledge of the composition and
properties of different types of urban soils also prevents giving recommenda¬
tions on their use and estimation of their effect on geochemistry of the urban
environment.
When studying physical properties of surface horizons of urban and
neighboring soils, it is revealed that they differ essentially from natural soils.
In the first turn, their water-physical properties change (Table 3.7).
Soil texture is a very important ecological property, which determines
productivity, permeability', and water-retention capacity' of soils. Sandy and
soddy-
podzolic soil
■ jt:
LUiMfeli* ;ff yfjvel
Slightly disturbed
soddy-urbo-
podzolic soil
Strongly disturbed
soddy-urbo-
podzolic soil
j
Urbanozem
Konstruktozem Replantozem Nekrozem
Fig. 3.9. Types of urban soil profiles
loamy sandy soils when warmed by sun in spring typically thaw faster. Clay
soils have a higher sorption capacity and provision with nutrients. All these
properties directly relate to humus content, ecological (sorption, production,
water-air, etc.) functions of soil and microbiological processes. So, sandy
soils always contain fewer microorganisms, including pathogens; they are
chemically purer, etc.
Table 3.7. Physical properties of topsoils of urban soils
Properties
Soils
Soddy-podzolic soils
Urbanozems
Soil hardness, kg/cm2
20-25
40-45
Pore space, %
45-55
30-40
Bulk density, g/cm3
0.9—1.2
up to 1.8
Field water capacity, %
14-20
5-14
Urbanozems are featured by lithological discontinuity, i.e. by abrupt
change in structure, texture, bulk density, aeration, hydraulic conductivity’,
available water content, and chemical composition of soil material. For urban
soils, textural stratification of their parent materials controls transport of soil
water and compounds solved in it, acting as a sealing and capillary barrier.
Many urban soils contain layers of solid angular fragments. Therefore, such
substrates are characterized by weak root penetration and rare occurrence of
earthworms.
Particle-size distribution in urban soils is primary determined by their
occurrence on certain landforms and the degree of disturbance of their soil
profiles. In central, eastern, and southwestern parts of Moscow, soils pre¬
dominantly have loamy sandy (sometimes sandy loamy and loamy) texture
with significant admixture of stones. Stones sometimes comprise 50% and
more of the soil volume (Fig. 3.10. Tables 3.8 and 3.9). All soil samples from
landslide slopes and terraces of the Moskva River are dominated by the sandy
fraction. It makes up to 50 to 80% of the total and is distributed evenly or
“accumulatively” along the soil profile.
The clay fraction (particles less than 0.001 mm) and the physical clay
fraction (particles less than 0.01 mm) are found approximately in equal
amounts (not more than 10%). Urbanozems almost lack clay differentition.
Table 3.8. Particle-size distribution of the fine earth in urban soils developed on sandy and loamy-sandy old
alluvium on the river terrace (% per absolutely dry weight basis)
Particle-size distribution, nun, %
I <0.001
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> 00 ON —«
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"3* С*1 ТГ \D
On On с*1 О
— чОГПтГ
У“» Hi (N
lT» ООО —
—< Ov rf чО
1Л Tjin<n
q0oooq
rN н“> S oo" —
rN 'ЛГ^'Л^О
ON 40 — 00
/S (N00 ON
rN (N — —
(N rn(N4p
— — On
HCI
losses,%
00 — \D Г". (N nO
— <N —— (N —
On f c*n/-»
(N (N <N —
Ш 00 00 00
rS i/S c*S(N
тг (N^n
^ тг тг H
■о ТЭ^^ТЭТЭ
T3 ТЭТЭТЭ
Hygroscopic,
water, %
(N —(N'O^nr-'
ОтГППОГ4
— ooo —с?
m (N on e*i
О 00 чО tj-
— ООО
1.16
1.11
0.85
0.93
>»nwo
Tj- On 00
— —oo
■о ТЭТЗТЗТЗТЗ
сЭ
■а -a-a-a
c2 '5'5'5
Depth,
cm
0-10
10-30
30-75
58-75
75-122
122-148
0-40
40-63
63-71
71-110
0-10
10-20
30-60
60-115
0-10
10-20
35-50
90-130
0-3
3-22
22-39
39—42
42-60
60-70
0-13
13-68
68-83
83-120
0-10
10-34
34-65
65-80
Horizon
«Sjssaa
Ulha
U2iha2
B1
B2
1 ^
±3 (Nm
Э D!=>
3 У
S c)
Э ^
Ulh
U2h
U3h
U4
U5al
U6al
Ulh
U2
U3
U4
Alu
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 3
Pit no.
Functional zone. Soil.
1 a
илО
vS о о о
СЧрнСО ft.
10.
Park.
Urbanozem
13.
Residential
area
Urbanozem
17.
Residential
area.
Urbanozem
13g,
Square.
Urbanozem
33g,
Square.
Urbanozem
.1
§§
rnooft:
* particles less than 0.005 mm.
Note: n/d is not delerminaled.
Table 3.9. Partide-size distribution of the line earth in urban soils on till
and mantle loams (% per absolutely dry weight basis)
Pit no.
Functional
zone. Soil
Horizon
Depth, cm
Hygrocopc,
w^er, %
на
loss*s,%
Particle-size distribution, %
fractions, mm
1-0.25
4 s
О О
0.05-
0.01
0.01-
0.005
0.005-
0.001
<0.001
23.
Ulh
0-3
2.59
6.4
18.1
14.3
33.0
7.2
10.2
10.8
Residential
U2ihal
3-30
1.30
3.8
4.8
8.6
51.1
10.3
8.3
13.1
area.
U3
30-70
1.63
3.7
10.9
18.1
46.8
9.6
6.7
4.2
Urbanozem
B2
70-120
2.27
4.8
4.9
8.5
44.3
8.0
7.7
21.8
39. Lawn
Uldal
0-8
0.49
10.2
42.6
33.6
7.2
0.6
0.8
5.0
between
U2h
8-22
0.60
10.0
47.1
33.0
4.8
1.1
0.3
3.7
tracks
U3ha2
22-35
0.53
7.7
42.6
33.7
8.6
1.2
0.7
5.5
Urbanozem
U4
35-55
0.86
8.4
36.5
22.5
15.9
3.3
3.4
10.0
B1
55-77
0.84
7.0
44.2
23.3
10.6
3.1
1.0
10.8
B2
77-120
1.15
3.6
24.6
16.1
28.8
5.4
5.7
15.8
BC
120-170
2.11
3.2
12.6
4.3
42.6
9.5
10.4
17.4
4. Park.
Ulh
0-14
2.28
3.9
6.3
49.8
4.2
7.0
10.0
18.0
Soddy-
E1B
14-48
2.56
3.4
0.7
3.5
45.5
8.9
8.8
29.2
urbo-
B1
48-80
2.13
3.4
n/d
4.2
45.8
8.0
8.4
30.2
podzolic soil
B2
80-115
2.18
3.6
0.5
10.2
39.4
7.7
9.7
28.9
Soils on till deposits are characterized by finer texture. The greater
content of sand in the topsoil of some urban soils is due to sand applied to¬
gether with thawing salts.
The degree of disturbance of the soil profile and partly the age of terri¬
tory predetermine the soil stoniness and the content of carbonates. In more
disturbed soils and urbanozems of squares, boulevards, lawns, and residential
areas, the stoniness and content of carbonates typically correlate with the
amount of construction and other lime-containing wastes.
Abundance of stones or their shallow occurrence decreases the “useful”
volume of soil and reserves of water and nutrients and lowers the soil fertility.
In the center of Moscow, the stoniness of soils is relatively high (4 to 6%
stones greater than 10 mm) and increases downwards. The chemical compo¬
sition of stony material, specifically its toxicity, is the important factor of
chemical pollution of ecosystems.
Depth,
сш
Dcplli,
cm
residential area
Depth,
cm
Particlc-sizc fractions:
fine clay ( < 0,001 mm )
clay (0,001-0,01 mm)
— - — silt (0,01-0,05 mm)
— — . sand (>0,05 mm)
Fig. 3.10. Partide-size composition of urban soils.
For urban soils the amount of waste materials deposited on the soil sur¬
face is an important property. It characterizes to what extent the soil surface
is excluded from the biotic cycling and/or affected by toxic compounds. This
part of the soil can be considered as ballast.
Bulk density of soils depends on their texture, structure, and oiganic
matter content. Relatively loose soils with good structure and high porosity
have lower bulk density. The bulk density characterizes the total pore vol¬
ume, the capacity of soil to accumulate water available for plants and simul¬
taneously to maintain a certain air content. It strongly affects water uptake,
gas exchange between soil and the atmosphere, development of plant root
systems, and the intensity of microbiological processes. The optimal bulk
density for most soils ranges between 1.0 and 1.2 g/cm3. For urban soils it is
often greater than 1.4 to 1.6 g/cm3.
The data obtained attest that soils of urbanized areas are subject to sig¬
nificant compaction. The bulk density widely varies in urban soils (Table
3.10, Fig. 3.11). Soils of residential areas — the most strongly affected by
humans — have the highest compaction of the surface layer.
Table 3.10. Moisture content, compaction, and hardness of soils in the
Southwestern administrative district of Moscow
Pit no. Soil
Functional zone
Depth, cm
Moisture content, %
Bulk density, g/cmJ
25. Soddy-
Forest-park
0-5
26.92
1.10
podzolic
20-25
9.83
1.56
soil
45-50
3.42
1.46
65-70
3.24
1.51
105-110
8.45
1.61
10. Urbanozem
Park
0-5
13.38
1.21
20-25
11.31
1.55
45-50
9.63
1.69
21. Culturozem
Paik
0-5
22.16
1.04
20-25
11.90
1.31
70-75
6.25
141
60. Urbanozem
Park
0-5
23.12
0.85
15-20
7.91
1.31
50-55
25.93
0.97
70. Urbanozem
Square
0-5
45.94
0.74
15-20
16.21
1.15
65. Urbanozem
Boulevard
0-5
22.12
1.20
15-20
19.62
1.16
13. Urbanozem
Residential area
0-5
30.42
0.84
30-35
7.13
1.47
90-95
7.61
1.66
17. Urbanozem
Residential area
0-5
16.50
1.22
20-25
14.93
1.32
60-65
8.32
1.23
23. Urbanozem
Residential area
0-5
9.86
1.23
15-20
12.47
1.43
45-50
10.99
1.60
100-105
11.42
1.48
The bulk density changes from 0.74 to 1.47 g/cm1 in soils of lawns,
yards, squares, boulevards, and parks. Such a variation depends on the state
of tree and grass layers as well as on the “pressure” of the city. Low bulk
density (<1.2 g/cm3) is usually noticed on lawns with a well-expressed soddy
horizon. At the same sites, on strongly compacted and trampled patches, it
approaches 1.47 g/cm3. The highest bulk density is found on a children play¬
ground in yard (1.85 g/cm3). In soils of forest-paiks, the layer of 0 to 5 an is the
loosest (0.9—1.1 g/cm3) while, the bulk density increases to 1.5-1.7 g/cm3
downwards. In disturbed soils, the downward change in the bulk density is
spasmodic. This is caused by the presence of different amounts of construc¬
tion and household wastes.
Compaction of the rooting layer is the basic process of physical deg¬
radation of soil that increases the bulk density in the topsoil. As a rule, urban
soils are strongly compacted from the surface. It is likely that the strong com¬
paction and pollution of the surface layer are responsible for the specific de¬
velopment of plant rooting systems. This is when branching of roots begins
not in the upper part of the profile (as it occurs under natural conditions) but
at a certain depth (5 to 10 cm).
20
\ a> 20
’ \ 7 ’ ' "
\ b. 20
40
1 40
^ 40
60
1 60
\ 60
N0
I 80
I
80
KM)
100
100
Depth
cm
Depth
cm
Depth
cm
Urbanophytocoenoses:
a. forest-parks
b. parks
c. squares and
boulevards
d. lawns and flowerbeds
e. residential area
Fig. 3.11. Bulk density in urban soils under different types of urban phytocoenoses.
The lower limit of compaction hindering the root development is 1.4 g/cm3
for loamy soils and 1.5 g/cm3 for sandy soils
The bulk density increased to 1.7 g/cm3 in sites with intensive traffic,
while this value could be 0.8 to 0.9 g/cm3 in filled soils strongly improved
with oiganic matter (Zemlyanitskiy et al., 1962). Zelikov (1964) showed that
the ratio between loose and compact plots predetermined the state of conifer¬
ous stands. So, if a share of plots with a bulk density higher than 1.1 g/cm3
was greater than 30%, the tops of most pine trees suffered from drying.
Gradual compaction changed the structure of soil horizons inducing the for¬
mation of coarse platy peds (Rokhmistrov and Ivanov, 1985).
In addition, it was established that on lawns the rupture resistance of com¬
pacted soil with thinning and poor growth of grasses was 40 to 45 kg/cm2. For the
normal growth of grasses, this value has to be two times lower
(Abramashvili, 1985).
Porosity is one of the most important soil properties that predetermines
air and water regime. The size of pores controls the water content in soil, its
permeability, and the height of capillary' rise.
Soils of forest-parks, gardens, and boulevards are almost not com¬
pacted, so that their porosity varies between 45 and 75 vol %. Soil compac¬
tion decreases the porosity to 25-45 vol %. This seriously changes the water
and air regimes of soils. As noted by Short et al. (1986), the average volume
of pores in surface horizons of urban soils was 36.6% compared to 50% in
natural soils in the state of Washington.
For soils of Moscow center, the total porosity calculated by the density
of soil solids is 40 to 45 vol % (Table 3.11). Typically, and contrary to natu¬
ral soils, the porosity is minimal in upper horizons of soils and increases
downwards. In areas subject to a greater recreational impact, the porosity' is
below 30%. It is 60% in fenced yards on improved soil.
Water retention capacity and air capacity of soils are closely linked to
the porosity. Deterioration of water holding capacity results in less accumula¬
tion of water in soil. The water defficiency is especially noticeable in summer,
when water retention capacity makes up only 14% of that on compacted
plots.
Strong soil compaction in the rooting layer creates nearly anaerobic
conditions, especially during continuous rains in spring and fall {Bridges,
1989; Kharaishvili, 1980; etc.). These conditions strongly complicate the
growth of fine (active) roots of trees and herbs and impede natural regenera¬
tion. Therefore, the mass of roots in compacted soils is 2.5 to 3 times lower
that in noncompacted ones. Forest litter protects the soil. Its presence pro¬
vides minimal folding resistance of 4.1 to 6.9 kg/cm2 (Kucheryavy, 1981).
Turf also prevents soil compaction. However, when folding resistance ex¬
ceeds 50 kg/cm2, grasses gradually disappear and a turf layer is destroyed.
Table 3.11. Physical properties of urbanozems in Moscow
Pit no. Func
tional
Horizon
Depth,
Hygro¬
scopic
Density о
soil solids,
Bulk
denaty,
Pore
vohane,
Stoniness, watei
weight percentage
Specific
surface.
zone
cm
water, %
g/cm3
g/cm3
%
>1 mm
>10 mm
m2/g
Sandy and loamy-sandy flat glaciolfluvial plain
4g-
Ulh
0-27
3.20
2.57
1.17
50.9
60.0
16.6
54
Square
U2
27-42
1.74
2.66
1.26
n/d
20.6
0.9
38
35g.
Ulh
0-15
2.47
2.45
1.20
61.2
16.9
0.8
53
Lawn
U3
20-27
0.66
2.67
1.17
56.2
29.4
3.6
8
U4
27-65
1.97
2.64
1.17
n/d
36.4
6.0
21
36g.
Ulh
0-29
1.26
2.64
1.38
52.7
19.9
3.4
15
Residential
U2
29-45
1.87
2.66
1.25
n/d
34.6
3.4
21
area
U3
45-80
1.84
2.65
n/d
n/d
26.1
2.2
19
Ancient sandy and loamy-sandy alluvium of the river terrace
33g.
Ulh
0-15
1.09
2.73
1.25
60.4
22.0
2.8
6
Square
U2
15-68
1.13
2.66
n/d
48.1
22.9
5.0
9
U3
68-81
0.49
2.70
n/d
n/d
7.0
1.9
11
U4
81-120
2.15
2.65
n/d
n/d
17.5
4.6
16
37g.
A
0-10
1.04
2.57
1.39
45.9
8.1
2.0
10
Square,
Layer 1
10-34
0.38
2.79
n/d
60.2
9.7
0.8
6
Replantoze
Layer 3
34-65
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
14.4
1.1
n/d
Layer 4
65-80
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
15.7
8.3
n/d
31g-
Ulh
0-6
1.94
2.67
1.34
29.8
46.3
35.4
34
Square
U2
6-65
1.88
2 60
1.28
48.5
31.4
5.2
6
32g.
Ulh
0-8
2.75
251
1.47
47.4
5.8
0.0
64
Square.
U2
8-26
2.68
1.95
1.32
24.6
0.0
0.0
62
U3
26-70
1.36
2.61
1.38
47.1
22.4
6.5
14
Note: n/d is not determined.
Density of soil solids depends on the chemical and mineralogical com¬
position. It is determined by the average density of compounds constituting a
particular soil and by their relative content. The density of soil solids ranges
from 2.0 to 2.8 g/cm3 (Table 3.11).
Water movement. The ability of urban soils to absorb and transfer
water entering their surface is an important characteristic. Water permeability
and the rate of infiltration are expressed as millimeters of water column per
unit time (minutes). Its value and character strongly vary with the degree of
stoniness, porosity, and moisture content, and with chemical composition of
soils. The presence of stones, voids, and cracks in a soil is also very essential.
Urban soils are characterized by through or mosaic infiltration due to voids in
the soil profile resulting from construction and household wastes. There is a
relationship between the soil bulk density and the rate of infiltration. So, for
example, in the undisturbed topsoil, the rate of infiltration is by 60% greater
than that in a moderately trampled plot and by four times greater that in a
strongly trampled plot (Amirov et al., 1982).
Compacted soils of pedestrian paths have a higher bulk density and,
hence, worse water-physical properties. So, rates of infiltration measured at
neighboring patches of paths and lawns were essentially different (Table 3.12)
The intensity of gas exchange between urban soils and the atmosphere exerts
a strong effect on the urban environment and health of population. The com¬
position of soil air is also important. It depends on the gas influx from the at¬
mosphere and fluxes of gases within the soil. The other factors that affect the
composition of soil air are sealing with artificial covering and leakage of
natural gas from municipal communications.
Table 3.12. The rate of infiltration and the density of urbanozems in a
public garden near the Ivanovskiy Cloister
Location
Density, g/cm3
Rate of infiltration, mm/min
Path
1.42
0.8
Uncompacted plot
1.30
3.5
For example, asphalt pavements almost completely seal the soil. One of
the adverse consequences of slow'er gas exchange is the decreased influx of
oxygen. So, the coefficient of oxygen diffusion lowers from 3 .8 x 10': cm2/sec
on open sites to 5 x 10'5 cm2/sec under asphalt pavement. The low coefficient
of diffusion and the absence of other sources of oxygen make its amount in¬
sufficient for the life of microorganisms and plant roots. However, oxygen
can enter the soil beneath road asphalt from neighboring patches Further¬
more, there is a direct relationship between the oxygen content in the center of
the road and its width.
The gas composition of soils is also affected by gas leakage from mu¬
nicipal gas communications. In many Western European countries, this
sometimes causes a decline of urban trees and shrubs as reported in detail in
the monograph of Hocks (1972). It also likely occurs in our cities. However,
this phenomenon is not sufficiently studied.
After gas leakage is eliminated, the number and composition of micro¬
organisms and the composition of soil gas phase change essentially. It takes
several months to one year to restore the original composition of the gas
phase in soil. As a result of gas leakage, some inorganic reducers (Fe2+, Mn21",
and S2') and organic acids can appear in soils. The composition of soil air in
urban phytocenoses can be controlled through specially developed methods,
including the establishment of ventilation canals and soil compressing within
the rooting zone.
The bulk of data on changes in water and physical properties in urban
soils is insufficient; though available data attest to soil deterioration practi¬
cally at any level of human effect.
Thus, urban conditions change physicomechanical properties of soils.
Urban soils are compacted and very poorly structured. This is due to the fol¬
lowing changes.
• The majority of urban soils is formed on the material of natural
soddy-podzolic soils displaced from sites of their natural occurrence.
This equally deforms their structure and arrangement of strata.
• Soils experience the lack of organic matter—the basic aggregating
component—that weakens the water-stable structure, diminishes the
space of micropores, and, respectively, results in strong compaction.
• Strongly compacted soils are characterized by disturbed cycles of
wetting and drying compared to undisturbed soils. Wet, strongly com¬
pacted soils become dry more slowly than natural soils. In addition,
they become wet slower when dry. As a result, the amount of available
water in soil profiles decreases.
Formation of a water-repellent crust on the bare surface of soil is promoted
by several factors (Craul, 1992): surface compaction by trampling and pressure
and the absence of loosening and protective influence of roots and plants. As a re¬
sult. the input of organic matter to soil decreases. The other factor, which was yet
poorly studied, is the effect of gasoline-based aerosols being deposited от the soil
surface from the atmosphere. After interaction with soil, they can produce water-
repellent structures, which finally form the surface crust.
Since the occurrence of urban soils is restricted to a certain area, they are
surrounded by “sealed” spaces and different barriers: walls, paved streets, founda¬
tions of buildings, etc. All these factors, including crust formation on the soil sur¬
face, strong compaction, and dumping with nonporous materials, deteriorate con¬
ditions for water exchange and movement throughout the soil profile.
3.2.3. Chemical Properties of Soils
Most of the toxic compounds emitted into the urban environment concentrate
on the soil surface. Their gradual deposition changes the physicochemical and
chemical properties of soils and substrates. Owing to that, urban soils signifi¬
cantly differ in chemical properties from their natural analogues (Table 3.13).
Acidity of urban soils varies greatly throughout the rooting layer. Nonethe¬
less, soils with a neutral and slightly alkaline reaction dominate (Gantimurvv,
1966; Nikodemus and Ramarm, 1984; Lepneva et al1987, 1990). The reaction
of urban soils is typically more alkaline compared to natural soils (Blume. 1989;
Obukhov et al., 1989, 1990a,b; Hollis^ 1991).
Table 3.13. Properties of the topsoils of urbanozems and soddy-podzolic
soils in the Moscow region
Properties of topsoil
Urbanozem
Soddy-podzolic soil
Corg, %
2-7
1-2
pHwata
up to 8
45-6.5
Ca~, cM/kg of soil
5-100
5-10
Mg”, cM/kg of soil
up to 30
2-3
С EC, cM/kg
up to 30
10-12
Base saturation, %
up to 100
60-70
P2O5, mg/100 g of soil
5-150
5-10
K2O, mg/100 g of soil
2-60
7-15
SO:,2", mg/100 g
up to 220
0
СГ mg/100 g
up to 40
0
NO3', mg/100 g
12-15
0
The high alkalinity of urban soils is attributed to the predominant accumula¬
tion of calcium and sodium chlorides and other salts used for snow tliawing on
roads and pavements. They enter the soil with surface runoff. Another reason is
calcium release from fragments of construction waste, cement, brick, and other al¬
kaline-based compounds (Gcmtimurov, 1966; Obukhov etal., 1989; and others).
The high alkalinity of urban soils is also due to the intensive deposition of
dust, which contains calcium and magnesium carbonates. These compounds
originate from highways and lime-based cement. The latter is easily weatherable
and releases Ca to the soil. Bicarbonates are formed in soils under the action of
precipitation when it is high in dissolved carbonic acid. These compounds are ca¬
pable to shift the soil reaction towards stronger alkalinity.
Urbanozems and strongly disturbed natural soils are always more alkaline
compared to soddy-podzolic soils of forest-paiks that have acid and slightly acid
reaction. In upper soil horizons in parks and forest-paiks, pH widely ranges from
slightly acid to slightly alkaline (pH^ is 5.8 to 7.5). In most cases, the pH de¬
creases to 4.8 to 6.5 downward the soil profile. In topsoils on lawns, squares,
boulevards, fenced yards, and recreational areas, the pH*^ ranges from 7.3 to 8.3
(even up to 8.9 under asphalt). Most alkaline are soils inside the Boulevard Ring
(pH 8.6 to 8.9) (Fig. 12a).
As known, neutral pH promotes the development of most of the plants and
microorganisms, and also immobilizes heavy metals. However, further alkaliza-
tion may result in binding of some nutrients and microelements. In addition, at pH
8 to 9, the soil becomes unsuitable for plant growth. Thus, the human-made and
strongly disturbed natural soils in Moscow are typically more alkaline than natural
undisturbed urban soils and natural ones in rural areas (Tables 3.14-3.16).
Urban soils also have specific proportions of exchangeable bases in the
cation exchange complex. Soddy-podzolic soils are dominated by hydrogen
and aluminum and are low in calcium and magnesium (10 to 15 cM/kg of soil
totally). In contrast, in urbanozems, calcium constitutes up to 70% of the
CEC, while the total CEC is more than 30 cM/kg of soil.
Soils of all studied habitats contain significant amounts of exchangeable
calcium (from 5 to 50 cM/kg of soil). Surface layers of soil in squares,
boulevards, lawns, fenced yards, and residential areas are the richest in ex¬
changeable Ca (20 to 50 cM/kg and more). Its content is similar to that in
high humus soils (Tables 3.14 and 3.15). In parks and forest-parks, its
amount is 15 to 20 cM/kg in the topsoil (that is similar to its content in
soddy-podzolic soils) and 5 to 10 cM/kg in subsurface horizons. It typically
decreases downwards. In urbanozems, the content of exchangeable Ca di¬
rectly relates to the amount of Ca-containing inclusions.
Table 3.14. Chemical properties of urban soils on river terraces
Note: n/d is not determined.
Table 3.15. Chemical properties of urban soils on hilly gently undulating plain
Note: n/d is not determined.
Table 3.16. Chemical properties of urbanozems in the Moscow downtown
Pit no.
Functional zone
Depth,
cm
pHwater
Available, mg/kg
Corg, %
k2o
P2Os
Glaciofluvial plain in the Moscow downtown
24g.
0-16
8.0
228
291
2.50
Residential area
16-62
8.2
163
348
1.08
25&
1-10
8.2
188
348
3.53
Lawn
10-30
8.5
252
406
2.84
30-70
8.1
n/d
n/d
0.92
26&
0-12
8.0
316
406
6.16
Lawn
12-27
8.6
232
212
1.87
27-60
8.9
n/d
n/d
1.73
27&
0-4
8.7
132
186
0.91
Residential
4-15
8.2
188
134
0.28
area
15-42
9.1
196
248
0.86
28&
0-17
8.2
268
479
2.55
Residential
17-36
7.8
172
422
4.29
area
36-60
8.2
n/d
n/d
3.33
34g.
0-27
7.5
265
296
1.99
Square
27—42
8.2
99
207
4.12
35&
0-15
8.1
248
146
4.7
Lawn
20-27
8.6
58
91
0.56
27-65
8.1
170
183
3.52
36&
0-29
8.4
n/d
251
2.22
Residential
29-45
8.5
n/d
250
1.97
area
45-80
8.3
n/d
305
1.56
River terraces in the Moscow downtown
13&
0-3
7.6
236
260
2.58
Square
3-22
7.0
1068
137
1.16
22-39
7.3
1048
81
0.56
39-42
8.7
n/d
n/d
0.23
42-60
87
n/d
n/d
0.83
60-77
8.2
n/d
n/d
0.88
33&
0-13
7.9
282
195
2.04
Square
13-68
8.2
148
172
1.37
68-81
7.7
88
249
0.43
81-120
7.3
289
373
1.59
37g.
0-10
8.0
122
109
1.07
Square.
10-34
8.2
65
85
0.24
Replantozem
34-65
8.4
109
211
0.26
65-80
8.4
85
227
0.24
Note: n/d is nol determined.
The content of exchangeable Mg is much lower (0.5 to 5.0 cM/kg of soil).
However, its distribution throughout soils of different habitats has a similar pattern
to that of Ca. Its amount is lower in forests and forest-parks and is higher in urba¬
nozems. A relatively significant content of exchangeable Ca and Mg in soils in the
park of Leo Tolstoy's museum-estate (Khamovniki) is likely attributable to the
good management of these soils.
Literature data confirm the high base saturation to be the typical feature of
uiban soils. In many cases, it exceeds 80-95% and readies 100% (Bashirova,
1970; Blume et al., 1978). It is typically 60% and less in soils of most of the parks
and city forests. The composition of exchangeable bases is dominated by Ca (up
to 70%) and Mg (up to 30%) (Konecka-Betley et al., 1985; Lepneva et al., 1987;
Bridges, 1989). The base saturation within the soil profile of soddy-podzolic soils
in Moscow urban forest-parks (Kuntsevo and Vorob'evy Gory) varies from 60 to
85%.
In soils of lawns situated along roads, the content of exchangeable sodium
sometimes reaches 5 to 10% of the sum of exchangeable bases. According to
Lepneva and Obukhov (1990), the application of deicing salts on roads and pave¬
ments contaminates with sodium the mehwater running to the lawns. Thus, the
content of Na+ is up to 115 to 130 mg/1 and that of СГ is up to 75-140 mg/1. These
contents are two times higher than those found in city parks. Their amount signifi¬
cantly decreases as a result of spring, summer, and fell precipitation.
Salinization can adversely affect the plant development. The research con¬
ducted by Nikiforova and Lazukova (1995) in the eastern part of the city on areas
along highways and local roads showed that soils had a relatively high amount of
adsorbed sodium. This comprised up to 5 to 15% from CEC, so these soils were
slightly and moderately solonetzic (alkaline).
Plant nutrition status of urban soils attests to their good provision with nu¬
trients. However, nutrients (N, P, and K) are irregularly distributed in urban soils.
Many researchers noted the strong enrichment of layers of tipped material and
slightly disturbed soils with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium compared to
natural soils (Zemlyanitsldy et al, 1962; Bashirova, 1970; Nikodemus and Ra-
mann, 1984, Lepneva etal., 1987; and others).
In acid soils, mobile forms of potassium and phosphorus are determined in
IN NaCl and 0.2N HCI, respectively; in calcareous soils, mobile forms of potas¬
sium and phosphorus are determined in 0.2N (NH^COj, and 1% K2C03, re¬
spectively.
In human-affected soils of the Kadriorg park in Tallinn (Estonia), the
content of plant-available potassium (K20) and phosphorus (P2O5) varies
from 5.0 to 500 and from 4.0 to 125 mg/100 g of soil, respectively (Payu et
al, 1980). In Riga, surface soil horizons contained potassium and phospho¬
rus in the amount ranging from 1 to 90 and from 1 to 180 mg/100 g of soil,
respectively (Nikodemus and Ramann, 1984). Soils of Moscow consisting of
tipped material (Zemlyanitskiy et al., 1962) were highly provided with plant
available phosphorus (100 to 200 mg/100 g of soil and more). The data on
their provision with plant-available potassium are contradictory. Sometimes only
traces of potassium are detected. However, its content may reach 40 mg/100 g.
In most cases, such an enrichment with nutrients is attributed to household
and construction wastes deposited on urban soils.
In most of the samples of urban soils in Moscow, the content of available P
and К exceeds the need of plants for these nutrients (Table 3.14-3 .16). Provision
of urban soils with nutrients can be considered as elevated, high, and very high.
The content of mobile phosphorus and potassium ranges from 5 to 150 and from
2 to 100 mg/100 g of soil, respectively.
Composition and content of organic matter
The content of organic matter in urban soils is quite variable and depends on
the nature of original substratum and management pattern: application of or¬
ganic and mineral fertilizers etc. Typically, the content of organic matter in
urban soils often exceeds that in background soils.
In old soils of squares, parks, and gardens, the humus content reaches the
maximum (8 to 12%), while it is 4 to 6% on an average in Moscow and other
cities within the forest zone (.Zemlyanitskiy et al., 1962; Bashimva, 1970; Nik¬
odemus and Ramann, \9%4, Lepneva et al, 1987; and others). It slightly, often ir¬
regularly, d.xreases downward the soil profile. As noted by Zemlyanitskiy et al.
(1962), sometimes long-used soils acquired morphological features of chernozems
as those in tre Aleksandrovkiy Garden of Moscow. Its highest amounts were
found in disturbed and newly formed soil layers on lawns, squares, boulevards (5
to 11%), and residential areas (3 to 7%). In parks and forest-parks, natural humus
horizons contained 1 to 2% oiganic carbon (2 to 3.5% humus), while its content in
human-made horizons was 2 to 5% (4 to 9% humus). In parks and forest-parks,
the humus content of soils strongly decreased downward the profile to tenths of
percents or zero (Table 3.17; Fig. 3.12b).
Urbanozems and culturozems have a deep humus-accumulative profile.
The humus content can remain significant (1 to 2% organic C) even at the
depth of 50 to 70 cm and deeper.
Depth,
tin
b
о
10
20
30
40
5(1
60
70
80
90
Depth
cm
parks
Depth,
lawns
cm
1 2 3 4 % 0
cm
I 2 3 4 % 0
s 10
10
/ 20
20
/ 30
\ 30
1 40
\ 40
I 50
\ 50
/ 60
У 60
/ 70
/ 70
/ 80
/ 80
* 9<l
' 90
Depth, residential area
6 %
parks
Depth,
cm
lawns
Depth,
cm
residential area
Fig. 3.12. Changes in chemical properties of urban soils with different land use
(a) pHwater, (b) Corg.
Just a few studies on composition and properties of the organic matter
of urban soils are available. A team of authors from the University of Kiel
(Germany) studied the composition of organic matter in soils and litters of
different urban soils (Beyer et al., 1995). When compared to natural soils
with similar distribution of organic matter along the profile, the organic mat¬
ter of all urban soils was characterized by a low proportion of fulvic acids,
while the fraction of hydrophobic lipids was very low. Apparently, microor¬
ganisms can destroy organic compounds that constitute the mentioned frac¬
tions and which are so abundant in natural soils. These changes can be due to
a high pH of urban soils. The ability of microbial population to reduce the
fractions of hydrophobic lipids and fulvic acids likely means that they prefer
to consume these compounds. This can be useful, since intensive traffic is a
constant source of pollution of urban soils with oil and gasoline. On the other
hand, small proportions of lipids increase the water retention capacity and,
hence, the heat capacity of soils.
Properties of humus-like compounds formed during decomposition of
composts made from urban garbage and their relation to humus compounds
of natural background soils are described in many of papers (Gomez et al.,
1987; Wtis et al., 1989). At the same time, there is some disagreement on the
elementary composition of these compound. One can notice a lower biological
stability' of humus compounds in the compost. This is attributed to the high
share of proteins, lower molecular weight, and weaker bonds with the mineral
part, particularly with Fe and Cu. It is thought that these organic acids are the
early stage of formation of humus compounds.
In young urban soils, fulvic acids and free components of compost
(proteins and polysaccharides) dominate the organic matter. In old soils, pro¬
teins and polysaccharides are included in the humus matrix that likely dimin¬
ishes their availability for microorganisms. Thus, it is possible to control hu¬
mification in urban soils.
The composition of humus in urban soils of Moscow differs from that in
natural soils. The analysis of its group and fractional composition (Table
3.17) revealed domination of humic acids in some surface layers and hori¬
zons. Undisturbed soddy-podzolic soils and disturbed to some degree were
characterized by a downward decrease in this ratio. The Cha-to-Cfa ratio was
typically 0.6 to 0.9 (profiles 4, 10, and 25). In urbanozems (profiles 7, 67:
and 72) on residential areas, squares, yards, boulevards, and parks, the com¬
position of humus remained humic or fiilvic-humic (Cha-to-Cfa ratio is 1.0-
Table 3.17. Composition of humus (percentage of total carbon)
Pit no. Functional
Horizon
Depth,
С total,
Fractions of humic acids
Sum
zone. Soil
cm
%
1
2
3
25.
A
0-10
2.69
12.1
8.0
7.1
27.2
Forest-park (Fili).
AE1
10-30
0.59
22.9
17.0
8.3
48.2
Sodd)>- podzolic
El
30-58
0.17
17.1
6.5
14.7
38.3
B1
58-75
0.17
11.2
4.7
8.8
24.7
B2
75-122
0.14
10.7
2.1
4.3
17.1
19. Forest park
A
0-24
1.37
12.2
13.9
6.0
32.1
(Vorob'evy Gory)
AE1
24-33
0.26
10.4
9.6
22.3
42.3
Soddy-podzolic
E1B
33-54
0.18
10.0
8.9
18.9
37.8
B1
54-104
0.13
9.2
12.3
14.6
36.1
10. Park.
Ulha2
0-10
3.46
11.7
12.1
7.0
30.8
Urbanozem.
20-30
1.41
13.1
8.7
9.2
31.0
U2ihn2
40 63
1.05
4.9
9.6
5.4
19.9
B1
63-71
0.43
10.5
19.3
9.1
38.9
B2
71-110
0.27
7.8
10.0
4.1
21.9
12. Boulevard.
Ulha2
0-15
6.30
7.6
15.6
31.1
54.3
Urbanozem.
U2ha2
15-30
6.49
4.9
5.1
6.5
16.5
30-52
2.72
6.3
5.2
14.3
25.8
13. Residential
Ulha2
0-10
2.85
8.8
9.2
5.5
23.5
area.
20-30
1.81
7.4
20.1
6.5
34.0
Urbanozem.
U2a2
30-60
1.12
16.4
14.7
10.3
41.4
U3a2
60-115
0.45
4.2
8.4
11.6
24.2
17 Residential
Ulha2
0-10
4.66
9.3
10.4
10.9
30.6
area.
U2a2
35-50
0.99
13.0
23.7
11.1
47.8
Urbanozem
90-130
1.02
10.2
15.6
10.9
36.7
1. Residential area.
Ula4
0-40
1.42
8.4
12.9
10.6
31.9
Urbanozem.
U2al
40-72
1.05
15.7
13.6
14.0
43.3
67 Playground.
Ulh
0-14
2.79
10.4
9.3
20.4
40.1
Urbanozem.
U2a4
14-40
1.64
6.1
11.0
15.2
32.3
40-60
1.79
8.9
14.5
15.6
39.0
21 Park.
Ulhal
0-16
2.31
15.0
3.8
11.1
29.9
Culturozem.
U2ih
16-44
0.34
18.2
9.7
12.4
40.3
U3
44-90
0.10
25.0
11.0
3.0
39.0
4 Park.
Ulh
0-14
2.42
9.6
11.7
9.8
31.1
Soddv-urbo-
E1B
14-48
0.28
20.4
6.4
12.5
39.3
podzolic.
Bl
48-80
0.25
11.2
7.2
6.0
24.4
Note', n/d is not determined.
Fractions of fulvic acids
Sum
Cha/Cfa
Unhydrolizable
la
1
2
3
residue, %
7.9
8.4
8.3
10.5
35.1
0.78
37.7
10.5
1.2
20.7
2.5
34.9
1.38
16.9
17.1
5.3
10.0
9.4
41.8
0.92
19.9
7.1
0.0
12.4
1.5
21.0
1.17
54.3
17.9
7.1
0.7
5.7
31.4
0.55
51.5
13.4
22.0
1.0
11.0
47.4
0.68
20.5
17.3
2.7
17.7
1.5
39.2
1.08
18.5
18.9
5.0
9.4
5.6
38.9
0,97
23.3
20.0
10.8
11.5
5.4
47.7
0.76
16.2
5.8
5.2
6.3
8.0
25.3
1.21
43.9
13.5
7.5
13.5
0.4
34.5
0.90
34.5
10.5
7.5
2.1
3.1
23.2
0.86
56.9
14.4
8.1
13.3
5.4
41.2
0.94
19.9
30.7
2.7
21.9
4.8
60.1
0.36
18.0
5.9
8.6
12.5
4.9
31.9
1.70
13.8
6.2
0.5
4.5
3.2
14.4
1.15
69.1
2.9
n/d
13.6
1.5
18.0
1.43
56.2
9.2
9.1
16.2
8.7
43.2
0.54
33.3
12.1
7.2
7.5
7.1
33.9
1.00
32.1
13.5
3.9
19.0
6.5
42.9
0.97
15.7
11.6
n/d
21.3
n/d
32.9
0.73
42.9
5.7
7.6
12.5
5.8
31.6
0.97
37.8
13.1
6.1
9.1
6.8
35.1
1.27
17.1
4.4
4.8
20.8
11.9
41.9
0.88
21.4
9.0
3.3
9.7
2.3
21.3
1.31
43.8
19.3
6.6
7.3
6.2
39.4
1.10
17.3
9.0
0.7
21.5
7.5
38.7
1.04
21.2
5.5
1.2
8.5
7.9
23.1
1.39
44.6
4.5
1.1
10.6
6.7
22.9
1.71
38.1
8.3
12.9
17.4
8.8
47.4
0.63
22.7
16.8
11.2
10.9
6.5
45.4
0.89
14.3
10.0
13.0
14.0
13.0
50.0
0.78
11.0
8.4
13.7
4.2
2.9
19.2
1.06
39.7
15.7
2.1
27.9
3.2
48.9
0.80
11.8
17.2
3.2
25.2
20.4
66.0
0.37
9.6
1.7). The group of humic acids contained a small percentage of free humic
acids in all samples (typically less than 15 to 20%). The proportion of the 2d
and 3d fractions was greater. This was especially typical for soils (profiles 4,
and 67) on squares, boulevards, and residential areas, where these fractions
dominated throughout the soil profile.
The group of fulvic acids was also featured by the high content of the
2d fraction bound with Ca (up to 15 to 20%). The proportion of other frac¬
tions was almost the same, although being much lower (usually up to 10%)
— profile 4, 67, and 72. Natural soddy-podzolic soils in forest-parks were
dominated by 1 st a and 1 st fractions of fulvic acids (profile 19).
The studied soils had a low content of nonhydrolyzable residue (20 to
40% of the total carbon content) that characterized how tightly the humus
compounds were bound with the mineral part of soil. Its content mostly de¬
creased downwards.
Thus, urbanozems approach Ca-humus soils by some properties except
the high content of organic carbon. They are also characterized by the Cha-
to-Cfa ratio greater than 1.0. The content of free HA and FA and of nonhy¬
drolyzable residue is low, while fractions bound with Ca dominate. Data on
soils of Yaroslavl with similar background conditions support this regularity'
(Rokhmistrov and Ivanova, 1985).
Bulk reserves of nitrogen in soils are low and almost do not vary (0.03
to 0.20%) tliroughout the city (Tables 3 14 and 3.15). Their higher content is
noted in surface layers of some strongly disturbed soddy-podzolic soils
(0.40%), urbanozems (0.3 to 0.6%), and culturozems (0.3%). The nitrogen
content has “peaks" at the depth of 52 to 80 cm (0.31% nitrogen in pit 72) in
buried humus horizons.
3.2.4. Pollution of Urban Soils
Beginning in the 1960s and up to the present time, urban ecologists and soil
scientists are very much interested in the problem of pollution of urban soils.
Of 120 cities of Russia, 80% are characterized by contents of lead and
other heavy metals essentially exceeding estimated allowable concentrations
(EAC). It is assumed that more than 10 million people contact with soils on
average containing lead in an amount greater than the EAC. The content of
lead typically varies from 30 to 150 mg/kg, with an average of 100 mg/kg.
To a significant degree these parameters arc detennanod by the stance of
pollution and the distance from it, and by the amauriL and anjmsakn of
emission. The distribution of heavy metals is specific fir ooy cfly aid for
any of its patches. Their distribution along the soil smface is «ЬнийиН by
peculiarities of pollution source, weather pattern (wmd rase). guochcmical
factors, vegetation, land use, and landforms.
The severity of chemical pollution of soils with heavy metals depends an
the content of their bulk and mobile forms, which, m turn is codroOd by
some physicochemical properties and texture of sak. In Russia, the rale of
soil pollution is determined as a ratio of the contort of a poUiflant in sod to its
MAC (maximum allowable concentration), EAC (estimated allowable con¬
centrations, Table 3.19), and background values (Table 3.18, GOST(“Slaie
Standards”) 17.4.3.06-86, Criteria for Estimation..., 1992; The Order of
Determination..., 1993; GN (“Hygienic Standards”)2.1.7.020-94).
Table 3.18. Content of heavy metals and arsenic in badkgpnmd mgfcg
Soil
7a
I Cd
I Pb
1 He |
Cm
II Ca
В Рй
II As
Soddy-podzolic soil (sandy and
loamy sandy)
28
0.05
6
0.05
Ж
3
6
25
Soddy-podzolic soil (loamy and clay)
45
0.12
15
0.10
15
10
*
45 |
Gray forest soil
60
020
16
0.15
US
12
35
ш>Я
Chernozem
68
0.24
20
020
25
15
45
7-»
Chestnut soil
54
0.16
16
0,15
20)
11
35
2 ;
Note: n/d is not determined.
Table 3.19. Classes of soil pollution with heavy metals, mg%g
PotataA
Level of soil pollution
Pb
1 Cd
Zn
1 c. 1
ш
1st class of toxicity
2ddHrf fondly
Estimated allowable bulk
concentrations
32-130
0.5-2.0
55-220
ЗЭ-Ш
m-m
Low
130-150
2.0-3.0
220-300
m-15®
ГО-15©
Moderate
150-500
3.0-5.0
300-500
13B-25®
1ЭЭ-ЗШ
High
500-1000
5.0-10.0
500-1000
ЗГО-ШВ
Extremely high
>1000
>10.0
>1000
>зш
>Ш)
Source: Hygenic Standarts 2.]. 7.020-94; Temporary m ■■■—мЛийми* В 990..
Soil pollution results from the accumulation of pollutants of nonsoil ori¬
gin and is among the main features of urban pedogenesis. Contaminating
material can be solid (paper, glass, plastic, and solid deposition from the at¬
mosphere), liquid (polluted atmospheric precipitation and surface runoff, in¬
dustrial waste, canalization discharge, etc.), and gaseous (methane, inciner¬
ating gases, gases from buried waste, etc.).
Recently, the major importance has been gained by the problem, of soil
pollution with human-made materials. Inclusions strongly influence all soil
properties, since they restrict the area accessible for roots and suitable for mi¬
croorganisms. They also decrease the water retention capacity of soils. Cal¬
cium-containing construction waste, dust, cement fragments, and similar ma¬
terials promote soil alkalinization. In turn, toxic compounds and gases that
substitute oxygen of soil air become released during decomposition of other
wastes.
Among many approaches to the factor differentiation of urban soils, of
especial importantce is their pollution with heavy metals, radionuclides,
chlororganic compounds, and other toxicants (Poltavskay, 1964; Grigoryan
and Saet, 1980; Armolaitis, 1985; Saet et al., 1985; Obukhov et al., 1989;
1990a,b; Lepneva et al., 1987, 1988, 1990, Geochemistry of the Environ¬
ment, 1990; Thornton, 1991; Ecogeochemistry..., 1995; Nikiforova and
Lazukova, 1995; and others).
The territory of Moscow is affected by diverse sources of contamination
(Fig. 3.13).
Urban soils have the increased contents of heavy metals, namely, Ag,
Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, W, V, Ni, Cr, and Co in the topsoil. The high content of mo¬
bile (not only of bulk) forms of heavy metals is also dangerous (Tables 3.20
and 3.21).
Presently, pollution in Moscow is mainly due to emission of industrial
plants, themial pow'er stations, and motor transport; the latter is the main
source of pollution. Specialists recognize more than 40 chemical compounds
(many of them are toxic) in exhaust gases. The content of toxic lead is espe¬
cially high and is identified within the distance of 100 m from a highway.
communal,
warehouse areas
Fig. 3.13. The pattern of pollution sources in Moscow (industrial, communal, and
warehouse meas).
Inspections of Moscow Committee for Nature Protection established
more than 100 unauthorized disposals of solid household, industrial, and con¬
struction wastes. The greatest amount of unauthorized disposals is in North¬
eastern, South, Southwestern, and Eastern administrative regions. Focuses of
strong pollution are found in the Northwestern Administrative Region, in the
city center, in the northern part of Izmailovo forest-park, and near Lyublino
aeration fields. Here concentrations of some chemical compounds are by 20
to 30 times above their background values.
Table 3.20. Content of heavy metals in urban soils (extraction with IN
HN03, mg/kg)
Pit no.
Functional zone. Soil
Horizon
Depth, cm
Pollutants
Cu
Zh
Pb
Cd
River terraces
25.
A
0-10
5
42
15
0.3
AE1
10-30
10
12
6
0.2
Foresl-paik.
El
30-58
6
4
4
n/d
Soddy-podzolic
B1
58-75
7
3
4
n/d
B2
75-122
13
3
4
n/d
B2
122-148
11
3
4
n/d
10.
Ulha2
0-10
25.6
98
105
0.6
10-20
20.0
64
77
0.6
r3J\.
20-30
49.7
192
406
0.3
Urbanozem
30-40
12.1
46
37
0.3
U2ihal
40-63
16.4
48
18
0.3
B1
63-71
20.0
34
13
0.2
B2
71-110
15.5
18
5
0.1
72.
Ulha2
0-15
262
1000
64
1.8
Boulevard
U2ha2
15-30
88
336
160
1.0
Urbanozem
30-52
39
110
96
0.4
13.
Ulha2
0-10
82
734
600
1.3
10-20
76
588
560
1.2
Residential area.
20-30
58
194
600
0.8
Urbanozem
U2a2
30-60
28
58
25
0.5
U3a2
60-115
6
22
18
0.4
17.
Ulha2
0-10
34
178
74
0.7
10-20
38
148
85
0.6
Residential area.
20-30
38
124
101
0.6
Urbanozem
U2a2
35-50
16
16
52
0.5
90-130
21
30
37
0.5
Hilly-gently undulating plain
4.
Ulh
0-14
19
84
74
0.6
E1B
14-48
15
16
9
0.3
г агк.
B1
48-80
15
14
9
0.2
Sodcl\'-urbo-podzokc
B2
80-115
14
18
8
0.2
23.
Ulh
0-3
36
164
28
2.2
U2ihal
3-30
15
48
31
0.4
Residential area.
U3
30-70
12
32
16
0.4
Urbanozem
B2
70-120
100
130
74
0.6
39.
Uldal
0-8
13
68
14
0.2
U2h
8-22
18
82
13
0.2
U3ha2
22-35
21
62
13
0.4
Urbanozem
U4
35-55
10
28
11
0.1
Note: n/d is not determined.
Table 3.21. Content of heavy metals in urbanozems in the Moscow down¬
town (extraction with IN HNO3, mg/kg)
Pit no. Func¬
tional zone
Depth,
cm
Pollutants
Pb
Cu
Zn
Cd
Fe
Mn
Co
Ni
V
Glaciofluvial plain
23g. Residential
0-19
204
81
239
0.5
n/d
n/d
3
5
6.69
area
27-37
167
46
216
0.4
n/d
n/d
3
4
6.19
37-60
152
51
128
0.3
n/d
n/d
2
4
10.9
24g. Residential area
0-16
84
39
156
0.7
n/d
n/d
3
7
6.84
25g-
1-10
194
89
409
1.0
n/d
n/d
2
11
9.79
Lawn
10-30
313
86
167
0.4
n/d
n/d
1
7
10.0
30-70
228
131
177
0.3
n/d
n/d
2
6
7.96
27g. Residential
0-4
32
20
166
0.4
n/d
n/d
3
2
2.14
area
4-15
2
6
12
0.1
n/d
n/d
2
1
1.44
15-42
40
26
95
0.2
n/d
n/d
2
3
3.41
28g. Residential
0-17
117
75
247
1.9
n/d
n/d
34
15
8.99
area
17-36
118
58
377
0.6
n/d
n/d
2
9
14.2
34g. Square
0-27
110
80
375
3.2
1600
240
n/d
п/d
n/d
27-42
225
30
90
0.6
1500
200
n/d
п/d
n/d
35g. Lawn
0-15
70
30
125
0.6
1000
140
n/d
n/d
n^d
20-27
45
12
55
0
800
80
n/d
п/d
n^d
27-65
102
34
115
0.4
1200
146
n/d
n/d
n/d
36g. Residential
0-29
155
72
175
1.0
1600
160
n/d
n/d
n/d
area
29-45
137
100
85
0.4
2900
200
n/d
n/d
n/d
45-80
212
70
85
0.2
2600
220
n/d
n/d
n/d
River terraces
31 g. Square
0-6
215
48
180
1.0
1600
260
n/d
n^d
n/d
6-65
163
57
150
1.0
1800
240
n/d
n^d
n/d
Note: n/d is not determined.
Lead is the most widespread pollutant. However, its effect is accompa¬
nied by deposition of three tons of sulfur-containing compounds and of up to
two tons of nitrogen-containing compounds (combined deposition is up to two
tons) per square kilometer of the area of Moscow per year .
The distribution of heavy metals typically does not follow the normal
distribution. Their content can vary by two to three orders of magnitude,
somewhere exceeding maximum allowable concentrations (MAC) by 5 to
100 times (Obukhov et al., 1990). There can be two and more maximums in
their content along the soil profile (Fig. 3.14).
о
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Depth, cm
50i 150| 2501 350| mg/kg 0 0,2 | 0,6 | 1,0| 1,4| mg/kg
I У
■V •
V
' ' У
» I '
/
I
.1
Pb
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
residential area
forest-park
park
lawn
square
Cd
90 90
Depth, cm Depth, cm
Fig. 3.14. Heavy metal distribution in urban soils of different land-use types
(extract with IN HNOj, mg/kg).
The content of Pb and Zn in Moscow soils, with exception of forest-
parks, is 3 to 4 times higher than their background contents (Obukhov et al.,
1988, 1989, and 1990a, b). In soils of squares and residential areas of Mos¬
cow, the content of Cu is in excess of two to five times. Stronger pollution
with Cd compared to background soils (by 2 to 3 times and more) is recog-
nized in soils of boulevards, lawns, and residential areas. As the center of the
city is approached, the content of heavy metals in lawn soils along roads in¬
creases. As pollution becomes stronger, its spatial variability increases. The
content of heavy metals is maximal in soils of lawn strips that divide the
tracks (Lepneva et al., 1990). The accumulation of heavy metals in natural
soils of Izmailovo and Fili parks, Vorob'evy Gory, and Kolomenskoe park-
natural reserve is maximal in the layer of 0 to 5 cm. It is by 1.5 to 2 times
higher than in soddy-podzolic soils of the Moscow region. According to the
same authors, the significant content of heavy metals is noted for the parterre
part of the Central Park for Culture and Rest; their distribution in the lower
part of the profile is abnormal. This is because the park was partially estab¬
lished on the place of a city dump. Therefore, the substratum contains abun¬
dant inclusions of polluted construction debris.
Increased amounts of heavy metals were reported in soils of the Luzhniki
sport arena. This is the case when the accumulation of gas and dust emissions of
industrial enterprises and transport is determined more by natural agents, than by
authropogenic ones: the sport complex occupies the lower part of the flood plain of
the Moskva River.
The downtown of Moscow is located in the fluviatile landscape This
makes it dependent on the input of pollutants from the elevated built-up city
periphery, discharging groundwater, as well as to air stagnation in the valley
In the city center, there are nearly 90 industrial enterprises comprising 20 en¬
terprises of machine and instrument industry, 10 oil refinery enterprises, 20
printing enterprises, 17 enterprises of light industry, 2 electrotechnical enter¬
prises, 3 energetic enterprises, etc. Industrial enterprises are irregularly em¬
bedded in residential areas. As a result, the center of Moscow is strongly
polluted with heavy metals; and its pollution may be qualified as that of the
1st and 2nd class of toxicity by zinc, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, and
copper This level of pollution was identified in soil, tree leaves, lawn grasses,
and children sand boxes. In the downtown, the strong pollution of soils and
vegetation is persistent.
The way a particular patch of land was used in ancient cities, including
Moscow, was changed several times, so altering the land-use pattern. This af¬
fects the properties of an accumulating substratum, including its pollution
with heavy metals. Pollution with heavy metals could occur during industrial
activities of the last centuries, because of bombing the buildings during wars
and their consequent reconstruction, and as a result of the installation of lead
pipes.
Research of the cultural layer in the ancient part of the city showed that
pollution of Moscow soils has started many centuries ago (A leksandrovskaya,
1996, Aleksandrovskaya and Aleksandrovskii, 1997).
Cultural layers of the 15th to 19th centuries are characterized by the
noticeable accumulation of lead, arsenic, copper, and zinc. This reflects their
diverse use by humans in metal working, utensils production, leather treat¬
ment, building, and other activities.
So, the content of arsenic in a layer of the 17th to 19th centuries is up to
74 mg/kg, while its clarke (average content in the Earth’s crust) is 2 mg/kg. In
addition, there is an intensive accumulation of copper. In cultural layers of the
15-16th centuries, the content of copper is up to 650 mg/kg (typically its
content in soils of Moscow region is 3 to 20 mg/kg). The source of copper
could be copper sulfate, which was widely applied, since, similar to lead,
copper was easy to fuse, forge, etc.
The average lead content in the Earth’s crust (13 mg/kg) is greater than that
in the original soils. Wide application of lead during the 15th to 20th century has
increased its content up to 450 to 900 mg/kg in layers referred to Medieval Mos¬
cow. It is sometimes up to 1321 mg/kg in layers of the 19th century (Table 3.22).
Ancient pollutants often come to the surface layers during excavations.
In this case, they can be mixed with the modem layers, so producing a cu¬
mulative effect, which is manifested in the gradual increase of pollution from
deeper to surface layers.
The eastern part of Moscow as well as its center has the most deterio¬
rated environment. These areas are most polluted with heavy metals, chloror-
ganic and other toxic compounds. On one hand, these are heavily industrial¬
ized and densely populated territories; on the another hand, western winds
carry here the additional amount of pollutants. Metallurgical, machinery, and
polygraphical enterprises, thermal power stations, motor transport, and so on
emit nearly 130 kg pollutants per inhabitant per year. The total pollution of
the environment is 1.22 kg per square meter of the district area.
Here the accumulation of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, and Cd in soils is by seven to
eight times greater than the background contents of these elements
(Nikiforova and Lazukova, 1995).
Table 3.22. Content of microelements (mg/kg) in the cultural layer,
Moscow downtown
No.
Depth, cm
Century
Chemical elements
Cr
N1
Cu
Zn
As
Pb
Rb
Sr
Zr
1
25
beginning of the
20th
98
24
197
1552
74
1321
55
186
220
2
70
18-19
90
29
149
192
36
242
84
289
290
3
100
18
61
24
88
151
16
103
74
222
297
4
115
18
50
12
64
128
13
146
63
188
227
5
145
17-18
92
23
43
107
25
152
69
166
269
6
160
17
92
28
80
256
33
265
74
171
361
7
170
17
83
35
83
134
16
55
78
158
270
8
195
17
91
36
81
104
18
54
73
145
211
22
220
16
81
29
359
398
15
89
78
178
339
Clarke (after Fortescue, 1980)
122
99
30
76
1.8
13
78
384
162
Source: Aleksandrovskaya, 1996.
It is also established that both bulk and mobile forms of heavy metals
pollute soils (Table 3.23). The share of mobile compounds of heavy metals in
their bulk content ranges from 20% for chromium to 80% for manganese.
Technogenic anomalies in the content of heavy metals are found in all func¬
tional zones (parks, residential and industrial areas) in the Perovo municipal
district. Extremely high contents (index of total accumulation relatively to the
background, ITA, is 64 to 80 and more) of heavy metals, primarily of lead,
zinc, copper, cadmium, and cesium, are found in soils of the industrial zone.
Within the district, high contents of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, and copper
with ITA 32 to 48) occur in residential areas, squares, and boulevards.
This evidences to strong technogenic deposition of pollutants on soils of
the city, since in background soils the fraction of mobile forms is not more
than 1 to 5%. The sparse grass cover indicates vegetation decline near roads
and industrial enterprises. This promotes formation of dust on the soil sur¬
face, which, in turn, becomes the source of air pollution. On unpolluted refer¬
ence sites, the content of lead in grasses does not exceed 0.5 to 1.0 mg/kg on
dry-weight basis, while it is 4 to 12 mg/kg in lawn grasses. The MAC of lead
in plants is 10 mg/kg.
The high content of lead in lawn grasses correlates to that content in soil
(Table 3.24). Lawn soils contain 2 to 10 times more lead (10 to 15 mg/kg) than
the background soddy-podzolic soils of the Moscow region.
Table 3.24. Content of lead in lawn grass and soils in Moscow
Sampling site
Pb content, mg/kg in
grass
soil
Michurinskiy prospect
4.8
54
Leninskiy prospect
5.9
68
Usacheva street (Kauchuk plant)
12.2
83
Komsomolskiy prospect
8.2
65
Leningradskiy prospect
4.2
74
Forest-park in the Vorob'evy Gory
2.5
30
Luzhniki park
7.0
90
Sokol'niky park
5.0
70
Izmailovskiv park
3.0
38
Fili forest-park
2.0
30
Source. Afonina et ai, 1990.
Nowadays, significant attention is paid to pollution of soil with deicing
salts (primarily with calcium and sodium chlorides) applied on roads and
pavements.
Generally, according to the geochemical survey (About the Status....
1993), 22% of Moscow soils is weakly polluted. These are mainly soils in
western and northern parts of the city and, more rarely, in its southern part.
Nearly 40% of urban soils, mostly located in central and eastern parts of the
city, are strongly polluted. The rest 38% of the city area have the average
level of pollution (Fig. 3.15).
For t! last 15 years, the area of strongly polluted soils in Moscow has
increased ai. ost by 150 km2, while the area of slightly polluted soils has de¬
creased by mere than two times. This growth is especially rapid in former
clean residential areas on the city periphery. In the center of Moscow, the
concentrations of most of the toxic compounds, namely mercury, arsenic,
cadmium, and bismuth, exceed their MACs by 30 and more times On the
basis of ecological and economic research of the Moscow region, it is pre¬
dicted that within 30 to 40 years, the whole territory of Moscow will be a
continuous geochemical anomaly because of strong pollution.
The degree of pollution is very variable, though the maximal accumula-
tion is noted for elements of 1st and 2d classes of toxicity. Typically, there are
several toxic compounds, whose contents exceed MAC (Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu).
Their synergetic effect deteriorates the situation. Plots with strong pollution occur
in industrial zones with metal-consuming production and on city dumps.
Fig. 3.15.
Scheme of soil
pollution with
heavy metals.
Source: About
the Status...,
1993.
Conventional
symbols:
Indexes of Total
Accumulation
□ <16
CD 16-32
шиш 32-128
The radioactive pollution insignificant in the city. Thus, radiation background
in the city, for example, in 1995, was 7 to 20 цг/Ьоиг. Pollution with
radionuclides primarily occurs in focuses, which are 3 x 3 m in size and from
0.1 to 0.5-m deep. In Moscow, there are more than 1500 enterprises that use
radioactive compounds. Generally, for Moscow, the radioactive conditions
(treatments and sources) do not threaten the environment and population of
the city. Nevertheless, nuclear reactors, sources of ionizing radiation and
radioactive products, and disposal sites located outside the city bear a severe
potential and real danger.
Summarizing, we should like to emphasize that the chemical status of
urban soils is essentially different from that of soils of rural areas and is char¬
acterized by excessive accumulation of heavy metals, strong shift in pH to¬
wards alkalinity, high base saturation, higher content of nutrients, etc. While
being sufficiently provided with major nutrients, urban soils have the follow¬
ing limiting factors for plant development: high pH, strong compaction, and
pollution with heavy metals and toxic compounds.
Considering this and related changes in pedogenesis, one can confirm
the necessity to distinguish industrizems among urbanozems, i.e., strongly
polluted and/or chemically changed soils of urban industrial areas, even if the
initial profile of native or urban soils is preserved.
Presently, special attention is paid to studying the composition and im¬
pact of heavy metals and other toxicants found in urban soils. Our experience
of research of urban soil showed that this is just one problem of urban ecol¬
ogy. The composition and content of heavy metals started to affect biological
properties of soils and their productivity when their content was by several
(more than 5 to 6) times greater than their MACs. In our opinion, not of less
importance is the humus content and such water-physical properties of soils
as density, permeability, porosity, and texture.
Thus, the ecological status of the urban soil cover is of certain theoreti¬
cal and applied interest and its assessment is quite necessary for the im¬
provement of the general ecological situation in urbanized areas.
3.3. Sealed Soils: Their Role in the
Urban Ecosystem and Possibilities for
Reclamation
When studying the ecological situation in cities, one should take into consid¬
eration the extensive sealing of the land surface, which buries soil and induces
its degradation. Sealing restricts participation of soil in the nutrient cycling
(small biological cycle) and in the great geological cycling of matter and en¬
ergy and makes soil biospherically inactive.
Processing of aerial photos revealed that the degree of soil sealing in the
center of Moscow reaches 90 to 95%. It is 80% in industrial zones and 60%
in modem residential areas. This is illustrated by Fig 3.16-3.18 developed by
us for the Southeastern district of Moscow. The scheme shows the share of
open surface (unsealed with asphalt) measured in percents of the total area.
This value is the reciprocal of the degree of soil sealing.
The surface can be sealed (isolated from the exchange with the atmos¬
phere) by buildings, dense impermeable road coverings (asphalt and cement
plates) and permeable coverings (stone, pebble, and wood). Our special at¬
tention was attracted to soils under asphalt concrete, which is a very wide¬
spread road cover in Russia.
The Government of Moscow decided to reconstruct and replan some
historical sites. For this purpose, we also have investigated the soil cover at
the territory of some former cloisters. Under these conditions, the question
about the possibility for use of soil cleared from asphalt for the establishment
of a vegetation cover becomes very acute.
3.3.1. Structure and Properties of Asphalt Concrete
Coverings
Since the 1930s asphalt concrete has become the most widespread road covering.
It is used for surfacing not only of roads but also of free room between buildings.
The word asphalt comes from Greek asphaltos (“mountain tar”). The
general meaning of the term includes three constituents:
(1) skeleton (60%) consisting of crushed limestone, debris produced
during stone crushing, and fine sands;
(2) mineral part (10%) consisting of fine-crushed lime, slag and waste
products of cement production;
(3) binding material (30%) represented by oil and shale bitumen.
Despite its impermeable and nonporous appearance, precipitation partly
penetrates through the road surface.
It is known that the covering can be destroyed in the so-called aggres¬
sive media: acids, alkali, and different organic solvents (Munch, 1992). Bitu¬
men components of road coverings can be dissolved in chloroform, benzene,
and petroleum ether. Hence, spilled gasoline can promote destruction of as¬
phalt concrete covering.
Mo4fcv« Rfvar
- Residential areas
Г1 I I I " Natu«l complex: urban forest, forest-parfc
V// A ■ Disposal sites, abandoned lands
| 1 Industrial zones: heat and electric power plants
industrial enterprises, warehouses, car service
I аяг I ' Agricultural areas
(1) sealed>75%;
(2) sealed by 50-75%;
(3) sealed by 25-50%;
(4) sealed < 25%.
Fig 3.16. Map of share of the sealed suface for the Southeastern district of Moscow.
Industrial areas
26%
agricultural
areas
8%
disposal areas
26%
residential
areas
40%
Fig. 3.17. Distribution of open areas by functional zones in the Southeastern district
of Moscow.
Share of open soil
Fig. 3. IS. Distribution of areas with different share of open areas by functional zones in
the Southeastern district of Moscow.
R—residential areas; In—industrial zones: heat and electric power plants, industrial
enterprises, warehouses, car services; N—natural complex: urban forest, forest-parks; D—
disposal sites, unused lands; A—agricultural lands.
3.3.2. The Effect of Land Surface Sealing on the
Environment
There is almost no input of substances to a sealed soil. Most of the polluted
precipitation discharges directly into the river through canalization. There¬
fore, on the one hand, asphalt pavement protects soil, on the other hand,
sealed soils do not act as a universal natural filter of the ecosystem against
polluted water and dust. Road surfacing changes the boundary structures of
the ecosystem. Thus, it indirectly affects unsealed urban soils, which are open
for exchange processes.
Asphalt concrete covering influences the character of the heat exchange
between the soil and the atmosphere. The relationship between the increased
temperature and the shrinkage of vegetated area is especially noticeable when
the vegetation covers only 20 to 50% of the surface. In city, the temperature
regime is favorable for people w'hen the vegetation covers not less than 50 to
60% of the area (Fig. 3.19). This is the reasonable value for urban demands
[Formation of Light..., 1975).
50
asphalt cover
water
5
grass
0
19 21 23
3 5
9 11 13 15 17
Time, hrs
Fig. 3.19. Temperatures at the surface of different substrates in summer (KLaisnit^er, 1987).
A high percentage of sealed areas shifts the preapitation-evaporation bal¬
ance. Already by second to third day after sealing, the moisture content in soil de¬
creases to wilting point moisture (Craul, 1992). Russian geological engineers
(Pashkin and Bessonov, 1984) consider that surface paving can result in both
groundwater drawdown and rise. Asphalt paving of significant areas near build¬
ings essentially changes the water regime of grounds at their foundations and
basements. Basements serve as a one-side water filter, which permits water pene¬
tration to the groundwater table, while prevents its evaporation On the other hand,
waterlogging of soils and rocks under asphalt concrete can be so significant that
shrubs can grow in cracks between the covering and buildings.
3.3.3. Properties of Sealed Soils under Asphalt
We pioneered the research of soils sealed under asphalt concrete on the terri¬
tory of Moscow. We call the sealed soils ekranozems. This term is composed
of two Russian words: ekran—screen and zem—soil. Under study were
nearly 20 objects in places under reconstruction and archeological excava¬
tions Sealed can be urbanozems, natural soils, urbo-soils, and ur¬
botechnozems (Table 3.25).
Table 3.25. Sealed bodies
Ekranozems on
Sealed grounds
natural soils
urbo-soils
urbanozems
(cultural layer,
mixed and filled
grounds)
urbotechnozems
ground without pe-
dogenic features;
human-made ram¬
parts more than 50
cm high
The following transformations were recognized in all sealed soils:
• compaction (shrinkage—owing to vibration — ranges within 5 to
70 mm/m/year);
• changes in the w'ater regime (moisture either cannot penetrate below
the covering or once penetrated cannot be easily evaporated);
• change in the heat and gaseous regimes (the temperature gradient de¬
creases);
• microbiota functioning under anaerobic conditions;
• no input of substances from the outside;
• the upper part of the soil profile is destroyed during surfacing.
Our observations allow us to consider that at least a part of the precipitation
penetrates through the sealing cover. In summer, soil below the cover is wetted to a
depth of 10 to 30 cm. Moistening of the lower layers is mainly due to groundwater
or water from municipal water pipelines. However, perhaps, atmospheric water
may penetrate even deeper in spring and fell.
Measurements of the temperature of sealed and typical urbanozems at¬
test that the temperature of soil under asphalt is significantly lower than that
of the open surface (Fig. 3.20).
17 June 25 June 15 July 27 July
Date
25
17 June 25 June 15 July 27 July
Date
Цunder asphalt (0-5 cm) Bunder asphalt (15-20 cm)
□ open soil surface Qopen soil (15—20 cm)
Fig 3.20. Moisture and temperature dynamics in urbanozem (1992).
This difference is not so significant at the depth of 15 to 20 cm, while
the temperature is stable in both variants. We monitored the moisture dy¬
namics in a sealed loamy sandy urbanozem on the territory of the Rozhdest-
venskiy Convent (pit 6). According to its data and morphological descriptions
of other pits, one can conclude that soil moisture content directly under road
covering exceeds that in the surface layer outside the road covering (by 15%).
Iron microconcretions accumulated at the depth of 5 to 10 cm under the road
covering attest to the presence of alternating reduction and oxidation condi¬
tions. T\picallv, wetness was almost the same at the depth of 15 to 20 cm for
sealed and unsealed soils.
Despite their diversity, soils under surface covering have some common
properties described below. This allows us to recognize a special subtype of
urban soils provisionally called ekranozem.
Profiles shown on Fig 3.21 illustrate the diversity of different urban soils
sealed with asphalt concrete.
Fig. 3.21. Types of soil
profiles of ekranozems.
Profile 1. Ekranozem on
shallow replantozem.
Profile 2. Unsealed
replantozem.
—
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120
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Profile 3. Ekranozem on
shallow' urbanozem.
Profile 4. Ekranozem on
shallow urbanozem.
Profile 5. Deep unsealed
urbanozem.
The asphalt covering is very rarely placed directly on the soil. To make
the road resilient, the covering should be in a close contact with underlying
layers and is placed on a leveled surface. Usually, road paving is performed
by either raising several ground layers for leveling the surface, or, vice versa,
by the removal of the upper soil layer. The leveled surface is very often forti¬
fied with concrete that tightly binds asphalt layers to the underlying surface.
The humus content in different horizons of the studied ekranozems
ranged from 0.5 to 6.0%. Earlier studies of Moscow soils (Agarkova et al.,
1991; Strogonova et al, 1993) revealed that, on an average, different layers
of ekranozems contained less humus than the topsoil of unsealed urbanozems.
All city soils are characterized by rather high carbonate content and the pH
ranging within 7.5 to 9.0. Additional carbonates can accumulate in ekranozems
due to cover destruction. They concentrate in upper layers of the sealed soil. The
other reason of their appearance is a specific water regime. Water rarely penetrates
below' the cover. Nevertheless, once got there, it evaporates very slowly. As re¬
vealed by chemical and micromorphological analyses, carbonates begin to accu¬
mulate at the depth of 10 to 15 cm. Their content is higher than 2%.
According to micromorphological data, ekranozems are characterized
by a greater amount of carbonate neoformations compared to unsealed soils.
Carbonates occur as sparitic nodules and calcitic coatings along with micritic
bridges between grains of the sandy skeleton. Accumulation of carbonates is
traced in thin sections obtained from deep layers of all horizons of ekra¬
nozems. The content of heavy metals in sealed soils in the center of Moscow'
exceeds their background content. Protective properties of the covering also
should be mentioned. In sealed bodies, there is no accumulation of Co, Cd,
and Ni, while they accumulate in unsealed urban soils. In addition, soils and
grounds of new' residential areas sealed about 20 to 30 years ago are poor in
almost all heavy metals (Table 3 .26).
As for major nutrients (N, P. and K), their content in sealed soils is
similar to that in urbanozems. All sealed soils are featured by the increased
content of available P (50 to 600 mg/kg of P2O5). At the same time, the con¬
tent of К is high (40 to 200 mg/kg of K20), while that of N (traces to 10
mg/kg) sufficiently depends on the organic matter content in soil (Table 3 .27).
Ekranozems are unable to perform many biocenological functions.
Nonetheless, there is a weak gas exchange with the atmosphere and microor¬
ganisms. Plant roots can penetrate through the asphalt, while grasses and tree
seedlings may grow in cracks of old coverings. Earthworms can stmcturize
the soils even below the cover.
The covering creates new microbiological conditions under which an¬
aerobic microoiganisms develop. They live due to fermentation and reduction
of nitrates and sulfates. Sometimes their index of abundance increases. Lower
and more stable temperatures below the asphalt covering favor development
of specific psychrotrophic microoiganisms. The basic microbial community
that decomposes plant and other organic debris are the spore-producing bac¬
teria. In soils beneath the asphalt, their development is essentially oppressed.
Table 3.26. Content of heavy metals in ekranozems and unsealed soils
(extraction with IN HN03, mg/kg)
Soil
Depth,
Heavy metals
cm
Pb
Cu
Zn
Cd
Co
Ni
Replantozem.
0-10
45.5
33.4
60.5
0.19
1.87
5.05
Profile 2
10-20
104.0
18.0
31.1
0.03
1.15
2.64
(control)
20-30
6.0
12.3
15.1
0.10
1.51
1.90
Ekrcmozem
8-14
12.3
11.9
22.7
0.05
1.44
2.68
on
14-19
8.51
10.3
13.8
0.07
1.10
1.72
replantozem.
19-29
3.75
7.2
9.0
0.00
0.65
2.76
Profile 1
29-40
2.79
8.4
8.7
0.00
0.54
1.32
Deep unsealed
0-10
185
63.4
151
0.71
2.17
6.20
urbanozem.
10-30
186
71.1
130
0.58
2.28
5.31
Profile 5
30-50
245
55.1
76.5
0.30
2.17
4.06
(control)
70-90
140
69.9
49.7
0.32
1.70
3.25
90-110
131
77.4
41.0
0.23
1.81
3.27
110-130
227
296.9
72.0
0.59
1.94
4.47
Ebnnozem
0-8
37.5
20.0
45.0
0.00
on shallow
8-25
60.0
26.0
55.0
0!20
n/d
n/d
urbanozem.
25—49
25.0
14.0
27.5
0.00
Profile 3
49-108
25.0
17.0
26.0
0.00
Ekranozem
0-5
1.93
4.32
5.28
0.00
7.15
1.15
on the deep
5-10
14.7
6.70
8.62
0.01
1.25
2.61
urbanozem.
10-25
38.1
39.14
23.2
0.03
1.11
2.19
Profile 4
90-150
187.7
49.67
119
0.12
9.98
3.18
150-170
4.95
16.84
10.5
0.12
1.41
2.03
Shallow
0-10
234
69.7
239
0.53
1.34
5.55
Urbanozem.
10-70
373
57.3
285
0.66
1.98
4.98
bricks
Profile 6.a
85-110
108
22.1
68.8
0.20
. 1.45
3.57
(control)
110-120
32.7
13.8
28.3
0.09
1.33
3.01
Ekranozem
0-5
275
60.0
160
0.80
on urbanozem.
5-10
250
63.0
150
0.60
n/d
n/d
10-20
225
75.0
130
0.60
Profile 6
20-60
250
59.0
110
0.60
Note: is not determined.
Table 3.27. Chemical properties of urban soils and their sealed analogues
Soil
DepUl, cm
рНш
CaCOj,
%
Humus,
%
PiO*.
mg/kg
K20,
mg/kg
NH*
mg/kg
Replantozem.
(MO
8.1
1.18
1.37
158.0
76.0
2.37
Profile 2
10-20
7.9
1.34
0.61
15.0
96.0
1.94
(control)
20-30
7.9
0.00
0.60
97.0
44.0
1.29
Ekranozem
8-14
7.9
0.17
1.37
82.0
60.0
0.86
on replantozem.
14-19
6.8
0.00
0.61
71.8
55.6
1.08
19-29
7.3
0.00
0.60
102.0
44.0
0.43
Profile 1
29-40
7.1
0.00
n/d
93.0
38.0
n/d
Deep unsealed
0-10
8.0
2.83
3.38
13.5
104
7.99
urbanozem.
10-30
8.5
3.71
1.86
12.2
118
1.94
Profile 5
30-50
8.5
4.62
1.62
46.6
14.8
1.93
(control)
50-70
8.3
3.68
1.69
n/d
n/d
n/d
70-90
84
4.83
2.00
n/d
n/d
n/d
90-110
8.3
3.05
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
110-130
8.3
5.25
2.14
n/d
n/d
n/d
130-155
8.3
8.3
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
Ekranozem
0-8
8.4
0.76
3.22
180.0
96.8
2.5
on the shallow
8-25
8.6
1.66
1.33
236.0
141
2.0
urbanozem.
25-49
8.5
0.00
0.36
127.0
62.8
2.2
Profile 3
49-108
8.5
0.27
0.26
96.8
69.6
2.2
Ekranozem
0-5
7.1
2.11
1.03
n/d
n/d
n'd
on the deep
5-10
7.8
0.40
0.84
9.61
83.2
6.0
urbanozem.
10-25
8.3
2.85
1.37
2.39
178
3.4
Profile 4
25-45
9.3
3.76
n/d
n/d
n/d
n'd
45-67
9.2
1.28
3.05
n/d
n'd
n'd
67-90
8.9
2.13
5.90
n/d
n/d
n/d
90-150
7.8
1.42
5.80
n/d
n'd
13
150-170
7.7
0.00
1.46
n/d
n/d
7.3
Shallow
0-10
7.9
4.72
2.78
43.7
106
4.79
urbanozem.
10-30
7.5
3.78
2.16
47.4
142
4.75
Profile 6a
30-70
bricks
8.0
3.57
2.43
n/d
n/d
11.4
(control)
85-110
8.2
2.73
1.93
n/d
n'd
n/d
110-120
7.9
2.10
1.55
n/d
n/d
n/d
Ekranozem
0-5
7.7
3.80
3.76
275
179
4.0
on urbanozem.
5-10
8.0
3.46
2.95
312
251
5.0
10-20
8.1
3.73
3.59
339
233
3.6
Profile 6
20-60
8.1
3.80
3.31
335
203
3.2
Ekranozem on
0-5
9.3
3.74
0.61
15.5
40.8
2.5
urbo-soddy-podzolic
5-10
9.3
0.30
0.38
24.7
43.2
3.4
soil.
10-20
9.1
1.33
1.05
54.1
158
6.4
20-40
8.7
0.76
1.49
90.0
124
n/d
Profile 7
40-80
8.1
0.37
n/d
33.7
154
0.6
Note: n/d is not determined.
Less aeration of the sealed substratum is attested by a low content of
aerobic nitrifier—Azotobacter. As noted, its content decreases by 1.5 to 2.0
times compared to that in unsealed soils (Skvortsova et al., 1997).
The question is if it is possible to consider the substrate sealed by the
asphalt concrete cover as soils is still a matter of discussion. However, this
body has morphological characteristics of soil and performs some its func¬
tions. Methods used in soil science can be applied to investigate these soils.
3.3.4. Ways for Remediation of Sealed Soils
The described properties of sealed soils and the perception of the urban cul¬
tural layer as a system of buried soils enable us to give some advises to city
managers how to adjust ecological conditions in the city for human life.
In our opinion, we should regulate to some extent the sealing of the soil
surface and use porous and ecologically safe materials for road surfacing. In
this respect, one can remember that once streets of Moscow had been paved
with blocks placed on a 20-cm layer of sand. Now blocks are paved on the
layer of the same thickness but made of concrete. Such a cover is as imper¬
meable as several layers of asphalt concrete.
At the German-French conference “Development of Road Construction
in Some European Countries'’ (1992), special attention w'as paid to the im¬
plementation of draining asphalt for road covering during construction and
reconstruction. Because of better evaporation through such an asphalt, the
threat of waterlogging of foundations and basements of buildings with
groundwater is partially eliminated. In addition, it improves the water regime
of urban soils and conditions for plant growth.
The asphalt concrete cover exerts both direct and indirect effect on
components of the urban ecosystem. In this respect, on one hand, it is neces¬
sary to improve the technology of cover production. The cover should be
more permeable for water and air than it is allowed by present technologies.
On the other hand, we should restrict sealing of the land surface. This is be¬
cause at the modem technological level it is not enough to replace the type of
cover to improve significantly soil functioning and plant growth.
When compared to soils of unsealed areas, ekranozems are less subject
to the effect of the environment. They preserve information about the history
of the urban landscape and can serve as a planting reserve.
In conclusion, we hope that this knowledge will be useful for controlling
the ecological situation in cities, efficient nature protection, and improvement
of the living conditions for people.
3.4. Soil Cover of Moscow
Urbanization and economical activities are significantly responsible for het¬
erogeneity of the soil cover in the city. Dissected topography also contributes
to that as it determines drainage conditions and water regime.
The complexity of the soil cover is also due to differences in the age of
the area.Thus, the soil cover changes from the downtown with its thick cul¬
tural layer to newly developed areas where soils develop on recently tipped or
mixed grounds. The degree of contrast and the heterogeneity of the soil cover
is also a result of the complicated history of the city and of the mixing of
cultural layers with buried soils.
It is very difficult to map urban soils, especially urbanozems, because
their properties are very variable. Common methods for mapping of natural
soils cannot be merely applied. The mapping of urban soils is also compli¬
cated by the absence of a classification system suitable for urban soils.
We compiled a medium-scale schematic soil map of Moscow (Fig. 3.22,
Table 3.28). The schematic map is based on original and literature data and
maps published in the state report About the Status of the Natural Environ¬
ment in Moscow in 1992 at a scale of 1:200,000:
(1) geomorphological map;
(2) map of reconstructed landscapes;
(3) map of functional organization of the territory;
(4) map of soil pollution;
(5) map of waterlogging of the territory with groundwater;
(6) maps of landslide, karst, and subsidence phenomena;
(7) map of vegetation damage,
and other maps, and color aerial photos at a scale of 1:25,000 per¬
formed by Aerogeologiya.
We presumed the following approaches to be important:
A. lithological and geomorphological division of the territory:
(1) gently rolling interfluves with till and mantle loams;
(2) flat glaciofluvial plain sandy and loamy sandy deposits;
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Conventional signes:
-I
-II
-III
-IV
- arable improved soils
- nonuscd soils, disposable sites,
quarries cemeteries
- cemeteries
Fig. 3.22. Schematic soil map of Moscow
Roman numerals (I -IV) are landscape types in table 3.28
Ill Terraces of the Moskva River composed of sandy-sand loamy deposits with mantle loams (absolute elevations of 125-160 m)
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г" <^> /у1 о (л
|е ё ss
В 2
- 0* N се ^
f Е - z 1
Cw • |
c = U ! с
(3) terrace deposits composed of alternating sands and loams;
(4) the flood plain of the Moskva River and its tributaries.
B. The age of the area (downtown, developing areas, etc.).
C. Functional zones of the city:
(1) residential area;
(2) industrial zone, thermal power stations, industrial enterprises, ware¬
houses, and car services;
(3) Natural complex: city forests, forest-parks, etc.
On the map, areas of agricultural lands, unused lands, dumps, and quar¬
ries are shown by conventional symbols because of their small size.
The schematic map records differences in pedogenesis on various parent
rocks, both semi-natural and artificial.
The schematic soil map of Moscow is the first Russian map of the ur¬
ban territory. It presents the city soil resources, spatial and functional depend¬
encies between soils and soil cover and the environment. The map used the
classification of urban soils developed by the authors and the new national
classification of natural soils. When compiling the map, we accounted for the
Soil Map of Western Berlin (Bodengesellschaften, 1984, author R. Grenzus,
editor H.-P. Blume, 1:75,000).
The presented schematic soil map of Moscow can become a basis for a
series of applied maps, including soil-ecological map, map of chemical and
microbiological pollution, map of erosion of urban lands, etc.
One reason for the irregular distribution of soils is the land-use pattern
in cities. In cities, the proportion of open, unsealed, plots with normal soil
cover ranges from 3 to 5% in the center and 70 to 80% in the suburbs.
I. The soil cover of hilly to broadly undulating interfluves. Soils devel¬
oped on till and mantle loams partially overlaid by a sandy cultural layer oc¬
cupy nearly 20% of the city area. This type of soil cover occurs in southern,
southwestern, and partially in the northern parts of the city. In residential ar¬
eas, which occupy 12% of the city area, slightly to medium thick urbanozems
with low' to medium humus content are fpund (Fig. 3.22, 1). In the central
part of the city, urbanozems occur on the cultural layer. Large areas are oc¬
cupied by sealed soils — ekranozems. In the industrial zone (3%), soils are
represented by industrizems on filled grounds and partly by urbanozems.
Disturbed bog soils occupy depressions. Small spots of intruzems occur near
some gasoline filling stations, while replantozems are frequent in recently de¬
veloped areas (Fig. 3.22, 2). Soils of urban forests and forest-parks (4%) are
least disturbed. There soddy-podzolic and soddy-urbo-podzolic soils on till
and mantle loams dominate the upper parts of catenas, while peat bog and
soddy-podzolic gleyed and gley soils are identified in depressions and foot¬
hills (Fig. 3.22, 3).
II. The soil cover of the flat glaciofluvial plain has sandy, loamy
sandy, and sandy loamy deposits as parent material. It occupies nearly 18%
of the city area. Small fragments of this type of the soil cover are dispersed
both in northern and southern parts of the city. In residential areas (10%), ur¬
banozems are formed on glaciofluvial sands and loamy sands as well as on
tipped, moved, and mixed grounds. Their humus layer is medium to very
thick with low to medium humus content. In the city center, ekranozems are
widespread, while urbanozemv are confined to the sandy cultural layer. Intru-
zems occur near some gasoline filling stations. Replantozems are found in re-
cently developed areas (Fig. 3.22, 4). In the industrial zone (3%), the occur¬
rence of complexes of industrizems and urbanozems depends on the degree of
chemical pollution of soils. As natural drainage becomes worse, semihydro-
morphic soils (gleyed urbanozems and peaty soils) appear in small flat closed
depressions and flat, leveled plots characterized by waterlogging and
groundwater raise (Fig. 3.22, 5). Natural soddy-podzolic and soddy-urbo-
podzolic soils (4%) occur in city forests (e.g., Losiny Ostrov) and forest-
parks (Fig. 3.22, 6).
III. The soils on the terraces of the Moskva River are formed от sandy
and loamy sandy deposits, somewhere overlaid by mantle loams. This type of
the soil cover makes up the significant part of the city (35%).
Topography and, hence, the soil pattern of terraces were strongly
changed. The territory' was mostly leveled with the majority of gullies filled.
The soils now develop on technogenic layers of 1- to 20-m depth. In parts of
the city where topography remained dissected by gullies, soil erosion is com¬
mon. In the last decades, cutting up and filling of slopes and uncontrolled rain
and meltwater runoff have significantly promoted soil erosion.
In the residential area (21% of the area of these landforms), slightly to
medium thick urbanozems with low to medium humus-enriched topsoil layer
occur. Recently developed areas are typified by replantozems and shallow
urbanozems. Ekranozems on the cultural layer are widely found in the city
center (Fig. 3.22, 7). In the industrial zone (7%), strongly polluted soils are
represented by industrizems and intruzems in association with urbanozems.
Sealing of the soil surface is also quite common (Fig. 3.22).
In this part of the city, areas with natural soils were preserved (6%) in for-
est-parks (Vbrob'evy Gory, Neskuchny Garden, Fili park, etc.). Natural soils are
represented by soddy-podzolic and soddy-urbo-podzolic soils, which are differ¬
ently disturbed and partly eroded. Natural soil associations are well drained
soddy-podzolic soils cm watersheds, semihydromorphic soddy-podzolic gleyed
soils on gentle slopes, and bog soils in depressions (Fig. 3.22,9).
IV. The soil cover of the flood plain of the Moskva River and its
tributaries (15% of the total area) was drastically changed because of strong
alteratoin of the topography. Here, gullies and washouts earlier opened to the
valley of the river and its tributaries were filled. The flood plain was either
partly flooded with water from reservoirs situated upstream, or it was risen
by three to four meters by filling. Vast areas are under damps, abandoned
lands, and filtration fields. Although very specific, the soil cover is very
poorly studied. Nonetheless, the flood plain (nearly 10% of the area) is mostly
built up, so urbanozems and replantozems are formed on filled and moved
grounds (Fig. 3.22, 10). Arable soils are found on slopes and in bottoms of
small tributaries of the Moskva and Yauza rivers.
Overall, throughout Moscow, poorly and well-improved arable soils, in¬
cluding agrourbanozems {culturozems), occur on 5% of the city area on
various topographic elements.
3.5. Assessment of the Ecological Status
of Typical Landscapes
3.5.1. Memorial Territories in the Moscow Downtown
The ecological status of areas around historical complexes and ensembles in
the center of Moscow was examined during 1991 and 1992 in the Rozhdest-
venskiy and Zachat'evskiy convents, and in a park around the Yusupovskiy
Palace. Tree and grass layers were valued by the following criteria: vitality
(satisfactory, unsatisfactory, damaged plants, and declining plants), leaf
abundance and damage of crown and leaves. Each stand was assigned with a
quality class. Thus, the general estimation of the state of tree stands in this
area was obtained. The grass cover was estimated through species diversity
and coverage. Physical and chemical properties of soils were analyzed. On
the basis of the obtained results, maps of the ecological status of three key
sites were compiled.
3.5.1.1. Rozhdestvenskiy Convent
The Rozhdestvenskiy (Nativity) Convent is situated on the high bank of the
Neglinka River, l .3 km to the north of the Kremlin. Absolute elevation is 153
to 156 m above the sea level. Among the oldest buildings are the Cathedral of
St. John the Zlatoust (Gold-lipped), burial building, and canteen constructed
in 1676. Buildings of the convent were periodically reconstructed, and its ter¬
ritory was rearranged. Because of these activities, the cultural layer grew
thicker.
Before 1921, it was stricdy prohibited to walk over or to perform any
works at some places (“unpassable sites”). Also, the convent had an orchard
with improved fertile soils. The convent established in 1386 was closed from
1921 to 1992, and its territory was replanned. In the 1930s, a school has been
built on the site of the cemetery and orchard. Simultaneously, communica¬
tions were installed and large areas were paved. In 1991, the church has got
back the building of the cathedral. Later, the convent was re-established and it
started to gradually return the other buildings.
The present-day territory of the convent is very irregularly disturbed and
built-up. The open surface is 13% from the total area. The peripheral, open
part of the area is strongly dumped (by 25 to 75%) with household and con¬
struction wastes (Fig. 3.23).
Trees within the area of the convent (linden, ash, poplar, and birch) are
up to 100 years old. Trees and shrubs (hawthorn, lilac) are damaged and are
characterized by poor growth and development. Their vitality is low as evi¬
denced by dry branches and few leaves (less than 50%). Up to 40% leaves
have necrosis and other damages; 10 to 50% of the leaf surface is strongly
damaged by chlorosis and insects; tree boles are also damaged (hollows, rots,
and fungi) As a result, trees and shrubs lost their aesthetic value and resil¬
ience to environmental effects.
The grass cover is dominated by low-productive ruderal species. Pene¬
tration of sucking roots of trees to the soil is restricted by layers with abundant
solid inclusions and plates, typically occurring at the 1-m depth. Roots, which
Depth of high-humus
layer, cm
ШЛ 25 '50
50-75
Abundance of brick
fragments. %
L1 few
LZ <25
L3 -25—50
L4 50-75
□ sealed
surface
buildings
• absolute elevation
Fig. 3.23.
Rozhdestvensky
Convent: Depth of
the high-humus
layer and abun¬
dance of brick
fragments.
strongly branch above these layers, almost do not penetrate deeper. Branching of
grass roots usually starts from the depth of 10 to 15 cm, so escaping the most
polluted upper soil layer. These peculiarities of the rooting system are reflected in
the quality of tree stand and grass cover. The soil cover is unevenly disturbed
within the convent and fragments of brickwork were found at the depth of 70 to
80 cm near the stump of a 200-year-old oak tree.
The soils on the cultural layer with varying thickness are presented by
loamy sandy and sandy loamy urbanozems. They contain abundant construc¬
tion waste: fragments of bricks, limestone, and stones (Fig. 3.23). Soil pro¬
files are weakly differentiated and comprise tipped layers. The top humus-
enriched dark gray or brownish gray layer is 35- to 70-cm thick. At the depth
of 30 to 100 cm. some layers contain abundant construction waste, which
comprises up to 50 to 75% and more of the soil volume (profiles 1-91, 3-91).
The high topographic position of the convent, good drainage, and the
sandy texture of the soil do not favor gley development.
Nonetheless, atmospheric water can stagnate above the human-made
compacted layer. Because of anaerobic conditions, gray-blue mottles or con¬
tinuous gley horizons develop (pit 3-91). The sandy texture of all soils in the
Rozhdestvenskiy Convent predetermines their high permeability (Table 3.29).
*149д Rogdestvenka street
The spatial heterogeneity of the soil-forming layer results in both water stag¬
nation and downfall percolation of water. So, the rate of infiltration changes
from 1.8 to 7.3 mm/min. The best permeability is noted in rarely visited
places (profile 3-91).
Table 3.29. Water-physical properties of urbanozems
Pit no.
Depth, cm
Density of fine earth,
K/cm3
Rate of infiltration,
mm/min
Rozhdestvenskiy Convent
1-91
0-10
1.3
1.8
35-45
1.2
n/d
75-85
1.0
n/d
3-91
0-10
1.1
7.3
40-50
1.2
n/d
80-90
1.0
7.1
5-91
0-10
n/d
2.6
Yusupovskiy park
18-91
0-10
n/d
9.7
19-91
0-10
1.15
3.9
24-91
0-10
n/d
9.9
25-91
0-10
1.20
n/d
30-40
1.40
n/d
Soddy-podzolic
0-20
1.20
1.6
loamy soil
20-40
1.40
n/d
Note: n/d is not determined.
All soils of the area are calcareous. The content of CaC03 changes from
2 to 14.5% along the whole profile. Soils have slighdy alkaline to alkaline re¬
action (pHwaer from 7.1 to 8.6). Their high content of humus (up 6%) and
nutrients is typical for urbanozems (Table 3.30).
Most of the soils of the open areas in the Rozhdestvenskiy Convent are
polluted with heavy metals (Table 3.31). The content of all determined ele¬
ments exceeded the background ones by several times. Thus, the concentra¬
tion of acid-soluble forms of lead, zinc, and copper was by 10-20, 10, and 5-
7 times liigher, respectively.
To reconstruct the historical landscape of the Rozhdestvenskiy Convent
and to restore its soil and vegetation cover, it is necessary to reclaim the pol¬
luted surface layer of 30-cm depth .
Table 3.30. Chemical and phisical of urbanozems
Pit no
Horizon
Depth, cm
Н|мшв,%
ptUr
CaCOj,%
PjOs
KzO
Partkfe-dze dbbribiriion
pfealavtdable
mg/lOOgofsoi
<0.005
<0.01
teituraldass
Roihdestvenskiy Convent
1-91
Ulh
0-10
2.86
7.70
5.46
46.6
21
7
16
loamy sand
10-20
6.75
750
5.14
48.2
11
n/d
n/d
U2
20-30
3.89
7.80
10.9
45.0
13
10
18
loamy sand
U3
30-50
2.44
8.30
14.50
38.6
10
11
18
loamy sand
50-70
2.59
8.10
4.20
n/d
n/d
n/d
/d
U4
90-105
3.86
7.10
5.56
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
105-130
1.86
8.60
9.50
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
3-91
Ulh
0-10
2.78
19
4.72
43.7
11
10
15
loamy sand
10-30
2.16
7.5
3.78
47.4
14
n/d
n/d
30-50
3.75
8.0
3.78
n/d
n/d
10
15
loamysand
50-70
2.43
8.0
3.57
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
U2
75-85
1.93
7.7
2.73
n/d
n/d
11
13
loamy sand
U3
85-110
1.55
8.2
2.10
n/d
n/d
10
15
loamy sand
U4
110-120
n/d
7.9
2.20
n/d
n/d
8
10
loamy sand
5-91
Ulh
0-10
4.03
83
3.82
36.3
27
n/d
n/d
10-20
4.59
ru'd
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
20-40
3.00
8.0
5.46
32.0
41
n/d
n/d
U2h
35-60
4.00
7.9
7.14
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
60-85
5.19
8.0
5.88
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
U3h
85-112
5.38
7.7
6.82
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
Zachat'evskiy Convent
32-91
Ulh
0-10
1.83
7.5
10.8
10.5
11
9
14
loamy sand
U2h
30-50
2.90
7.8
11.8
n/d
n/d
8
13
loamy sand
U4
50-85
5.03
7.5
4.52
n/d
n/d
9
16
loamy sand
U5
85-100
1.24
8.0
1.55
n/d
n/d
18
23
sandy loam
35-91
Ulh
0-10
3.76
73
3.57
20.0
10
n/d
n/d
U2I
10-30
n/d
7.0
4.62
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
30-50
2.24
7.5
6.08
153
11
n/d
n/d
50-75
3.52
8.3
7.76
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
36-91
Uld
0-10
4.31
83
5.35
16.2
12
n/d
n/d
U2h
10-20
2.06
8.3
7.34
10.3
10
n/d
n/d
50-85
n/d
83
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
38-91,
Uld
0-10
1.69
8.9
8.18
12.2
12
n/d
n/d
U2
10-30
2.09
8.2
6.08
13.2
11
n/d
n/d
30-50
1.62
8.3
3.84
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
Yusupovskiy park
25-91
Ulh
0-10
3.38
8.0
2.83
13.5
14
6
9
sand
U2h
10-30
1.86
8.5
3.71
12.2
12
7
11
kxtmysand
из
30-50
1.62
8.5
4.62
46.6
15
6
10
sand
50-70
1.69
83
3.68
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
U4
70-90
2.00
8.4
4.83
n/d
n/d
7
8
sand
U5
90-100
n/d
83
3.05
n/d
n/d
n/d
11
loamy sand
110-130
214
83
5.25
n/d
n/d
n/d
n/d
130-155
n'd
83
n/d
n/d
n/d
8
12
loamy sand
Note: n/d is nol determined.
Table 3.31. Content of heavy metals in urbanozems (extraction with IN
HN03, mg/kg)
Pit nos. Type
of land use
Horizon
Depth, cm
Elements
Pb
Cu
Co
V
Cd
Zn
Ni
Rozhdestvenskiy Convent
l—91.
Ulh
0-10
111
56
1.3
8.7
0.9
460
7.1
Square near
20-30
140
57
2.7
9.1
1.3
493
6.1
school
U2
35-50
215
70
2.5
5.4
0.3
183
4.1
U3
50-70
107
38
1.7
5.6
0.2
77
5.2
U4I
105-130
151
67
2.2
9.2
0.3
124
4.3
3-91.
Ulh
0-10
234
70
1.3
6.4
0.5
239
5.6
Flowerbed
30-50
373
57
2.0
6.2
0.7
285
5.0
U2
75-85
114
31
2.5
4.1
0.2
60
2.2
из
85-110
108
22
1.4
4.6
0.2
69
3.6
U4
110-120
33
14
1.3
3.9
0.1
28
3.0
5-91.
Ulh
0-10
211
93
1.4
7.4
0.4
160
7.2
Flowerbed
10-20
136
69
2.0
10.2
0.4
117
6.6
U4
112-122
137
50
2.4
2.7
0.6
55
0.7
Zachat'evskiy Convent
32-91.
Ulh
0-10
40
39
2.2
5.8
1.7
115
9.7
Lawn
U2h
30-50
873
114
2.8
7.5
0.5
197
4.7
U4
50-85
473
75
1.7
6.0
0.5
114
4.3
U5
85-100
93
15
2.0
6.0
0.4
36
3.5
35-9.
Ulh
0-10
267
80
0.3
n/d
1.0
292
9.3
Flowerbed
U21
10-30
267
70
3.1
n/d
0.7
265
7.3
30-50
307
57
2.4
n/d
0.6
345
4.0
50-75
437
79
1.9
n/d
0.6
126
5.4
36-91.
Uld
0-10
345
93
2.2
n/d
1.1
484
7.3
Square
U2h
10-20
318
93
2.5
n/d
1.0
597
7.3
38-91.
Uld
0-10
165
66
2.8
n/d
0.7
624
5.7
Square
U2
10-30
229
46
2.3
n/d
0.3
67
3.4
30-50
144
34
1.7
n/d
0.3
85
3.4
Yusupovskiy park
25-91.
Ulh
0-10
185
63
2.2
9.8
0.7
151
6.2
Park
U2h
10-30
186
71
2.3
5.8
0.6
130
5.3
U3
30-50
245
55
2.2
5.7
0.3
77
4.0
U4
70-90
140
70
1.7
2.2
0.3
50
3.2
U5
90-110
131
77
1.8
3.5
0.2
41
3.3
110-130
227
297
1.9
5.8
0.6
72
4.5
Note: n/d is not determined.
3.5.1.2. Zachat’evskiy Convent
The Zachat'evskiy (Conception) Convent was established in 1623 by the
grandfather of Peter the Great. It is situated in Zemlyanoi Gorod on the 2nd
terrace of the right bank of the Moskva River at a distance of 1.3 km south¬
west of the Kremlin. It was built on the site of the earlier destroyed cloister.
Hence, this area has being used by monks for more than 600 years.
The Zachat'evskiy Convent was closed after the October Revolution in
1917. In the 1930s, the area of the convent was reconstructed, and buildings
were partly dismantled. Thus, only the gateway church of the Savior and
fragments of the walls have been preserved. A school was built on the site of
the cemetery; and an orchard was established nearby. Most of the territory
(65%) was paved. Presently, convent buildings are under intensive restora¬
tion.
The surface of the open area is especially dumped on the periphery of
the convent (25 to 75%), while its central part is better managed.
Elm, maple, poplar, linden, mountain ash, and apple trees under 80
years old grow along the preserved monastery walls. Their state is satisfac¬
tory'. The central part of the area is occupied by dying trees; leaf density on
crowns is 50 to 80%, while damage of crown and leaf surface is 20-40 and
90%, respectively. Leaves have necrotic signs.
The soil cover of the area of the Zachat'evskiy Convent is composed of
loamy sandy and sandy loamy urbanozems with, high content of construction
and household waste, formed on the cultural layer. The profile differentiation
Depth of the
high-humus
layer, cm
<25
25-50
50-75
A 128.3
2d
Zachat'evslcy
lane
75-100
Abundance of
brick fragments, %
L1 few
L2 <25
L3 25-50
L4 50-75
■ building
sealed
□ surface
a absolute
elevation
Fig. 3.24. Zachat'evskiy Convent: Depth of high-humus layer and abundance of brick
fragments.
of the urbanozems vary from weak to strong. Typically, the upper 20-30-cm
thick horizon of the urbanozems is dark grey, loose, and rich in humus. It is
underlaid by more compact mixed layers, which contain 25-50% and more
waste. The high waste content is a typical feature of all soils at the territory of
the convent when compared to other investigated objects (Fig. 3.24). The
soils contain carbonates throughout the profile. Their pH (7.2 to 8.9) is alka¬
line (Table 3.30). In addition, they are strongly polluted with heavy metals,
especially with lead (by up to 60 times stronger than the background values)
and zinc (by 10 times) (Table 3.31).
Despite strong stoniness of the soil profile, the upper soil layer is fertile
and is constantly improved by application of fertile mixtures and consequent
loosening. Urbanozems that occur in the central part of the area are highly
fertile.
Therefore, during reconstruction of the area, the surface soil layer
should be completely substituted, while revegetation should be made in ac¬
cordance with the historical landscape.
3.5.1.3. Yusupovskiy Park
A park of 0.6 ha has been established in the 17th century around the palace of
prince Yusupov. It is situated on a watershed plain at a distance of 2 km
northeast of the Kremlin. In the end of the 1940s, the subway has been con¬
structed in the neighborhood of the park. Excavated ground and construction
wastes were spread throughout the neighboring territory, including the park.
In 1951, the park has been re-established and arranged, and some new trees
have been planted.
The tree community of the park (linden, birch, and ash trees) is similar
by its structure to the natural forest and is in a satisfactory state: it has a well-
developed undergrowth and forest and meadow herbs in the lower canopy.
The leaf abundance is 30 to 70%. Crowns are damaged by up to the degree of
50% (30%) on the average). Leaf damage is 5 to 20% (5 to 10% for birch).
The projection of leaves is 5 to 40%. Tree roots are found along the whole
studied depth down to 150 cm. Grass roots are distributed within the layer of
up 0 to 30 cm.
The soil cover of the park is homogenous and represented by thick un¬
derlaid by loamy sandy and sandy loamy urbanozems developed on filled-up
sites. They have a low content of construction waste in the 0 to 50-cm layers
and its medium content in the 50 to 100-cm layer.
The soil profile has a loose well-structured, dark gray humus horizon up
to 30-cm thick strongly compacted filled layers with irregular bedding. They
may contain up to 2.14% humus at the depth of 110 to 130 cm.
These soils display good structure despite their sandy texture. They are
weakly compacted at the surface and at the depth of 30 to 40 cm (Table
3.29). This favors vegetation development. The rate of infiltration is high: 3.2
to 50.0 mm/min.
The soil contains carbonates throughout the profile with a maximum in
lower horizons (5.25% CaC03 at the depth of 110 to 130 cm). The surface
horizon is the most leached (Table 3.30). Such a distribution of carbonates is
explained by the high amount of construction waste in the subsoil. The soils
have the alkaline reaction (pH >8.0) along the whole profile.
The soils of the park accumulate heavy metals. The content of lead and
zinc is by 15 and 3-4 times higher than their background values, respectively.
The accumulation of other minor toxic elements is insignificant (Table 3 .31).
Thus, the status of the soil cover and vegetation in the Yusupovskiy
Park is much better compared to other historical monuments under study.
Nonetheless, the soils of the park are also strongly polluted with many chemi¬
cal elements.
3.5.2. The Lyublino-Pererva Industrial Zone
Presently, 68 industrial zones are recognized within the limits of Moscow
Ring Road. They occupy 14,380 ha, or 16.8% of the city area. Industrial
zones concentrate nearly 50% of production and 20% of research institutes of
the city (Fig. 3.13).
The Lyublino-Pererva industrial zone is situated in the Southeastern Ad¬
ministrative Region of Moscow—the main source of air pollution in the city
(26.8% in 1995).
It was chosen for a case study to exemplify the ecological status of in¬
dustrial zones. This is one of the biggest and most polluted (according to the
complex estimate) zones in the city. Materials of Research and Production In¬
stitute of the General Plan of Moscow, of the Institute of City Ecology, and of
our original surveys of the territory were used to describe the components of
the environment.
The Southeastern Administrative Region is one of the biggest in the city.
Industrial objects presorted by nearly 11,000 enterprises and organizations, in¬
cluding 800 industrial and 230 transport enterprises, occupy 30% of its area (Fig.
3.16). The main polluters are Moscow Oil Refinery (40,000 t/year), thermal
power station (5000 t/year), motor producing plant (700 t/year) and Lyublin-
skiy foundry-mechanical plant (600 t/year). Of secondary importance are
Electropribor plant, reinforced concrete producing plants, motor services,
parkings (40), warehouses, gasoline filling stations, etc. In 1995, the total
emission of pollutants from motor transport was nearly 13,000 t/year. Such a
high technogenic impact exerts a very unfavorable effect on the environment
and health of the population of the region (About the Status.1996).
The Lyublino-Pererva industrial zone has a well-expressed concentric
structure with industrial enterprises forming some kind of core. They are sur¬
rounded by motor and railway transport services and warehouses. The third
ring is formed by residential areas with “embedded” administrative and com¬
munal-municipal buildings and educational institutes.
Of the total area of the industrial zone (nearly 267 ha), industrial enter¬
prises occupy 134 ha. The rest of the area is under abundant warehouses, ga¬
rages, motor services, gasoline filling stations, a trolley-bus park, a fire serv¬
ice, etc. The major sources of pollution are situated in this part of the indus¬
trial zone. There are also shops, a supermarket, markets, educational institutes,
living houses, including dormitory, military barracks, and a sport ground.
From one side, the industrial zone borders the residential area. From the
other, it borders the Moskva River. In fact, the territory of the industrial zone
is an integral anthropotechnogenic complex.
The industrial zone and adjacent areas are located on the 2d terrace of
the Moskva River. Parent materials are sandy and loamy deposits overlaid by
thick technogenic deposits. The latter arc presented by the mixture of sands,
rock debris, and loams with addition (up to 50%) of stones and fragments of
bricks, concrete, asphalt etc. Their thickness varies from 1.5-3.0 to 6-7 m.
Topography within the industrial zone was leveled, and natural plant as¬
sociations disappeared. The territory became spatially heterogeneous in ac¬
cordance with the land-use pattern.
3.5.2.1. Atmosphere
The composition of the air above the industrial zone is determined by its close
location to other industrial zones. Domination of western winds provides the
additional air pollution.
Emission from thermal power stations is the main cause of atmospheric
pollution with nitrous dioxide, sulfiirous anhydride, mazut, ash, etc. They af¬
fect the area within a radius of several to tens kilometers because of the large
volume of emitted pollutants (Table 3.32).
Table 3.32 Concentrations of pollutants in the air (mg/m3) and contribution
of individual sources
Substances
Lublino-Pererva
industrial zone
Kuryanovo
industrial
zone
Roads
Other sources
The sum of all compounds,
14.923
1.304
6.46
9.292
including:
aj2o3
0.035
n/d
n/d
0.010
v2o5
0.576
n/d
n/d
0.314
Fe203
5.760
0.023
n/d
0.090
Mn
0.581
0.002
n/d
1.248
Сг (VI)
0.948
n/d
n/d
0.411
N02
1.586
0.353
5.20
3.896
S02
0.147
0.009
n/d
0.298
CO
0.668
0.043
1.26
0.035
HF
0.003
n/d
n/d
0.030
Xylol
0.126
n/d
n/d
0.063
Methylmercaptan
n/d
n/d
n/d
2.2
Mineral oils
0.225
0.002
n/d
0.045
Mineral dust with Si02
content >70%
0.131
0.261
n/d
0.071
Mineral dust with Si02
content <70%
1.458
0.162
n/d
0.432
Dust on trees
2.560
0.428
n/d
0.025
Contribution of separate
sources to the overall con¬
centration of pollutants (%)
46.7
4.1
20.2
29.0
Mote: n/d is not determined.
The effect of the emissions caused by motor transport on the state of the
atmosphere is strong. MACs of C02, N02, phenol, and ammonium were ex¬
ceeded by more than five times. Here the index of total accumulation (ГГА) of
heavy metals estimated by their content in snow is very high (>256).
Dust transfer affects atmospheric pollution in different ways. Thus, as¬
phalt, which covers 27% of the industrial zone, “redirects” 0.9657 t dust per
year into the atmosphere. The surface of roofs (33% of the industrial zone)
produces 0.9451 t dust per year. The surface of open (without a turf layer)
soil is the main contributor to dust pollution of the atmosphere (2.5499
t/year). Vegetated areas (23% of the area) are not significant dust producers
(0.0047 t/year). Totally, the industrial zone produces 4.47 t dust suspensions
per year. Their mineral part is made up by toxic compounds. We also made
an attempt to roughly estimate the annual weight of dust and the content of
heavy metals in it produced by the Lyublino-Pererva industrial zone. The to¬
tal input of heavy metals with dust into the atmosphere is nearly 13 kg zinc,
14 kg lead, 0.8 kg chromium, 0.7 kg arsenic, and 10 to 40 g nickel and cop¬
per. In addition, dust contains nearly 3% С and 14% CaO.
3.5.2.2. Surface and Ground Waters
The surface runoff is very strongly polluted with Pb, Cu, Zn, Co, and Cr at
more than a half of the area. Concentrations of the following materials exceed
their MACs by more than two times, suspended material (22 to 30 mg/I),
synthetic surface-active substances, detergents (0.2 to 0.3 mg/1), and petro¬
leum products (up to 0.9 mg/1). Biological oxygen demand is 3.9 to 12.4 mg/1.
Concentrations of nitrogen, ammonia, phenol, formaldehyde, and cyanide are
close to the standard values.
The pollution of bottom deposits of the Moskva River with chemical ele¬
ments is estimated to be 64 to 128 units according to ГГА. Such high pollution
threatens the urban environment, since it is partly located within the catchment of
the Moskva River. The surface waters discharge direcdy into the river, so causing
its greatest pollution (data of the Lyublino area). This situation may be aggravated
in future because the whole territory of the industrial zone is within the limits of a
predicted rise of the groundwater level by more than 3 m.
Presently, the total concentration of dissolved mineral salts in river waters
near the industrial zone increases (1 to 1.5 g/1).
3.5.2.3. Vegetation
Dense housing, which is typical for this industrial zone and abundant w are¬
houses require many roads and maintain intensive traffic. This significantly
reduces the vegetated area.
The quality and state of grasses, shrubs, and trees are very poor. Open
lawns or partly vegetated area of the industrial zone make up 23%. This is
primarily the area around educational buildings, dormitories, and houses.
Vegetation covers small plots (0.01 to 0.1 ha).
Most growing trees have evident features of damage: crown thinning, hol¬
lows, bole deformations, dry branches, leaf damage, etc. The state of tree stand
consisting of maple, poplar, and linden is unsatisfactory. The primary reason is
generally poor ecological situation, poor management and the absence of mineral
and organic fertilizers. Dead leaf biomass is toxic because of the high content of
heavy metals. The absence of soil animals and destruction of fallen leaves left on
the soil surface result in the formation of a thick litter layer that prevents grass de¬
velopment. The absence or poor development of the grass cover is also due to a
strong disturbance of soils and dumping of the area. On an average, the grasses
cover 20 to 40% of the area. Their composition is dominated by ruderal species:
wormwood, plantain, burdock, knotweed, coltsfoot, etc.
Most enterprises do not meet the standards of the area under vegetation,
that are 20% for industrial area and 10% for enterprises with dense housing
and sanitary-protective zones.
3.5.2.4. The Status of the Soil Cover
Presently, territories with natural soils are absent within the Lyublino-
Pererva industrial zone. Urbanozems (soddy-urbanozems and industrizems)
occur on the most vegetated patches, while urbotechnozems are restricted to
strongly disturbed open surfaces and moved substrates. In addition, scalped
urbanozems arc found.
Soils of the industrial zone are characterized by heterogeneous and tuibated
profiles, elevated stoniness, high dust content in surface layers, and sandy to loamy
texture.
Water-physical properties of soils vary throughout the whole area. This is
due to installation of an engineering-communication network, which provides a
higher temperature compared to natural objects and causes appearance of voids in
grounds.
Throuhout the area of the industrial zone, soils are chemically polluted
(Table 3.33). Concentrations of almost all heavy metals exceed their standard val¬
ues. The excess is the highest for copper, zinc, and nickel. Therefore, according to
these compounds, this area can be considered as a geochemical anomaly.
Table 3.33. Chemical properties and bulk contents (mg/kg) of heavy metals
and arsenic in surface horizons of soils, Lyublino-Pererva industrial zone
Location. Soil
c,
%
рНка
CEC,
cMkg1
Cr
Мл
Ni
Cu
Zn
As
Pb
Rb
Sr
Zr
Area near ga¬
1.55
7.4
10.1
365 1707
92
350 1241
33
209
15
<3
153
rages, center of
the industrial
zone.
Industrizem
Square near the
2.06
6.2
14.7
116
570
32
66
290
14
57
45
107
160
entrance to the
foundry-mecha¬
nical plant
Urbanozem.
Residential area
5.56
6.6
16.52
N/d
917
75
369
278
37
10
42
196
227
near the indus¬
trial zone.
Urbanozem.
Kindergarten,
1.43
6.9
25.1
92
726
19
53
332
18
56
132
260
278
300 m from the
industrial zone.
Urbanozem.
Square near the
6.24
6,7
21.9
144
735
37
106
482
12
78
61
169
166
main canteen.
Urbanozem.
Dust from as¬
3.19
7.3
27.7
184
947
28
78
2963
15
313
36
56
270
phalt, center ol
industrial zone
Warp from ca¬
1.44
7.2
n/d
455
375
44
40863329
28
470
41
186
222
nalization.
Estimated alb' "able bulk
concentrations
n/d
n/d
20
33
5
2
32
n/d
n/d
n/d
Note: n/d is not determined.
Dust that is deposited on artificial surfaces has the highest content of
heaw metals. It is maximal for zinc (128 MACs) and lead (15.7 MACs). The
unvegetated open surface that occupies 18% of the industrial zone (mainly
around plants, garages, parkings, etc.) strongly threatens the surrounding ar¬
eas because of dust deflation and translocation of polluted surface deposits to
neighboring areas. The content of heavy metals in them is determined by the
amount of deposited dust and composition of original and filled grounds.
Besides that, it is established that the surface runoff takes away copper
(4086 mg/kg), zinc (3329 mg/kg), and lead (470 mg/kg). The accumulation
of these metals is evidenced by the following fact. Sediments collected from a
surface runoff collector before it entered the industrial zone contained these
metals in amounts by 30, 10, and 4 times less, respectively, than their content,
when the collector passed a catching area of the industrial zone.
When considering accumulation patterns of pollutants in different natu¬
ral-anthropogenic areas, we compared the content of heavy metals and arse¬
nic in soils of a residential area, the border of the industrial zone, disturbed
grounds without a turf layer and managed (planted) areas of the industrial
zone.
Cation exchange capacity (CEC) of urban soils (10 to 25 cM(+)/kg of
soil, everywhere exceeds that of natural topsoils roughly estimated as 5
cM(+)/kg of soil). The composition of the CEC is dominated by Ca (above
70%) followed by Mg and K. The Na content is low everywhere. Such a high
CEC favors the resistance of soils and grounds to geochemical impact and
binding of heavy metals.
Thus, the following features are the most characteristic ones in the
L\-ublino-Pererva industrial zone:
• Artificial covers and areas under houses dominate the land surface
They contain more heavy metals in the surface dust layer subject to de¬
flation. Hence, these areas are the source of secondary pollution of the
atmosphere and surface waters.
• Urbanozems of the residential area adjacent to the industrial zone have
the lowest mean content of heavy metals among all categories of sur¬
face bodies.
• The highest content of heavy metals is in humus-enriched industrizems
managed for more than 40 years and having no additions of fresh
ground.
• Concentration of heavy metals in urbanozems rather depends on the
land-use pattern than on the location of the sampling site relatively to
the source of emission.
3.6. Conclusion
The Moscow region is one of the largest urbanized areas in the world. Here
nearly 16 million people (almost one-tenth of Russia’s population) live at
0.3% of the country's area. Moscow is the most northern megalopolis of the
w'orld.
In the last years, ecological problems have aggravated as reflected in the
state of the environment, including the soil cover and, hence, the health of ur¬
ban population. The obtained results proved that the ecological situation in
the city is very difficult. It causes now and, as predicted, will cause some ad¬
verse consequences, that will affect the physical and mental health of men.
Among the most acute ecological problems troubling the population are the
high content of exhaust gases in the air, the antisanitaiy state of the city territory
and the shrinkage of the planted area and of the protective belt of forest-paiks.
The major reasons of indicated ecological problems are pollution caused by motor
transport and industrial enterprises. The natural soil cover is absent от 85 to 90%
of the city area. More than 30% plantations located within the city are damaged
and degraded. Also, some areas are waterlogged.
Presently, more than 20% of the cases of illness in the city occur be¬
cause of the deteriorated environment. One of the major negative processes is
the strong chemical pollution of the natural environment that also bears a
bacteriological threat. This increases the sick rate of children and adults, for
example, by 20% from 1985 to 1990. Thus, the occurrence of cardio¬
vascular diseases increases by 1.5 times.
The contribution of environmental pollution, to the deterioration of hu¬
man health is estimated to be 20 to 30%. Therefore polluted areas are char¬
acterized by a higher occurrence (40 to 60%) of bronchial asthma, bronchitis,
tonsillitis, and other respiratory diseases.
The demographic situation is also very unfavorable. Presently, among the
largest cities of the world, Moscow is just on the 6 2d place by birth rate, on the
81st place by natural increment, and on the 60th place by surviving of children
under one year. In the capital of Russia, the children death rate is two times greater
than in London, Rome, and Toronto and by three times greater than in Tokyo and
Madrid. The average life expectancy of moscovites is by seven to eight years less
than that of inhabitants of Vienna, Paris, and Tokyo
CHAPTER 4
Adverse Environmental Processes
and Their Effect on Soils and Soil
Cover in Moscow
Adverse ecological processes in the urban environment are processes that
essentially hinder (prevent) urban soils to perform their ecological functions.
At the same time, these processes essentially affect the modem status of ur¬
ban soils.
A significant part of Moscow is subject to the action of adverse proc¬
esses that affect the ecological status of the soil cover, properties and func¬
tions of soils. According to predictions of ecologists, their impact will inten¬
sify' over time.
At the same time, always there is one process that dominates on a particular
category' of urban lands.
4.1. Processes that Adversely Affect
Ecological, Sanitary, and Hygienic
Status of Urban Lands
4.1.1. Mechanical (City Building) Processes
Increase in the proportion of sealed and decrease in area under vegetation.
Mam causes of the shrinkage of the vegetated area in city' are its use for needs
of the city' economy as well as "natural" break-up of stands under the effect of
the urbanogenic stress and poor management. The other factors are excessive
recreation; poor conditions for plant development (poor air, soil, and water
quality); poor management of plantations (untimely thinning of stands, ab¬
sence of agrotechnical measures, etc.); and improper policy of city develop¬
ment, including poor control for land use.
The soil cover exerts a multifunctional “healing” effect on the urban en¬
vironment. This effect decreases (and eventually disappears) as the propor¬
tion of sealed soils increases. A good example are residential areas in the
Central Administrative Region of Moscow, where the vegetated area is less
than one to two square meter per inhabitant. During the reconstruction of the
city center, the area under vegetation should be increased at the cost of un¬
sealing paved areas.
However, sealing of the lands of public use often provides the effective
control of the sanitary status of the area. Although, unfortunately, it is tech¬
nologically unavoidable.
Therefore, individual approaches are required when acquiring and re¬
claiming uncultivated unused areas, abandoned lands, dumps and quarries.
Sometimes sealing of land parcels will be the optimal solution for preventing
environmental hazards.
Tipping and cutting of natural soils and deposits. In the city, humans
modify the land surface to make it more suitable for building, since they want
to have the optimal declivity of roads and areas. Moscow mainly has a dis¬
sected topography and is situated along waterways of the Moskva River and
its tributaries. During the long history' of the city7, a thick layer of anthropo¬
genic deposits has been formed. It includes the cultural layer and layers of
tipped rock for building on low sites, gullies, and waterways of small rivers.
The greatest changes (removal of natural soils and land filling) are observed
in the most dissected southern part of the city They result in surface leveling
and filling of gullies and ravines. The layer of technogenic deposits is up to
20-m thick.
Static and dynamic impacts, especially the rise of groundwater table,
cause significant subsidence, deformation of buildings, and changes in the
land surface. This changcs water and temperature regimes of soils and affects
their humus status.
Dumping of soil surface. Dumping is the deposition of construction and
household wastes on the surface. Wastes can be the source of pollution be¬
cause of decomposition and leaching of toxic compounds.
Modem building is a major contributor to surface pollution of soils and
deposits. In the city environment, it is the second factor in regard to the
amount of produced solid waste, residues of construction materials, and min¬
ing rocks. The area under construction is generally dumped. Pollutants from
construction areas can spread further on neighboring areas. Thus, improper
storage of construction materials is a source of dust. Typically- waste, often
toxic, is partly burned on site, while the rest is dug in ground, so predeter¬
mining future pollution of soils and water.
Within the limits of Moscow, 25 million to 28 million tons of ground are ex¬
cavated every year. Most of it is transported to neighboring areas, while the rest is
used for leveling construction sites. Waste left after construction, reconstruction,
and major repairing of buildings contributes to pollution of soils and sediments.
Significant amounts of heavy metals are concentrated in paints that coat colored
brick, fallen plastering, etc. Thus, they contain zinc, lead, cadmium, copper, and
chromium in the amounts by 15 to 60, 20 to 35, 10 to 15, 6 to 10, and 5 to 10
times higher, respectively, than their background contents in soil. Burying of plas¬
tic material increases the content of cadmium, while remains of ceramics increases
the content of zinc, chromium, and copper. Burying of paper raises the concentra¬
tions of zinc, lead, cadmium, and chromium.
Moscow annually produces more than 2,3 million tons solid household
wastes and 3,6 million tons industrial wastes. These amounts increase by
3.1% every year. Studies of dumped sites and neighboring areas show that the
former significantly pollute the environment around them.
4.1.2. Physical Processes
Water (linear and gully) erosion and deflation. Engineering and building
activities of humans in cities accelerate erosion, which commonly results in
poor planning and improper functional arrangement of the urban environ¬
ment. Erosion is one of the most important processes in the city, since it oc¬
curs over large territories and causes strong damages.
Within the area of Moscow, there are more than 15 plots with deep
landslides (down to 100 m) and nearly 200 plots with surface landslides
(Osipov, 1994).
Deep landslides are observed along 12% of the length of the Moskva
River valley. Surface landslides occur in valleys of the tributaries. Their
number has been doubled for the last 10 years because of reclamation of new
lands.
Poor management of surface and storm runoff on compacted plots with
slopes steeper than 1 to 1.5° and leakage from water pipelines, canalization,
and heating communications form hollows and erode the top humus horizon
of soils. Water of streams also carries suspended material and pollutants.
These waters accumulate in natural depressions and cause waterlogging of
building basements. Strong erosion often develops on unvegetated wastelands
with a disturbed soil cover, including areas of water-protective zones and
lands around gullies with slopes greater than 3 to 5°. The development of ero¬
sion is especially dangerous on dumps that contain toxic compounds.
Shift of water balance. The term waterlogging implies the rise of
groundwater to a layer of 0 to 3 m below the soil surface, due to leakage from
water pipelines and canalization, seepage from ponds, as well as because of
irrigation, creation of artificial catchment areas, and deterioration of natural
drainage ways. The latter is due to ground compaction and surface leveling
after filling of gullies and valleys of small rivers and streams.
Waterlogging is a noticeable phenomenon in the cities of Russia since
the 1950s. Presently, nearly 960 cities, or almost 90% of Russia's cities, are
subject to waterlogging. Thus, the proportion of waterlogged area in Arkhan¬
gelsk is 100%. It is 80% in Astrakhan', St. Petersburg, and Tula. Waterlog¬
ging provokes the development of landslides and creeps on slopes and dis¬
turbs the organic profile of soils. In addition, gleying develops within the soil
profile. Waterlogging changes the chemical composition of the groundwater
and the ground resistance.
The mapping of waterlogging in Moscow shows that its intensity' de¬
pends on the land-use pattern, geomorphologv of the surface (watershed,
slope, terrace, and flood plain), and rock texture.
Over the last 20 years, the level of the groundwater has been gradually
rising in western, southwestern, and northwestern parts of the city. The rate of
the groundwater rise ranged from 0.05 to 0.4 m/vear. In the eastern part of
the city, waterlogging occurs at 80% of the area. On the average, it affects up
to 40% of the area of Moscow (Fig. 4.1).
In residential areas, in most cases, waterlogging exerts the negative effect:
basements of houses become wet and subject to destruction. Mesophvtic plant
communities become replaced by the hygrophytic ones. In addition, the soil profile
becomes less permeable
for water and air. This
decreases the productiv¬
ity and restricts the envi¬
ronmental functions of
soils.
Dangerous con¬
sequences of waterlog¬
ging are found at the
territory of industrial
zones, heat and electric
power stations, ware¬
houses, transport serv¬
ices, roads, railways,
etc. Because of water¬
logging chemical pol¬
lutants become dis¬
persed on greater areas
by groundwater flows.
Urban lands are
subject to drying, since
their stony surfaces
have a peculiar tem¬
perature balance, and
unfavorable hydro-
geological conditions
(karst, quarries, mines, highway installations, and sewage water canals).
They split up the original land surface, disturb water migration in soil and
cause degradation of vegetation and destruction of the turf layer. As a result,
the total productivity of the ecosystem decreases, while the hazard of wind
erosion for open, uncovered with turf and unvegetated, surface increases.
This was recorded on unused and waste areas, quarries, etc.
Compaction within the rooting layer. Planted plots in the city are rela¬
tively unstable to human impact. Soil compaction due to trampling produces
the most significant impact on urban plantations.
Strongly compacted soils are characterized by vegetation decline.
Fig. 4.1. Scheme of waterlogging.
(About the Status, 1994).
1—waterlogging in 1993;
2—forecast (by the year of 2010).
Trampling and destruction of the turf layer change the surface runoff. All this
causes degradation of the ecosystem or deteriorates its suitability for recrea¬
tion. The soil fertility decreases due to changes in the water and air regimes
within the rooting layer.
Changes in the temperature regime of soils. Warming and thermal
shifts. In summer and winter, the territory of Moscow was scanned with in¬
frared thermal aerial monitoring. Its results showed that areas of temperature
anomalies (temperature increase by 10 °C) are linked to industrial objects,
undeiground communications, and zones of intensive leakage from under¬
ground water-supply communications.
Temperature anomalies increase the growing period and accelerate
melting of the snow cover. This affects the temperature regime of soils.
Thermal shifts develop on densely built areas and on the open surface sealed
with asphalt and concrete. Stronger warming of soils and deposits makes
them excessively dry and changes their physical and mechanical properties.
Thermal fields in the city center are due to leakage from undeiground water
collectors. Temperature anomalies within the flood plain of the Moskva River
evolve because of a discharge of the industrial and household wastes.
4.1.3. Biological Processes
Exhaustion and disturbance of the organic profile of soils. Exhaustion and
disturbance of the humus layer results from trampling, re-planning, erosion,
plant cover degradation, airborne and fluvial chemical pollution, and typically
discontinuous management of the area. This process reduces the rooting
layer, which can be also restricted by some subsoil materials (construction
concrete plates, pipes, etc.).
On lands of public use, this process can be enhanced by chemical pollu¬
tion, which causes further degradation of the vegetation.
In forest-parks and parks, the organic profile of soils is less disturbed. How¬
ever, trampling, dumping, erosion, and chemical pollution cause its degradation on
sites with a disturbed humus horizon. All this limits the soil resilience.
Reduction in the biodiversity of soil organisms, changes in the struc¬
ture of microbial communities, and development of infection with patho¬
genic organisms. Cities are characterized by a strong reduction in all compo¬
nents of biota compared to natural ecosystems. The soil biomass in urban
ecosystems decreases because of lower number of living organisms, simpler
structure, and worse productive capacity of biota.
All urban soils are characterized by a lower biodiversity of higher and
lower organisms. At the same time, pollution with chemical and biological
compounds can be accompanied by infection of soils with alien microorgan¬
isms, including pathogenic species. These processes also threaten neighboring
areas, when pathogenic microbes spread with surface runoff and air. This is
especially true for aquatic and semi-aquatic landscapes. To eliminate this
threat, the territories should be subject to disinfection and sanitation. The fer¬
tile layer of the polluted soil should be replaced. The surface runoff should be
managed and cleaned.
4.1.4. Chemical Processes
Contamination of the urban ecosystems by regular and accidental emis¬
sions in the city and by the global mass transfer. The urboecosystem is
characterized by pollution because of the accumulation of strong toxicants,
radioactive compounds, pesticides, and organic and inorganic toxic com¬
pounds on the soil surface, in soil, and in other ingredients of soil-
geochemical landscapes. Urban landscapes are subject to the impact of gases
emitted into the atmosphere and are affected by the discharge of liquid and
solid industrial wastes to areas around industrial zones. As a rule, this drasti¬
cally changes fauna, flora, soil cover, and productivity of the whole ecosys¬
tem. The effect of these adverse processes was thoroughly studied
(Geochemistry of the Environment, 1990; Obukhov et al., 1988, 1989, and
1990; Ecogeochemistry..., 1995; Thornton. 1991; and others).
Pollutants get into residential areas and lands of public use through
regular contamination as well as through accidental emissions and the global
mass transfer. Soil pollution correlates to strong pollution of the air and often
of the aquatic environment. It is also directly connected with the status of
vegetation and human health.
Wastelands, dumps, and quarries are subject to various kinds of chemi¬
cal pollution. The threat of pollution sometimes increases if these lands are
used for other purposes, for example, for house building. Pollution from these
areas may spread on neighboring areas through soil, water, and air.
Somewhere in cities, the level of ionizing irradiation exceeds the allow¬
able limits. There are three main sources of irradiation in the city.
(1) Anthropogenic (living houses, asphalt covering of roads, and medical
procedures).
(2) Technogenic, the most dangerous source (industrial and military plants,
research and medical institutions).
(3) Secondary sources of radioactive pollution (buried waste, equipment,
and by-products).
The main consequences of exposure to radiation are the increase in sick
rate, mutation frequency, and mortality of the population.
Changes in soil acidity and alkalinity. In residential areas, both acidifi¬
cation and alkalinization of soils negatively affect soils themselves and
aboveground parts of plants. Owing to its buffering capacity, soil does not
experience adverse consequences under insufficient changes in soil reaction.
In old residential areas (the center of Moscow), most of the soils are alkaline
and enriched with calcium carbonate. As the strength and duration of impact
increase, soil degradation develops. The changes in soil properties, namely
structure, elementary composition, and physicochemical properties, depend
on the humus status of soils. Soil acidification develops in low-humus soils on
glaciofluvial deposits, which have a low cation exchange capacity.
Acidification and alkalinization locally develop on lands of public use,
industrial zones, warehouses, motor services, and roads. The intensity' of the
process depends on the local sources of acid emission.
• • •
Generally, adverse processes that develop in urban soils are very poorly
studied. For example, dangerous biogeochemical processes and phenomena
are brought into existence by technogenic (thermal, electromagnetic, and
chemical) fields of industrial cities. “Electromagnetic smog” directly influ¬
ences health and genome of humans. Wandering currents, warming, wetting,
and salinization of soils and deposits sharply accelerate the chemical and bio¬
chemical processes and the mobility of iron and aluminum in soil.
Technogenic geochemical fields that develop in surface layers, including
soil, accelerate mutations of microorganisms threatening to human health.
According to the World Health Organization, this has given rise to nearly 20
new viral infections during the last 30 years. The impact of these fields on
processes and properties of soils is poorly studied.
4.2. Conclusion
The ecological state of the soil cover is not affected just by one factor but al¬
ways by a combination of factors. Taken together they produce in stronger
consequences than taken single because of their synergism. Along with soil
processes, adverse processes occurring in air, water, and geological media
can deteriorate the state of urban lands.
The complex of measures controlling the adverse processes and for lo¬
calization and elimination of their consequences includes:
(1) Elimination of causes of adverse processes or decrease of their intensity
(e.g., introduction of new technologies and improvement of cleaning units
can decrease the total emission).
(2) Elimination of consequences of adverse processes (e.g., complete re¬
placement of strongly polluted soils and vegetation).
(3) Adaptation to adverse processes through the increase of the urban sys¬
tem resilience to the human impact (e.g. planting of dust- and gas-tolerant
species, increase of the productive layer).
(4) Reduction or localization of adverse consequences of processes (e.g.,
establishment of sanitary and protective zones and other planning de¬
cisions).
The most efficient are measures of the 1st group. They eliminate the
sources of adverse processes. At the same time, these measures are the most
expensive, so they hardly can be used. Measures of the 2d group are also very'
expensive and should be applied in the most ecologically unfavorable zones.
Measures of the 3d and 4th groups are a compromise between economical
and ecological interests and are most often applied.
Presently, measures for cardinal reoiganization of environmental activi¬
ties of municipal services (resource-saving, low-waste technologies and
equipment, up-to-date cleaning units, planning solutions, e.g., condensing of
the build-up, especially of industrial areas and warehouses, acquiring of
wastelands, etc.) are hardly possible. Nonetheless, only measures of this
group can principally improve the state of urban lands. Therefore, they
should be considered as the strategy of land-use development. All other
measures are tactical. Among them the following measures can be mentioned:
elimination of unauthorized fireplaces and dumps, garbage removal, control
for unauthorized emissions, discharges, unauthorized land use.
The present-day status of urban lands requires comprehensive sanitation
(improvement of sanitary conditions and reclamation) of the most polluted
and merely disturbed lands and simultaneous prevention of deterioration of
relatively undisturbed lands. The special measures on protection should be
applied (listed in order of the priority of protection):
(1) occupied by sensitive recipients: hospitals, schools, nurseries, etc.;
(2) heavily populated areas;
(3) occupied by valuable cultural and architectural objects.
The following measures are the most important ones for the prevention
of adverse processes:
• Reduction of emission from motor transport (wide complex of meas¬
ures can be applied, which ranges from administrative restrictions of
the use of private transport to development of public transportation,
planning decisions, and introduction of electric transport).
• Planting and sanitation of areas adjacent to main roads.
• Reduction of industrial emission (primarily through installation of effi¬
cient cleaning units and control for their exploitation).
• Planting (at least to a degree indicated by existing standards) of resi¬
dential areas in the city center (including “unsealing” of paved soils for
planting), proper management of plants and increase of soil fertility.
• Separated discharge and cleaning of the surface runoff, especially that
from industrial zones.
Measures on environmental adjustment of the land use within the city
limits should be combined with measures on its improvement outside the city.
Thus, in Moscow, the protective belt of forest paries requires principal recon¬
struction, since 47% of its area are built and 14% are occupied with agricul¬
tural lands. More than 200 cattle farms should be discharged or removed
from the sanitary zone of city water supply. The same should be applied to
country houses that were constructed within the water protection zones during
the last years.
CHAPTER 5
Microbiological Properties of
Soils in Moscow
Among different components of the urban environment, a special interest of
soil scientists and ecologists is attracted to soils, although their biological and
microbiological properties remain poorly known.
Each element composing the urban soil cover has so significant and
specific functions that has to be treated individually. This is important if to
understand the soil as a medium, in which live the organisms that perform
most of the biochemical processes in nature.
Knowing the specifics of biological properties of individual urban bi¬
otops, we can establish their interrelationships, understand the significance of
each element of the urban soil cover for its functioning as a whole, and inter¬
actions between them.
For this purpose, we should view not only general regularities of ur-
banogenesis, which are similar for the whole city, but also regularities specific
for a particular landscape-geochemical province, where the city is located, as
well as its age and the degree of city development.
The use of microbiological methods can reveal both general and specific
regularities of changes in the urban environment versus the natural ones.
Common urbanogenic impacts such as motor, transport, pollution of
soils with petroleum products, sodium and potassium chlorides, and enrich¬
ment in nutrients and oiganic matter affect the microbial population of soil.
Therefore, the microbiological status of urban soils can be used for the char¬
acterization of urban territories.
The effect of urbanogenic products on the urban environment is com¬
plex. Therefore, usually, its general estimate is obtained. However, some bio¬
logical properties of urban soils make it possible to study its individual com¬
ponents.
Along with information on the indicative role of microoiganisms, re¬
searchers are primarily interested in how can microorganisms adapt and pre¬
serve their viability in a new anthropogenic environment and how can humans
withstand destructive urban effect?
5.1. Indicative Properties of Soil
Microorganisms
Microorganisms remain viable in the urban environment if their natural
niches have been preserved, especially when a substratum they prefer is
available, or if they are adapted to the properties of urban soils. Sometimes
the latter surprisingly correspond to the main needs of microorganisms: neu¬
tral pH, excess of nutrients, organic matter, and heavy metals. In both cases,
they can be used as indicators of the status of urban environments. Further¬
more, this is referred not only to saprotrophic but also to pathogenic microor¬
ganisms.
To predict the development of pathogenic microorganisms in the urban
environment, especially when considering its soil cover, it is very important to
know their natural focuses. As shown by Maksimenkova and Karpachevskiy
(l 985), properties of natural focuses of infection are similar to those of urba¬
nozems. Therefore, they can be used for sanitary' and hygienic monitoring of
the urban environments, natural and urban focuses of leptospirosis, pseudo-
tuberculosis, intestinal yersineosis, and other diseases occurring under similar
soil conditions.
(1) Both natural loci of infections and the area of Moscow have a heteroge¬
neous soil pattern with soils of depressions as a component.
(2) In both cases the soil reaction is nearly neutral (7.5) that promotes the
growth of leptospires and yersinia.
(3) Soils favorable for pathogenic microflora have high base saturation that
maintains the pH at the constant level optimal for these bacteria.
(4) Soils are rich in organic matter (4.9 to 24.1%).
The last is especially important for pathogenic bacteria that can survive
in soils of depressions. Therefore, such soils, for example, natural silty-bog
soils, are the greatest source of infection.
The urbanization of the territory typically started with the development
of motor transport that polluted soils, particularly with heavy metals. How¬
ever, it is widely known that many soil microorganisms are resistant to heavy
metals (Hemida et al., 1997). For example, soil nitrogen-fixing bacterium,
Azotobacter, can accumulate lead in the amount of up to 300 mg/g of dry
biomass (Gromov and Pavlenko, 1989). Azotobacter is a bacterium adapted
to anthropogenic changes in the environments (Skvortsova et al., 1997). This
bacterium is highly ecologically plastic and can survive in soils during dry pe¬
riods by forming resting structures—cysts. Its cysts, when formed directly in
the soil, have a higher resistance to lower soil moisture compared to those
formed on nutrient medium in laboratory. The ecological plasticity of Azoto¬
bacter is also attested by the feet that this neutrophilic bacterium may de¬
velop at low soil pH in the presence of available phosphorus and carbon.
Azotobacter is re¬
sistant to components of
deicing salts, particularly
to sodium chloride. In ad¬
dition, there is a direct re¬
lationship between its de¬
velopment and the NaCl
content in a medium
within a certain range of
its concentrations (Page,
1986, Fig. 5.1).
Beside aforemen¬
tioned biological peculi¬
arities of Azotobacter,
there are other, very spe¬
cific reasons why it is found in soils of strips between tracks with intensive
traffic (Mendeleeva street, Moscow). Lawn grasses grow well on strips, when
their surface is covered with dust or natural material, while, in turn, grasses
promote the development of rhvzospheric bacteria. On a track-dividing strip
in Moscow, algae had the low species diversity of all orders. Yellow-green
O)
E
с
4)
о
k_
Q.
*55
о
NaCl
Fig. 5.1. Na-dependent growth of Azotobacter
chroococcum (Page, 1986).
algae were absent, and the soil was dominated by the most resistant algae of
the genera Phormidium, Lyngbia, Plectonema, Chlorococcum, Chlorella,
and Chlamydomonas (Yakovlev, 1997).
5.2. Peculiarities of Microbial
Communities in Urban Soils
Oil pollution typically accompanying urbanogenesis changes the composition
of soil microbial communities, which become dominated by Rhodococcus—
bacteria close by its properties to actinomycetes (The Prokaryotes, 1992).
The increased amount of these bacteria relatively to the reference may attest
to a soil pollution with oil. The high amount of Rhodococcus in oil-saturated
chestnut soils of the Zavolzhie (Transvolga) region has been established by
Prof. Krasil'nikov in 1938. Rhodococcus can be easily accounted in soils
polluted with oil by reddish orange color of colonies and by the typical living
cycle of these bacteria. The fact that the Rhodococcus uses hydrocarbons as a
growing substratum was noted by Nesterenko et al. (1988). Thus, the soil of
a terminal bus stop near Luzhniki (Moscow) was also dominated by red-
pigmented Rhodococcus. The amount of these bacteria was up to 90% from
that grown on a cultivation medium in the laboratory', while their amount in a
reference soil on the nearest lawn was 1%. The high content of Rhodococcus
can reflect to what extent these bacteria clean soil from petroleum products
(Yagafarova and Skvortsova, 1996).
Accumulation of soluble salts is a widespread phenomenon in urban
soils. That is why, some microoiganisms, especially spore-forming bacteria,
can sustain high concentrations, for example, of sodium chloride. Thus, bac¬
teria, when isolated from soils of residential areas, had a higher salt resistance
(they developed in 7% NaCl) compared to a bacterial population isolated
from a soddy-podzolic soil of the forest-park that could withstand only 2%
NaCl. It was also established that only oligotrophic soil bacteria could sur¬
vive in generally highly polluted soils of Moscow. Their growth in natural
soils is oppressed by a rapid development of bacteria nonresistant to the hu¬
man impact.
Soil alkalinization is another feature of the urban environment that pro¬
motes development of alkali-loving or alkali-resistant soil microorganisms
such as actinomycetes, some bacteria, and shell amoebas.
The dominance of microorganisms in urbanozems can be observed at
the level of groups, species, and subpopulations. It indicates two phenomena:
the ability of the microbial complex to adapt to the altered environment or the
formation of a new, so-called technogenic community capable of Living in
anthropogenic environments.
Actinomycetes are a good example of alkali-loving bacteria that domi¬
nate in urban soils. Thus, numerous actinomycetes were found in a strongly
polluted soil at the territory of the Southwestern Administrative Region of
Moscow (Table 5.1). Their amount is comparable to that found in a steppe
chestnut soil. From the ecological point of view, the increase in the amount of
actinomycetes is important, since they promote decomposition of the organic
matter in urban soils. The increase in number can be accompanied by a
higher species diversity of these microorganisms. This approaches their
structure to that found in more southern soils, so adversely affecting some
habitats in the southern taiga. The high taxonomic diversity of actinomycetes
revealed in the substrates of playgrounds in Moscow threatens the health of
humans, especially children. It should be noted that the microbiological status
of playgrounds is hardly studied (Harris, 1991). Actinomycetes, producers of
allergens, can also accumulate in municipal ventilation systems (Ahearn et
al., 1991 and 1992). The other allergenic compounds (mycotoxins) are pro¬
duced by microscopic fungi, particularly some species of the genus Asper¬
gillus (Summerbel, 1994; Marfenina et al.. 1996).
Decomposing municipal wastes also bear the risk for human health
(Umge-Asschenfeld, 1993; Chiu et al.. 1996; Filip and Smed-Hildman,
1991). Kulicheva and colleagues (1996) proposed the method for estimation
of the hygienic status of the urban environment and the degree of its pollution.
If a microbial complex under consideration has the proportion of enterobacte-
na and Rhodococcus higher than 13 and 2%, respectively, then the sample of
soil, plant leaf (philloplan), and plant litter belong to the urban area.
Since soil dust always was the apparent source of human diseases, this
has triggered the investigation of this problem. In the end of the 19th century',
the data accumulated attested to the relatively fast decline of the most patho¬
genic bacteria in soil. It was found to be controlled by the specifics of soil
properties and pathogenic species.
Later, this was confirmed by the data of Mishustin et al. (1979). How¬
ever, it is very difficult to assess various combinations of soil conditions in the
city, both promoting and preventing the development of infections.
Table 5.1. Change in the amount of bacteria in surface horizons of urbanozems in Moscow
Beef-
extract
medium,
thou/g
450
560
470
1190
2010
960
410
190
n/d
Starch-
ammonia
agar, thou/g
65
48
52
12
120
70
13
7
n/d
Вас.
megaterium
dissodanis
СЛ
13
12
13
33
59
10
14
15
n/d
06
0
0
0
52
61
28
31
45
2000
Chapek medium
b
§
5?
4.3
2.1
3.2
64.2
60.0
43.1
25.0
32.0
78
0
I thou/g* I
39
12
13
140
199
51
91
195
13
Total
thou/g*
903
552
403
824
835
471
351
600
0
Mobile forms
(INHNOj)
Cu | Pb | Cd |
mg/kg |
0.5
0.2
0.4
1.2
0.6
1.1
0.6
1.3
5.2
20.0
6.0
45.0
560
85
98
76
156
13
11.0
1.1
19.9
76
37
45
20
61
247
q I
Qu gr
10.5
7.5
6.0
52.8
83.3
67.0
73.5
n/d
n/d
X
2.4
2.7
2.3
2.8
n/d
1.4
3.5
2.3
2.3
I
X
0.
5.9
5.8
6.3
7.5
n/d
7.6
7.5
8.0
5.8
Functional
zone
Forest-park
(Vorob'evy
gory
Park (Fili)
Park
(Neskuchny
Garden)
Residential
area
Residential
area
Square
Park
Filled lawn
Mixed forest
(Moscow
region)
Pit no. Soil
18. Soddy-
podzolic
25. Soddy-
podzolic
21. Soddy-
podzolic
13.
Urbanozem
17.
Urbanozem
16.
Urbanozem
10.
Urbanozem
9.
Urbanozem
Soddy-
podzolic
E
C3
•o
с
о
Noie: n/d is not determined.
The infection sprawl is the result of the high proportion of pathogenic bacte¬
ria in the microbial complex. However, as noticed, some saprotrophic microor¬
ganisms can also be very abundant. Urban soils of Moscow are dominated by a
specific spore-forming bacterium—Bacillus megaterium, which may indicate
some combinations of heavy metals in soil (Table 5.1, Fig. 5.2).
forest-park park
lawn residential
area
forest-park P31^ lawn residential
area
Fig. 5.2. The ratio between the relative content of Вас megaterium and the con¬
tent of heavy metals in soils of Moscow.
A. Overall parameter of concentration of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, and Cd);
B. Content of Вас. megaterium.
Вас. megaterium is capable of the dissociation deriving two colonial-
morphological variants, which are termed R (folded-surface) and S (smooth-
surface) dissociants (Table 5 .1). Colonial-morphological variants of bacteria
differ in their properties. For example, their reaction on changes in the envi¬
ronments are different.
Predominance as a manifestation of the disbalanced development of the
microbial community is also typical for other soil microorganisms: shell
amoebas and algae (Yakovlev, 1997). Soils of old cloisters and palaces were
dominated by shell amoebas of the genus Trine та (60% of the total amount).
All studied urban soils were dominated by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae),
especially of the order Oscillatoriales and had lower diversity of green algae.
Among diatoms large forms prevailed. Yellow-green algae were relatively
seldom found in urban soils. Thus, soil algae can characterize the type of ur¬
ban phytocenosis. In parks and squares, the composition of soil algae ap¬
proaches the zonal one and is characterized by strong development of all divi¬
sions, including yellow-green algae. Resistant representatives of single-cell
green algae dominate on lawns and boulevards. At the same time, the amount
of cyanobacteria and diatoms is insufficient, while yellow-green algae are not
recognized. Cyanobacteria and green algae are abundant in yards dumped
with household waste.
The indication of technogenically polluted environments by algae devel¬
oped by Shtina (Shtina et al., 1985) revealed a clear relationship between the
composition of algae and the type of human impact. Yakovlev (1997) ex¬
trapolated this approch on urbanozems of Moscow. In addition, the use of al-
gological analysis will likely permit the decoding of some types of pollution
on the urban territories.
Algae can recover in the course of soil self-cleaning. The viability of
blue-green algae on polluted sites of Moscow corresponds to that under ex¬
treme conditions (domination in chloride-sodium solonchaks affected by sew¬
age water from oil extraction). The behavior of diatoms in soils of Moscow is
contradictory (Table 5.2). Perhaps, this is because, under natural conditions,
they dominate in acid iron-sulfate solonchaks affected by mining water
(Shtina et al., 1985), while urban soils are alkaline. The behavior of algae in
the urban environment is undoubtedly different from that in their natural or
nonurban habitats. However, knowing the reaction of algae to different pol¬
lutants, we can use them for preliminary biological mapping of pollution
types in the city.
Moscow is famous for its abundant historical monuments in the city
center where soils of cloisters and manors are affected by intricate combina¬
tions of anthropogenic, historical, and natural factors. These urbanozems
contain information on the peculiarities of ancient microbial cenoses in soils.
Thus, urbanozems of the Rozhdestvenskiy and Zachat'evskiy cloisters
are characterized by a peculiar distribution of Azotobacter (Table 5 .3) and
other bacteria along the profile. At the territory of the Rozhdestvenskiy Con¬
vent, the relatively dry topsoil of the urbanozem is strongly dumped with arti¬
facts but does not contain the living cells of Azotobacter. At the same time,
ancient marble foundations found in the subsoil maintain a neutral pH (6.8)
and phosphorus in the amount favorable for Azotobacter in the zone of its
maximal occurrence (50 to 90 cm) and below. High moisture content in the
subsoil because of waterlogging of the Rozhdestvenskiy Convent with waters
of the Neglinnaya River also promoted Azotobacter development.
Table 5.Z The number of algae species in soils of natural and polluted areas
of Moscow
Location
Blue-
green
algae
Thread
green
algae
Single-
cell
green
algae
Thread
yellow-
green
algae
Single¬
cell
yellow-
green
algae
Diatoms
Total
number
of spe¬
cies
Leninskie gorki natural
reserve (background)
15
2
18
2
4
14
55
Malinki biological sta¬
tionary (background)
1
4
23
2
2
5
37
Fili forest-park (relati¬
vely undisturbed plot)
10
2
8
n/d
2
8
33
Fili forest-park (compac¬
ted path)
2
n/d
6
n/d
n/d
2
9
Square adjacent to
Yusupovskiy palace
8
2
10
n/d
2
8
30
Playground strongly
damped with construc¬
tion waste
12
1
8
n/d
n/d
2
21
Lawn polluted with
household waste
12
n/d
4
n/d
n/d
3
20
Lawn near motor pro¬
ducing plant (ZIL)
5
n/d
4
n/d
n/d
3
12
Lawn on highway divid¬
ing strip
8
1
5
n/d
n/d
6
20
Area of gasoline refuel¬
ing station
8
1
4
n/d
n/d
6
19
Source: Yakovlev, 1997.
Note: n/d is not determined.
Table. 5.3. Number of microorganisms in the profile of an urbanozem at
the territory of the Rozhdestvenskiy Convent
Sampling
depth, cm
Number of microorganisms, millions per gram
Azotobacter, per¬
centage of cover¬
age of soil crumbs
(Ashbey medium)
bacteria on
beef-extract
agar medium
bacteria and acti¬
nomycetes on
starch-ammonia
medium
cellulosolytic mi¬
croorganisms
(Hutchinson me¬
dium)
0-35
2.0
3.0
3.0
0
35-50
1.5
1.5
4.5
0
50-90
5.0
3.0
105
22
90-128
2.7
4.8
150
8
>128
8.4
6.2
150
15
Similar to Azotobacter, cellulosolytic bacteria also may indicate soil condi¬
tions that enhance the decomposition of ceUulose-containmg substrates in the
lower part of the profile of a nekrozem. The peculiar combination of technogenic,
historical, and natural factors in cloisters forms an "overturned" microbiological
profile of the urbanozems. It is different from the gradual downward decrease in
the number of microoiganisms in most of the soils of the natural landscapes that
do not have a buried horizon. At the same time, in contrast to Azotobacter, other
bacteria are evenly distributed along the profile (Table 5.3).
Independendy on the reasons of such a profile distribution of Azotobacter
and cellulosolytic bacteria, they form a pool of microoiganisms, which can be
used for microbiological remediation of urban soils (Zvyagintsev, 1987).
The urbanozem of the Rozhdestvensldy Convent was also had a strong spe¬
cies diversity and abundance of shell amoebas (Yakovlev, 1997; Fig. 5.3). Their
abundance was by one-third higher than that in a reference site under spruce forest
where the densest population of shell amoebas was found.
Fig. 5.3. Number of shell amoebas in soils of Moscow and background areas
according to Yakovlev (1997).
(1) Undisturbed soil under linden stand (Malinki forest enterprise, Moscow oblast);
(2) Undisturbed soil under spruce stand (Malinki forest enterprise, Moscow oblast);
(3) The same. Disturbed soil below spruce stand;
(4) Undisturbed soil. Losiny Ostrov forest-park;
(5) Path, Losiny Ostrov forest-park:
(7) Urbanozem. The Rozhdestvenskiy Convent;
(9) Square adjacent to Yusupovskiy Palace
5.3. Some Natural Factors of Occurrence
of Bacteria in Urbanozems
The other specific peculiarity of big cities is their geographical hetero¬
geneity manifested in microclimate. Thus, during all seasons, temperature in
the Balchug district of Moscow is higher by nearly 1 °C. Under all other con¬
ditions being the same, the microclimate in Moscow affects the number and
diversity of some groups of microoiganisms. Thus, the taxonomic composi¬
tion of actinomycetes in soils of playgrounds approached that of more south¬
ern soils.
Waterlogging and gleying, widespread in city soils, provide preservation
of natural niches of some microoiganisms, in particular Azotobacter, since
this microorganism spreads along rivers. In the flood plain of a river located
within the area of Moscow, Azotobacter was discovered with a probability of
100%, despite the strong pollution of the river and its flood plain: 4 MACs
(maximum allowable concentrations) for copper and 20 MACs, for manga¬
nese (About the Status..., 1993). Apparently, if a microorganism corresponds
to its natural ecological niche, then it would be relatively low-sensitive to ur-
banogenic impacts.
In nature, Azotobacter that lives in gley horizons can form associations
with a facultative anaerobic spore-forming bacterium Вас. sphaericus. In this
respect, it should be noted that the shrinkage of the hydrographic network
(that typically accompanies urbanogenesis) could destroy the natural habitats
of the microorganisms yet preserved in the city.
Thus, the microbial community of urbanozems acquires some features
of that found in more southern soils than the soddy-podzolic ones. However,
the combination of natural and human-made microzones, as it is typical for
urban microbial habitats, promotes stabilization of microoiganisms at a new,
though quite sufficient level.
The functioning of microbial communities can be revealed using the
method of "‘microbial paysages!—microbial microscopic pictures on soil par¬
ticles (Aristovskaya, 1965). In this case, the functioning of microbes is esti¬
mated by the interactions between the members of the microbial community
(bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes) on the surface of soil particles
(Skvortsova et al.. 1988; Bianciotto et al., 1996). In urban phytocenoses of a
new residential area of Moscow, Mitino, the microbial community functioned
only in some habitats: relatively undisturbed areas of a forest-park,
abandoned construction site, and wasteland. At the same time, when the mi¬
crobial community in soils of other plots was characterized by viable bacte¬
ria, fungi, and actinomycetes, they did not interact with each other. Therefore,
this can be interpreted as one of the first signs of disturbance of the microbial
complex as a functioning unit of ecosystems (industrial areas, fill near heat
and power station, space between yards with high recreational impact, and
construction site). The method of microbial paysages can be used for moni¬
toring the effect of urbanization on soils in developing areas.
People can maintain natural microbial complexes and clean the urban
environment. Thus, for example, placement of soil columns with undisturbed
structure, hence, with structured microbial niches, on lawns between tracks
promotes the survival and functioning of microbial communities. As shown
{Filip, 1978), humic acids may stimulate self-cleaning of soils from patho¬
genic bacteria.
Maintenance of self-cleaning capacity of urban soils and their remedia¬
tion are necessary because they contain quite different urbanogenic products,
for example, mutagenic compounds (Skvortsova et al., 1989, Dubinina and
Dubinin, 1996). Municipal wastes accumulated in soil make it toxic, so pri¬
marily adversely affecting the viability' of plants (phytotoxicity) and microor¬
ganisms. Soil toxicity' is successfully monitored by both traditional methods
of microbial and plant tests and by new methods considering soil properties.
Thus, a method for the assesment of phytotoxicity' was proposed by Evdoki¬
mova (1995). It permits evaluation of the degree of soil pollution by heavy'
metals and the uptake of the latter by plants in the amount exceeding the
maximum allowable concentrations. Ca and Mg are mainly delivered by in¬
dustrial emissions. Thus, a soil in which a (Ca+Mg)/Cu ratio is less than 10
and the (Ca+Mg)/Ni ratio is less than 5 is unsuitable for the growing of
plants in the city.
The soil toxicity' in Moscow was estimated according to Krasil'nikov. It
is worth noting that the fluvial accumulative soil-geochemical landscapes
display accumulation of excessive toxicants. Higher toxicity' is observed in
the lower flood plain soils of the Moskva River and its tributaries compared
to less toxic soils of its high right bank.
5.4. Conclusion
It became evident now that the urban soils, as a medium where microorgan¬
isms live and the urban soil cover are very heterogenous. In Moscow, the mi¬
crobial complex becomes dominated by populations adapted to technogenic
conditions.
Under the complicated ecological situation in the city and changed soil
properties, saprotrophic microbial communities, often modified, continue to
function because of their high biological and ecological plasticity. Soil micro¬
oiganisms successfully occupy new ecological niches. However, the resilience
of new urban microbial communities apparently depends on the extent to
which natural ecological niches and interactions were preserved in urban soils
or in peat-compost matter and other mixtures placed on lawns and squares.
The higher is the proportion of natural loci, the more advanced is the conser¬
vation and restoration of the natural structure of microbial communities. Pre¬
sumably, conserving ecological niches, we can promote the survival and
maintain functioning of microoiganisms, so making them low-sensitive to
technogenic pollution.
Development of saprotrophic microorganisms in different ecological
niches throughout the city causes oppressing or decline of pathogenic micro¬
organisms that accumulate in urban soils and substrates. Simultaneously,
humic acids also promote the decline of pathogenic bacteria. Taking their
properties into consideration, humus compounds can be recommended for
remediation of urban soils.
A pool of microorganisms in the lower part of the profile of urbanozems
near historical monuments in the center of Moscow (the Rozhdestvenskiy and
Zachat'evskiy cloisters, old villas) attested that, in the past, ecological condi¬
tions in the downtown were more favorable. Studies of soils in such areas al¬
lowed us to obtain information about the population and composition of mi¬
crobial communities that had inhabited soil horizons several centuries ago. It
can be used as a reference relatively to the microbial communities of the
modem city and is applicable for purposes of microbiological remediation of
urban soils.
CONCLUSION
Various artificial ecosystems that develop during urbanization are char¬
acterized by disturbed natural links between their constituents.
All urban lands should be considered as a unified system that results
from interaction of all natural and human-made media (water, grounds,
vegetation, parent rocks, air, and humans). In this system, as it appears to us,
soil is the basic component, since it provides the productivity of ecosys¬
tems, its functioning, resilience, and biodiversity.
In Moscow, one of the largest megalopolises in the world, only 6% of
the area (forests and forest-parks) is covered with quasi-natural ecosystems.
The other lands are occupied by natural-urban and urban ecosystems com¬
posed of fragments of natural ecosystems surrounded by houses, industrial
areas, roads, etc. Urban ecosystems include new types of human-made eco¬
systems developed as a result of degradation, destruction, and (or) substitu¬
tion of natural systems. These ecosystems hardly suit for recreation and are
characterized by a breached biological cycling, by low biodiversity' mani¬
fested in their structure, composition, and functional characteristics, and by
the increased number of pathogenic microoiganisms.
For the maintenance and conservation of the ecological framework of
the city, it is necessary' to preserve the natural diversity of all its components —
including the soil — that make up the genetic fund for all adjoining areas. It is
also desirable to extend laige natural systems by linking them through small
strips. Only in this way, it will be possible to preserve the biodiversity and
ability of the ecosystem to self-cleaning and self-regeneration. Now in all cit¬
ies, including Moscow, links between parcels of vegetated lands are breached,
while their area is shrinking and alienated.
It is quite important to understand that we manage to preserve the natu¬
ral biodiversity in cities and make it sustainable only if we conserve natural
ecosystems located within cities.
In urban soils, the human impact dominates over natural factors of soil
formation. As a result, peculiar types of soils and soil-like bodies develop un¬
der new environmental conditions.
In order to conserve nature in the city, it is very important to maintain its
soil cover in such a state that the soils can most optimally perform their eco¬
logical functions. Therefore, all functioning urban soils play a great role for
ecology and the sanitary' status of cities. Instead of natural ecosystems de¬
stroyed in most of the urban areas, urbanization creates “roofs-and-asphalt”
landscapes intermingled with open “unsealed” sites. Towns and industrial
centers can be understood as specific urban ecosystems, where soils are the
most important component. Unfortunately, this role of soils is poorly studied
and mostly ignored nowadays.
The role of urban soils is essential and diverse. They provide condi¬
tions for the growth of vegetation, absorb pollutants, and prevent pene¬
tration of the latter to soil and ground waters, and dust emission into the
urban air.
The soil changes the chemical and gaseous composition of the atmos¬
pheric precipitation and groundwater. It appears to be the universal biological
adsorbent, source, and regulator of the content of C02, 02, and N2 in the air
and controls the dynamics of temperature and moisture in surface layers of
the atmosphere.
Owing to its properties and huge active surface, soil is the sink for toxic
compounds and one of the most important biogeochemical barriers for many
compounds (heavy metals, mineral fertilizers, pesticides, oil products, and so
on) as they migrate from the atmosphere to groundwater and rivers. At the
same time, because of the low proportion of open surface in cities and indus¬
trial centers, the majority of precipitation escapes soil to discharge directly
through canalization into rivers.
Morphogenetic and physicochemical properties of urban soils signifi¬
cantly differ from soils of rural areas. They are characterized by the disturbed
arrangement of soil horizons, the absence of the protective layer of forest lit¬
ter, accumulation of construction and household waste and technogenic pol¬
lutants, specific biota, which includes pathogenic species, by a strong shift in
pH towards alkalinity, high content of nutrients, increased soil compaction,
etc. In addition, urban soils have specific water and temperature regimes. Si¬
multaneously, urban soils are characterized by humus formation, lessivage,
leaching and redistribution of mineral components, and other pedogenic proc¬
esses typical for natural soils in the region. Despite the sufficient provision
with major nutrients, some factors (high pH, functioning, compaction, and
contamination with heavy metals and other toxic compounds) limit the fertil¬
ity of urban soils.
For inventory and mapping of urban soils as well as for the manage¬
ment of soil processes, we pioneered their classification based on changes in
the morphological profile and the type of substratum for the southern taiga
subzone of Russia. We also developed methods for description of their pro¬
files and horizons. The following groups of soils in towns are recognized:
natural soils, superficially transformed natural soils (urbo-soils), deeply trans¬
formed soils (urbanozems), and superficially humified human-made soils and
substrates (urbotechnozems). In addition, a more thorough subdivision has
been developed. Urbanozems are genetically independent soils that possess
features of both natural and human-made soils. Urban soils can develop on
filled grounds and cultural layers and through the transformation of natural
soils.
In addition, criteria were elaborated to recognize soils by the degree of
disturbance, manner of formation, thickness, and abundance of inclusions.
In big cities, the soil surface is often sealed with solid cover This causes
decapitation of the soil profile, while soil itself is buried and degraded. It is
proposed to recognize a separate group of soils, ekranozems, sealed with as¬
phalt, concrete, and other impermeable layers. There are useful recommenda¬
tions how to rehabilitate ekranozems and how to use them afterwards.
Of course, it is impossible to fully avoid soil sealing with asphalt, roads,
pavements, and so on, since it is necessary for human activities in the city and
saves the population from dust and mud. Presently, there are no standards
about the ratio between sealed and open areas. However, it is obvious that it
differs by categories of urban lands. Thus, the area of open land should be
typically maximized on vegetated areas, while it should be minimized on the
most polluted industrial areas.
Soils affected by urbanization more poorly perform some ecological
functions compared to soils of natural ecosystems.
Nearly 85% of the area of Moscow (residential areas, municipal dis¬
tricts, industrial and transport areas, road networks, and so on) are subject to
the impact of adverse processes, which influence the ecological status of soils.
As predicted by ecologists, this impact will grow. Thus, the vegetated area
will shrink, while the increasing degree of soil seeding with houses, stone, as¬
phalt, etc. will decrease the surface of the biologically productive and biogeo-
chemically active soil cover. In addition, hydrological conditions in soils will
deteriorate (waterlogging, bogging, subsidences, and karst phenomena). The
pollution of the near-surface layer of air and of the urban environment as a
whole will increase. Standards on recreational use (allowable visiting rates)
will be exceeded.
Research of urban soils attests that for cleaning of the city and for pro¬
vision of better conditions for human life, it is necessary' to differentiate urban
landscapes for localization and redistribution of the human impact, increase
in the vegetated area, and improvement in the quality of urban lands.
Nowadays, we do not have the ecological standard of urban land
quality that establishes the maximum allowable impact on the urban envi¬
ronment to maintain ecological conditions favorable for the population and
provide preservation of plant and animal species. In addition, these standards
should promote sustainable use and renovation of natural resources; devel¬
opment of databases for ecological, technical, and economical parameters;
monitoring of the urban environment; prediction of adverse processes and
human-induced degradation of urban lands, etc.
Special attention should be paid to biological properties of soils and
their relation to pollution and to chemical and physical soil properties changed
by adverse ecological processes. For example, the structure of microbial
communities in urban soils is strongly changed. In urban areas, this is ex¬
pressed by redistribution of the biological activity of soils within the soil pro¬
file. domination of Protozoa (terribionts) in soils of recreation sites, domina¬
tion of testacides, and oppression of yellow-green algae, w'hile the last widely
occur in virgin soils. Urban soils are diagnosed by the content of ninhidrin-
positive compounds, activity of cellulase and protease, soil respiration, and
abundance of algae and soil animals.
Soil animals and microoiganisms play the essential role in the ecology
of urban soils. Burrowing activity of animals is very important for mainte¬
nance of the soil biological activity and development of plant roots. Soil fauna
plays the key role in urban ecosystems, since it determines their resistance to
adverse factors. City dumps and damped sites are the sources of expansion of
pathogenic microoiganisms to adjoining areas. Soil invertebrates may de¬
crease the occurrence of some diseases by decreasing and regulating the
number of pathogenic bacteria and microscopic fungi. Animals that burrow
passages in soil promote creation and preservation of the soil structure de¬
stroyed during the city development.
Microbiological and sanitary-epidemiological properties of urban soils
are of great importance. The urban environment modifies the composition,
number, and resistance of soil microbial communities relatively to those of
undisturbed areas. High diversity of the urban soil cover and its discontinuity
are reasons why certain genera and species of bacteria preserved in soil. They
can survive even under conditions of local pollution and deterioration of air
and water-physical properties of soils. Some bacteria may indicate urbaniza¬
tion. Thus, Azotobacter is discovered in soils of Moscow, while it is absent in
soils of its vicinity. Its distribution is irregular both in space and along the soil
profile.
Special attention should be paid to the interrelationships between human
health, microbiological properties of soils, and the sustainable status of mi¬
crobial communities that is typical for natural habitats. Pathogenic bacteria of
the group Enterococcus and Escherichia coli are the source of infection in
the city, while saprotrophic inhabitants of urban soils—actinomycetes and
microscopic fungi—produce various toxic compounds, which cause alleigic
reactions of humans.The properties of urbanozems and conditions of their
formation are controlled by features of the urban environment and the living
activities of people. These peculiarities of urban pedogenesis give rise to a
new direction in soil science—urban soil science that deals with genesis,
properties, functions, and ecology' of urbanozems and recognizes specific
regularities in spatial arrangement of the soil cover in urban areas
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