ИСТИНА

Land degradation and desertification are among the major challenges in steppe zone, and leads the risks of food security in affected areas. Soil compaction is one of the basic reasons of degradation of arable land. The processes of soil compaction may have different genesis. Knowledge of soil compaction mechanisms and their early diagnostics permit to accurately forecast velocity and degree of degradation processes as well as to undertake effective preventive measures and land reclamation activities. Three-dimensional visualization and quantitative morphological assessment of soil aggregates are the topical methods for diagnostics, evaluation and monitoring of the physical condition of agricultural soils. The multi-level morphological study of different dense soils provided opportunity to realize the peculiarities of the phenomenon of compaction in soils of steppe landscapes with vertic, solonetzic and mechanical types of soil compaction. The most interesting peculiarities are reflected in porosity, types and structure of pores and micro-aggregates estimated using the microCT analysis.