ИСТИНА

This special issue of Quaternary International presents an integrated selection of papers covering various research pathways in paleopedology. The papers arise from sessions of the XII International Symposium and Field Workshop on Paleopedology, “Paleosols, pedosediments and landscape morphology as environmental archives”, organized by the International Paleopedology Commission of IUSS (Focus group PASTSOILS in INQUA) Russian Paleopedology Commission of the Dokuchaev Soil Society and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences in August 2013 in Kursk, Russia. Paleopedology Symposiums are traditional Commission activities since 1970 and combine scientific sessions and field trips. The two day session of the XIIth Symposium was supplemented by four day field trips in Kursk and Voronezh regions, demonstrating detailed loess–paleosol sections in upland positions and in paleodepressions, Paleolithic sites, including the famous Kostenki habitation, alluvial and colluvial pedosedimentary sequences with Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleosols. A special attention was paid to the famous Russian Chernozems. Classic views and modern genetic concepts were discussed at spectacular sites with Chernozems under virgin steppe vegetation. Chernozems were also examined as an important paleoenvironmental archive. Sixty-one presentations covered diverse Symposium program, organized in six major topics: loess- and tephra-paleosol sequences; alluvial and colluvial soil-sedimentary sequences; paleosols and pedosediments of human habitats; surface paleosols and relic features in modern profiles; Chernozems as paleo-environmental archives; pre-Quaternary paleosols: paleoecology and post-burial changes; and biological markers in paleosols. A series of 15 papers are presented in this volume. During the last decade, paleopedology is a quickly growing and evolving science of multidisciplinary character. Research in pedosedimentary sequences is strongly connected to human impact in the past and thus, geoarcheological research has shifted more and more to the center of Quaternary Sciences. Furthermore, paleosols and related sediments record the response of landscape formation and geomorphodynamic processes on a regional scale. This might be most important for future research, as knowledge on climate change and landscape response in the past forms an essential base for assessment of present and future changes. The authors contributing to this volume considered various aspects of paleopedology. Loess–paleosol sequences are the most important terrestrial paleoenvironmental archive. Both the formation of paleosols and loess layers are climatically driven with loess layers representing colder and drier climates, and paleosols, warmer and more humid. The spatial extent of loess–paleosol sequences allows inter-regional correlations, so that data from various loess areas contribute to continental Quaternary pedostratigraphy and paleoclimatic history ( Bronger, 2003 and Marković et al., 2012). The volume includes two papers on the West Siberian loess province with different time spans. Anna O. Sizikova and Valentina S. Zykina focus on Late Pleistocene loess formation based on the study of one of the most detailed loess–paleosol sections on the loess plateau of the river Ob. Various approaches in the study of the Lozhok section (radiocarbon and TL dating, grain-size distribution, dating techniques, sand grain morphoscopy) confirm that the climate in Southern West Siberia became progressively drier and colder from 130 to 10 ka BP with few brief humid intervals represented by weakly developed paleosols. The paper of Vladimir S. Zykin and Valentina S. Zykina focuses on refining Middle and Late Pleistocene pedostratigraphy based on local correlations of the detailed Lozhok section and the nearby Marble quarry site. The study confirms that the last interglacial (MIS 5) is represented by the Berdsk pedocomplex. Paleosols and geomorphology, landscape evolution, and periglacial layers involve the study of paleosols and pedosediments in relation to various geomorphic positions, which is becoming widely used ( Sycheva, 2006, Terhorst et al., 2009 and Kleber and Terhorst, 2013). Additionally, sedimentation on slopes along gully channels and in paleo-depressions due to colluviation and periglacial processes provides high-resolution stratigraphy based on soil-sedimentary sequences, comparable with marine oxygen isotope curves (Bassinot et al., 1994), as well as with the Antarctic ice cores ( Lorius et al., 1985 and Petit et al., 1999). The paper of Rusakov et al. displays detailed record of Late Pleistocene landscape evolution based on the study of soil-sedimentary section on the slopes of a ravine consisting of interglacial and periglacial deposits within the Lake Nero basin. Detailed chronostratigraphy for the last glacial–interglacial cycle allows the authors to distinguish, characterize in detail, and classify buried paleosols of MIS 5, MIS 3 and MIS 2. The study contributes to geomorphic history and landscape evolution of the area. Döhler et al. reconstruct landscape evolution and stages of geomorphic development in Northern Germany based on the study of pedosedimentary sequences within slope deposits and periglacial cover beds along the gully catchment. Buried paleosols are used as an indicator of geomorphic stability violated by human impact during the early Neolithic. Murphy et al. study chronosequences in the Macquarie River Plain of south eastern Australia. The investigations are based on geomorphological field survey and strongly connect paleosols and geomorphological landscape elements. Paleosols and pedosediments of human habitats could be the basis for reconstructing the palaeoenvironmental conditions and peculiarities of the population history. This section includes two papers of a Polish–Ukrainian team (Lanczont et al.) presenting paleo-landscape reconstructions based on the study of loess–paleosol sequences at archaeological sites of various ages – from Middle Paleolithic (Pronyatyn, Western Ukraine) to Upper Paleolithic (Krakow Spadzista, Poland, one of the best-known Gravettian sites of Central Europe). Both studies exploit a variety of approaches and methods of paleopedology and related disciplines: field pedogeomorphological investigations and laboratory analyses (geochemical, granulometric, micromorphological, palynological, paleomagnetic, and IRSL dating). Morphology and micromorphology of soils in loess–paleosol sequences at Pronyatin display landscape dynamic from the final stage of penultimate glacial to upper pleniglacial. The loess–paleosol sequences of Krakow Spadzista allow documentation of important paleogeographical and archeological key horizons for MIS 5 to MIS 2, giving valuable characteristics of paleoenvironmental conditions before, during, and after Gravettian occupation. Paleolithic layers combined with paleosols are presented by Shumilovskikh et al. for the Kostenki-Borschevo region in the Russian Plain. On the basis of archeological results, OSL-dating as well as 14C-dating, far-reaching supra-regional correlations could be established. The paper of Cruz-y-Cruz et al. links human paleoecology with late Pleistocene–Early Holocene pedogenesis in Sonora, México. Paleosol features despite spatial variability confirm that climatic conditions were more favorable (more temperate and wetter) for early human occupation during the terminal Pleistocene than in early Holocene with rapid drying of the area. Soil micromorphology is the basis for reconstruction of changes in the paleovegetation for the Middle to Late Holocene paleosols of the Maya Lowland in the paper of Solís-Castillo et al. The research is also linked to geoarchaeology because it helps to reveal paleoclimatic signals of three time-periods of the Mesoamerican chronology (Formative, Classic and Post-Classic). Surface paleosols and relic features in modern soil profiles are one of the foci of paleopedological research, concerning modern soils with distinct relic features. In paleopedology, they are distinguished as surface paleosols or relic soils ( Paleopedology glossary, 1997). From the perspective of soil genetic studies, they are called polygenetic soils. The study of relic soils has gained more attention in recent years – for example, the programs of the two latest IUSS Congresses included Symposia on polygenetic soils. Relic soil features influence constitution of soil profiles, land pattern, and land use. Makeev et al. present study of relic soils on mantle loams, a variety of loess on the Northern fringe of East European loess belt. Both soil profile and soil pattern reflect sequential sedimentation of the upper loess layers and pronounced periglacial impact. On a quite different time scale, this volume includes a paper on the evolution of Chernozems on loess sediments under long-term ploughing in the most productive forest-steppe areas of Central Russia (Khokhlova et al.). Transformation of soil features under cultivation includes rapid changes within less than 100 years of cultivation and obvious increase of their resilience in the course of longer ploughing (more than 200 years). Biological markers in paleosols are a quickly developing toolbox of methods and approaches in paleopedology. They are considered important proxies for paleovegetation records and include among others, phytoliths morphology and stable isotope carbon ratios, soil fungal communities, pollen and microbial biomass ( Gol'eva, 2001, van Geel, 2001, Khomutova et al., 2004, Traverse, 2005, Demkina et al., 2007, Sheldon and Tabor, 2009, Kürschner and Herngreen, 2010 and Miola, 2012). The reconstruction of environmental changes during the late glacial and Holocene is the main focus in the paper of Wiesenberg et al. The authors provide data of lipid molecular proxies of a soil-sedimentary sequence from the Lower Selenga River valley in the Lake Baikal Region. Vyslouzilova et al. studied the environmental history of Chernozems based on the new method of near-infrared spectroscopy. The study compares the data from organic matter of recent natural grasslands and forest and that of buried soils. The results confirm that qualitative NIRS is a valid alternative and a complementary tool for the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of paleosols and contribute to clarification of the most enigmatic question in relation to Chernozems – could they form only under grassland vegetation or under forest as well? The paper of Ivanova and Marphenina examines the applicability of fungal communities as indicators of human impact on soils of medieval settlements in a wide spatial extent – European Russia, Tuva Republic, and Kazakhstan. The mycological properties of soil offer information about ancient human–landscape interaction and can be used in paleoenvironmental reconstructions of medieval settlements.