| Abstract: | Sequences of buried soils of various ages in the sandy steppe of old river terraces of the Don River and several phases of soil deflation are related to both climatic factors (periods of desiccation or increased moisture caused by latitudinal shifts of storm tracks) and anthropogenic factors such as overgrazing. Climatic and anthropogenic factors are found to have reinforced each other in some periods, as in the 3rd and 16th centuries, and to have canceled each other out in other periods; for example, in times of increased moisture, when the eroded steppe sands again became overgrown with a plant cover despite continuing grazing of stock in the area. |
