Assessment of the Soil Buffer Capacity in the Sea of Azov Basin Under Heavy Metal Pollution

Heavy metals (HM) are among the most hazardous soil pollutants. The intensity of accumulation and distribution of HM in soils directly depends on the ecological conditions of pedogenesis and its buffering properties. At the same time, a significant accumulation of HM in the soil as a result of anthropogenic impacts reduces the buffering capacity of the soil and its resistance to pollution. The purpose of this work was to assess the buffering capacity of soils to HM pollution in the Don River delta and the coast of the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov undergoing the great anthropogenic impact. The buffer capacity of experimental soils was carried out using the Il’in’s method (1995), based on the calculation of the inactivation ability of soils: organic matter, clay fraction (particle size < 0.01 mm), carbonates, sesquioxides, and pH. The content of HM was compared with soil Clarke and the maximum permissible concentration of HM in soils accepted in the Russian Federation. It was found that the experimental soils could be ordered by buffer capacity value as following (in decreasing order): haplic chernozem ≥ alluvial-meadow light loamy ≥ solonchak > alluvial-meadow sandy and sandy loamy > sandy primitive soil ≥ stratified alluvial soil. Keywords: trace elements, contamination, impact territories

Oak forests of the alliance Scutellario altissimae–Quercion roboris Goncharenko et al. 2020 in the South of the European part of Russia

The article describes a new association of meso-xerophylous forests in the South of the European part of Russia Poo nemoralis–Quercetum roboris ass. nov. hoc loco, its differentiation from analogous syntaxa is discussed, and new data on the distribution of communities of the alliance Scutellario altissimae–Quercion roboris Goncharenko et al. 2020 on the Russian Plain are done. Vegetation classification was carried out by J. Braun-Blanquet approach based on 470 relevés of forest vegetation, collected by the author in 2007–2021 in the northern and central parts of Rostov, Voronezh and Volgograd Regions. In addition, the analysis included 777 relevés from the phytocenary made by G. M. Zozulin in the same regions in 1960–1980s. Based on the studies carried out, the current area of the alliance can be expanded to the lower reaches of the Don River. For a more adequate reflection of the floristic, ecological and geographical features of its communities, it was proposed to change the composition of the diagnostic species of the alliance and it was recommended to amend the current definition of the order Quercetalia pubescenti-petraeae, expanding its area to Eastern Europe.

INSPECTION AND STRENGTHENING OF COASTAL AREAS, COASTS, SEAS AND RIVERS OF THE ROSTOV REGION

In modern society, an important role is assigned to the protection of water protection zones, reservoirs, rivers and seas, because they are the main areas of life and recreation of the population. In the Rostov region they are: the coasts of the Black and Azov seas; Tsimlyanskoe, Manochevskoe, Veselovskoe reservoirs; the Don River and others, which requires the creation of new technical solutions for bank protection using composite heterogeneous multilayer structures that form a leveled complex bank, will determine the rational shape of the side walls of the junction of the streams. This requires the creation of design parameters for them.

IN-GROUND CEMETERY OF THE SCYTHIAN PERIOD NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KSIZOVO IN THE UPPER DON REGION (NEW DATA)

Комплекс памятников конца V - III в. до н. э., расположенный на р. Дон у с. Ксизово в Задонском районе Липецкой обл., включает городище, селище и грунтовый могильник. В результате радиоуглеродного датирования и анализа вещевых находок к названным столетиям отнесено пять захоронений, ранее соотносимых с гуннским временем. В итоге стало известно 17 погребений скифской эпохи, включая два парных. В них по обряду ингумации и в сопровождении довольно скудного инвентаря (стрелы, браслеты, серьги, бусы, пряслица) были захоронены 9 мужчин, 9 женщин и ребенок. Данные бескурганные комплексы дают представление о погребальных традициях оседлого населения донской лесостепи. The studied group of sites dating to the end of 5 - 3 cc. BC is located on the Don river near the village of Ksizovo in the Zadonsk district, Lipetsk region. The group includes a fortified settlement, an unfortified settlement and an in-ground cemetery. The radiocarbon dating and analysis of the found artifacts refer the five graves earlier dated to the Hun period to the above-mentioned centuries. Today the number of the Scythian graves totals 17, including two double burials. Nine males, nine females and one child were buried in these graves performed according to the inhumation funerary rite with rather scarce funeral offerings (arrowheads, bracelets, pendants, beads, spindle whorls). These burial sites without kurgans give an insight into funerary traditions of the sedentary population inhabiting the Don forest-steppe belt.

RUINS OF FORTIFIED SETTLEMENTS IN THE DON VALLEY IN THE MINIATURES OF THE 16th CENTURY

Статья посвящена двум миниатюрам XVI в. из Лицевого летописного свода Ивана Грозного. На них представлены изображения классических археологических памятников - городищ. Миниатюры находятся во Втором Остермановском томе Свода. Они иллюстрируют путешествие митрополита Пимена в 1389 г. по р. Дону. Первая миниатюра представляет руины древнерусского города Чюр-Михайлов; второй памятник имеет чужеземное название (Терклия). Он характеризуется в летописном тексте как «городище». Изображения двух мертвых городов являются маркерами, разделяющими заселенные регионы от пустынных. Городища на миниатюрах представлены схематично, тем не менее ясно показано наличие оборонительных стен и башен. The paper explores two miniatures of the 16th century from the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible. They contain images of classical archaeological sites, i.e. fortified settlements. The miniatures are from Osterman Volume II of the Chronicle. They illustrate the pilgrimage of Metropolitan Pimen to Constantinople down the Don River in 1389. The first miniature features ruins of the Medieval Russia city of Chyur-Mikhailov; the second site has a foreign name (Terklia). The text of the Chronicle describes it as ‘fortified settlement’. This is an image of two dead cities used as markers separating inhabited regions from vacant lands. The miniatures show the fortified settlements schematically; still defensive walls and towers are clearly identifiable.

Investigation of factors of the appearance of odor in river water at the water intake of Rostov-On-Don

The paper presents a study of quality of natural waters and water in a centralized water supply system during the period of an increase in the “Smell” indicator in the spring of 2021. The chemical and physical properties of water, the results of quality and quantity of studying the variety I phytoplankton in the most difficult period of deterioration in quality of river water. Low water and exceeding MPC concentrations of organic substances in river water. The Don River causes altered form odorant substance as evidenced by the results of determination in water 1,2,3- t rihlorbenzol and geosmin, hexachloroethane and aniline shown in operation. Barrier function of reagent treatment methods used at water treatment plants in the lower reaches of the river. The Don River, even when combined with carbonated water, is deficient in odor-producing substances.

WEAPONS AND ACCOUTREMENTS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 14th - EARLY 15th CENTURIES FROM THE PRINCIPALITY OF YELETS

Находки, полученные в ходе раскопок последних лет в окрестностях г. Ельца, позволяют охарактеризовать военный аспект Елецкого княжества. Широкое распространение предметов вооружения на памятниках в бассейне нижнего течения Быстрой Сосны во второй половине XIV - XV в. соотносится с появлением Елецкого княжества, политически и генеалогически связанного с Козельским княжеством. Обнаруженные находки вооружения профессиональных воинов (шпоры, доспех, кольчуга, удила, бронебойные наконечники стрел и др.) маркирует путь продвижения «кованных ратей» с Верховских княжеств на восток до Верхнего Дона. В воинской амуниции прослеживаются тюркские традиции. The finds made during recent excavations near the town of Yelets provide an opportunity to characterize military activities of the Principality of Yelets. Wide spread of weapons at the sites in the lower reaches of the Bystraya Sosna river dating to the second half of the 14th - 15th centuries is correlated with appearance of the Principality of Yelets which was politically and genealogically linked to the Principality of Kozelsk. Retrieved weapons and accoutrements belonging to professional warriors (spurs, a body armor, a coat of mail, bridle bits, armor piercing arrowheads, etc.) mark the routes of the ‘armored hosts' running from the Upper Oka Principalities to the east as far as the Upper Don River. The accoutrements were clearly made in Turkic traditions.

TYPES AND STRUCTURE OF LANDSCAPES OF VITICULTURAL RIGIONS ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE RIVER DON FOR IDENTIFICATION OF MICROZONES FOR HIGH-QUALITY WINEMAKING

The characteristic of the entire diversity of land-scapes of the right bank of the Lower Don and its tributaries from the city of Konstantinovsk to the city of Tsimlyansk, corresponding taxonomic levels that differ qualitatively from each other by landscape-forming factors, taking into account the degree of influence of these individual fac-tors and their different ratios among themselves on the growth of the grape plant, the yield of grapes, the quality of grapes and products ob-tained from it. The object of the research is the landscapes of the right bank of the Don River from the city Konstantinovka to the city Tsim-lyansk, its main tributaries at the mesorelief level and landscape-forming factors – geography, re-lief, soil and groundwater. The research method is the study of historical and literary data on vit-iculture on the Right Bank of the Lower Don, obtaining the necessary landscape-forming data by drilling wells to a depth of up to 10 m with a morphological description of their soil, geologi-cal and hydrogeological profile, with the selec-tion of soil and groundwater samples for chemi-cal analysis.

Gun and Fire-Steel Flints, Gun Supplies of the 18th C. Annenskaya Fortress on the Lower Don

The Annenskaya fortress is a well-preserved star-shaped earthen bastion located on the right bank of the Don river near the Starocherkassk fortress. Near the Annenskaya fortress, there were unfortified Soldatskaya and Dolomanovskaya villages. The Annenskaya fortification mainly functioned from 1733 to 1760, while the pinnacle of its population (the garrison reached 9,000 people) fell at the Russian-Turkish war of 1735–1739. There were no archaeological excavations at the site, the picked-up findings were collected by various authors in 2000, 2003–2006. Among the findings, there are religious objects, military ammunition, household remains. Significant part of inventory amount gun and fire-steel flints, gun supplies (bullets). The analysis of these materials is the main purpose of the paper. The collection of gun flints includes intact samples (50 pcs) and fragments (22 pcs). Some of them (6 pcs) were preserved in lead clips. A significant part of the worn-out gun flints (22 pcs) were reused as tinderbox components to kindle a fire for domestic purposes. The most of gun and fire-steel flints are made of carboniferous flint raw materials (probably geological sources of the Upper Volga basin). The collection is complemented by lead bullets of two main calibers, i.e. of 8, 13–15 и 17–18 mm in diameter.