Conventional and Digital Soil Mapping in the Central Part of the Smolenskoe Poozer’e National Park

Soil maps (1 : 25 000) have been created for an area of 8.6 km2 in the central part of the Smolenskoe Poozer’e National Park by conventional and digital soil mapping (DSM), taking into account parameters of topography, vegetation, time, and anthropogenic factor of soil formation, and the results were then compared. Both maps show that the study area is dominated by gray-humus soils (Someric Umbrisols [Arenic, Aric]), which is related to agricultural land use in the past and self-restoration of abandoned plowed soils. Smaller territories are occupied by alluvial peat soils (Histic Fluvisols) and postagrogenic texturally differentiated soils (Albic Retisols [Aric, Loamic]). The general accuracy of the map created by the DSM method is 57%. The Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and the forest taxation map are the leading differentiating factors in both conventional and digital models. The distribution of alluvial peat soils (Histic Fluvisols) and agrozems (Arenosols [Aric]) allocated to a peat deposit and of modern plowed lands is best predicted by the DSM method with an accuracy of 100 and 86%, respectively. The location of peat soils (Fibric Histosols) and peat-podzols (Histic Albic Podzols [Arenic]) is predicted with the least accuracy (0%). The accuracy of predicting the location of Al–Fe-humus (Podzols), texturally differentiated (Retisols), organo-accumulative (Someric Umbrisols), mucky-gley (Histic Gleysols), and alluvial humus gley soils (Gleyic Fluvisols) varied within 50–63%. The DSM method reproduces the result of conventional mapping by 63%.