Structure of the soil cover of Volgograd

The results of digital mapping of the soil cover structure of Volgograd are presented. A soil map-scheme scale 1 : 50 000 reflecting the peculiarities of spatial distribution of separate types (subtypes) of soils and technogenic surface formations (TSF) has been created. The mapping is based on the results of space imagery interpretation with subsequent refinement in the framework of field studies (155 transects). Geoinformation processing was carried out in QGIS software using remote sensing data of space images of natural colours from QuickBird satellite. On the basis of soil and TSF areal content and character of their distribution 6 types of soil urbanised space structures were identified. It is established that the soil cover of the city reflects the structure and character of land use. Thus, anthropogenic soils are predominantly located in the eastern part of the city, which is explained by the confinement of the main objects of industrial, residential and transport infrastructure to the bank of the Volga River and corresponds to the historical direction of development. Natural and agrogenic soils are observed in the western suburbs and Sarpinskiy Island, annexed in 2014. The obtained results are of practical value and can be demanded for solving the tasks of territorial planning in the implementation of landscaping and other types of improvement.