INSTRUCTIVE EFFECT OF EROSION ON SOVIET SOIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600270362-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 362
• Publication Date: December 15, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

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COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
CLASSIFICATION COQ u 09'" . -.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION F..ROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD N).
Zconc.-.,ic - Soil erosion
Bimonthly periodical
Leningrad
*3ep/cat 1949
Russian
17lt tOOYMM,NuvMMi MIMM.taMM tt-tO~MON TNt NI tU. "ran
N iOt MIIiN sum tutu 7N t1YMlM O/-Nf70tttl te't N
DATE DIST. /r Dec 1949
NO. OF PAGES 7
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
DE34BOCM3 EBF T CF EROSION (Z 9= SOIL
5?igarea are ap'pande)
Flowing water, next to wind, is the rain cause of soil erosion. -Other ero-
sion processes, such as land slides and earth creeps, usually have only lo.sal sig-
nificance.
fleeing water brings about shifts of soil Iran ante'plaee to another by oar-
rying the so:! 6owa rivers in suspended, aooretive, and dissolved faros. Se ex-
tent of these processes is sMasnret by expert obeervaA at hydrological statianons.
Table 1 show e. tabulation of these observations.
Table 1. Quantity of Solid and Dissolvad Matter Carried
by Rivers in European DSSR and in Northern Caucasus
Water-
shed
a
Ar
Water
Flow
Bus- Accra-
psnded tive
Matter Matter
Die-
solved
Matter
Ratio of
Suspended to
Total Dissolved
Riv
r
e
s fnt
ou
(M i 1 1 i o n s
o f
t o n e) matter
e
white and
Barents Seas
Pechara 326,930
129
6.5 0.65
12.65
1.18
Ibsen' (at
garakoye) 76,480
26
0.78 0.08
1.26
2.12
0.62
N Dying 360,300
111
5.8k 0.58
17.3
23.72
0.34
- 1 - 1 JIh i,1,
CLASSIFICATION
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'Water- Sus- Accra- Die- Ratio of
shed Water pendad tiros solved Suspended to
Ax a ?':a Matter Mttcr natter To 01 Dissolved
Ricer g km, t cu bn) d M111 ions of t o n a )Matter
3eFa
282,300
82
0.82
0.08
2.87
3.77
0.29
Luga (at
linoehi)
12,640
3.2
0.05
0.01
0.22
0.28
0.23
Narova
56,E
14
0.21
0.01
0.98
1.20
0.23
a Dvina
84,440
21
0.52
0.03
2.10
2.65
0.25
Total
435,38^
120.2
1.60
0.13
6.17
7.9
0.26
Black and Azov Seas
Dneetr
71,990
10
2.5
0.25
3.04
5.79
0.82
]nep.
503,360
53
2.0
0.20
8.63
10.83
0.23
a Bug (at
Alsk"n-
drovka) 46,200
2.65
0.53
0.05
0.63
1.21
0.84
Don 422,500
28
7.75
0.77
9.27
17.79
0.84
J ben' 61,530
11
11.0
1.26
2.2
14.46
5.0
lOta1 1,105,580
104.65
23.78
2.8
23.77
50.35
1.0
Caspian Rea
Volga
1,380,000
255
25.7
1.3
45.0
72.0
0.57
Ural
220,000
11
4.1
0.2
3.32
7.62
1.24
Terek
43,710
11
25.8
4.0
5.5
35.3
4.69
Sulak
13,370
5.6
26.8
4.0
2.8
33.6
9.57
Saaau
3,750
2.0
6.26
0.9
1.0
8.16
6.26
Sumo
21,590
0.38
0.72
0.15
0.19
1.06
3.79
Salaus
9,380
0.07
0.35
-.04
0.05
0.44
7.00
1bta1
1,691,800
285.1
89.7
10.6
57.9
158.2
1.55
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COPlFfl T1AL CO- YU'L..o J ?-~
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'per year in the area north of the Volga River, in the ba..in of the Baltic Sea
rivers, in the upper and middle parts of the Rnoatr. River Baer
t
the ' ta-
,
-.
Caspian Lowlord, and on the northern shores if the Black and Caspian seas. soil
erosion greater than 5 tons per hec..are per year occurs in the Central Russian
Upland, a large part of tae Don River Basin, along the right bank of the Volga
below the mouth of the Oka, along the left bank of the Volga from the city of
][cram' to the city of guybyshev, in the Podol''k T' and, and in a ncmeidereble
'mart of the Kuban' River Basin. Ccmmarisor with actual observations have ehM,
harevsr, that Polyakov's figures are freq. 1-5-to NO time too low.
To clarify the question rs to what part of eroded soil is "transit" eroded
soil, or soil that is carried by the rivers out of the limits of their basins,
the author converted the absolute values of suspended, accretive, and dissolved
matter carried by the rivers into relative values (Table 2) and compiled maps
(Figures 1 and 2) showing the distribution of some of these relative quantities
in European USSR and in the northern Caucasus.
In computing the average depth of the layer of soil lost by "transit"
erosion, the author, for simplicity of computation, assumed that the volu-
metric weight of the eroded soil equaled 1.5 tons per cubic meter. This fig-
ure agrees on an average with data available on this subject. However, when
more detailed co potations are mace for individual regions, volumetric weight
values which are correct for each locality should be used.
Table 2. Properties of Solid and Dissolved Matter Carried
by Rlver3 of European UCS and of Northern Caucasus
Avg Drain-
age Rate
(liters
River a 3m
Pechora
12.5
Meter' (at
Meloniea-
gor.koye)
11.0
? Dwina
9.8
(mega
10.0
Avg --
Baltic Sea
Neva 9.2
Lugs (at
Einoahi)
8.0
Nerova 7.7
Avg Silti-
noes of
Water )grl
ou m
Avg Salin-
ity of
Water )gt/
cu m
Transit Part of
Soil Eroded
sg lyL
e km T ha
Avg Depth of
Layer of Transit
Soil Xroded in-
r_unlle n)
mm)
50
43
38,7
0.39
0.026
30
48
27.8
0.28
0.019
53
156
65.8
0.66
0.044
11
61
22.9
0.23
0.015
--
--
48.5
0.48
0.032
10
35
13.4
0.13
0.009
15
70
17.4
0.17
0.015
15
70
?1.4
0.21
0.014
CCNFIDEs1'jAL
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 Avg Drain- Avg Silti-
age Bate uses of
(lifers Wetxer (Sr/
Mm s ]oa au mt
Avg Salin-
Traxu;st Part of
Avg Depth of
i17 of
Boll +aded
Layer of Transit
water
Annually
Boil aroded An-
ou n
T/eq 3me T hs
nually {M}
Black sad Azov Sens
Dnestr
4.6
250
304
80.6
0.81
0.054
Dnepr
3.1
37
163
21.6
0.22
0.014
8206 (at
A1sksandrovka)
1.8
200
.242
26.1
0.26
0.017
Dm
2.1
277
331
42.2
0.42
0.028
Kuban'
5.9
1,000
200
237.0
2.37
0.157
Avg
--
--
--
45.6
0.46
0.031
Caspian Sea
Volga
5.9
101
176
52.2
0.52
0.035
Ural
1.6
373
302
34.6
0.35
0.023
Threk
8.0
2,350
500
80.8
8.08
0.538
Sulak
14.0
4,790
500
251.6
25.16
8amur
17.0
3,130
500
217.6
21.76
1.450
Kma
o.6-
1,900
500
49.4
0.49
0.033
Melons
0.24
:,000
500
46.9
0.47
0.031
Avg
--
--
--
93.4
0.93
0.062
The may of average annual siltinese of the rivers (Figure 1) is more complete
than a similar earlier map by the author. Also, new data has revealed a clearer
viatare of the northern and eastern parts of the territory depicted and has cads
the representation of the other regime more precise.
The map shoring how much eroded soil is transit eroded so11; or how much of
eroded soil the rivers carry beyond the limits of their basins in the form of
suspended matter (Figure 2), indicates that this part of eroded soil ranges from
less than 8 to more thah 800 tons from a square kilometer per veer.
It has not yet been possible to make up similar maps to show how much eroded
soil is carried by the rivers beyond their basins in the form of accretive and
dissolved mattor, because adequate data is lacking.
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The last column of Table 1 gives the ratios between anep9nded r-atter cud dis-
solved matter carried by, the rivers. It is striking that these ratios became pro-
gressively greater for the southern and southeastern rivers. Similarly, the salin-
itv and siltiasese of their water increase foam north to south, and partioulwr)y to-
wer0.the aautheast. However, the iaoreaae in salin. is, at a lower rate than the
increase in siltineas.
It should be noted that the last column of Table 2 shows only the depth of the
layer of topsoil eroded annually which is carried by the rivers beyond the limits
of their basins. Hone again it is generally tame that the depth of this layer in-
creases from north to south. It is lowert in the northwest, greatest in the north-
ern Caucasus.
The erosion processes of the last 12 - iJ years are beginning to a`,tract more
and more attention Fran Soviet research specialists. 2tis.'is true because erosion
processes are related to each other in one way or another and influence the natural
coaditiore which foray the sphere of man's practical and scientific activity.
The grandiose projects aoaotaaed by the Council of Ministers UM and the Cen-
tral Comaittee of the Ccseamiat Party on 24 October 1948 for assuring big crops in
the steppe and forest steppe regime of Horopean OW are intimately connected with
the problem of soil erosion and the loss of soils from the effect of flowing water.
jigarea fallow
l'r`1 1^3,'g ,1
-5-
L. M
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50X1-HUM
? ,w "?
Figure 1. Aver-
age Annual S11- din en14
tineea of Rivers ecy
in ftropeen U6SR
and Northern
Caucasus
orp k
-dy
,. COW
en
4 ysa
f~ I 4"P 3 d o
6
Or r ='
Imes of Average Annual
Biltinese of Rivera -
2)
420 -5)
soo
1) 20-50 -
) 550-1000 =
6
50-100 1000-25500
100-240 05MAOM
Ir
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Erosion Zee (t/e m)
6 66) 160-
3
320
2 8-11
p
gg
2p
30-80 4? 3>800
l
-- Direotion and.
Quantity
of Flow of Suspended Metter.
-7-
colu. CL
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