Post-agrogenic evolution of soils in ancient Greek land use areas in the Herakleian Peninsula,southwestern Crimea

Abstract

The paper examines the regularities of the post-agrogenic evolution of soils of differing age in the Herakleian Peninsula (southwestern Crimea, Ukraine), which developed under conditions of the sub-Mediterranean climate and have been cultivated since ancient times. Whether developed under steppe or sub-Mediterranean forest vegetation, the Crimean cinnamonic soils display different physico-chemical and geochemical characteristics after 1600 years under no cultivation. It is demonstrated that among 40 examined physico-chemical and geochemical soil characteristics, only ten are sufficiently informative to diagnose the post-agrogenic regime of a soil system. In the geographic and pedogenetic grouping of post-antique long-fallow soils, labile phosphorus content and the hue of soil colour prove to be of primary importance.