Forest Plantations on the Drained Bottom of the Aral Sea

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630*114.33

DOI:

10.37482/0536-1036-2020-2-51-59

Abstract

Information is provided on the current state of the drained bottom of the Aral Sea. It is noted that the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers dumped 55–60 km3 of water into the sea until 1966. The waters of Syr Darya ceased to flow into the open sea in 1973, and Amu Darya in 1966. This is largely responsible for the area of the drained bottom, which is about 6 mln ha today. It is necessary to carry out forest reclamation works in order to consolidate the drained bottom and prevent the occurrence of deflationary processes. The research purpose was to identify the types of bottom sediments according to their degree of forest suitability taking into account their mechanical and chemical composition and select woody-shrub plants for the reclamation development of the lands. The studies were carried out from 2006 till 2019. Soil was distinguished into 3 categories taking into account its granulometric texture: the first category is sandy and sandy loam soils; the second is shifting sands, and the third is salt wastelands. The role of forest plantations in reduction of deflationary processes has been established: the wind speed decreases by 20.5 % in the annual saxaul-saltwort plantation, by 34.6 % in the two-year plantation, and by 87.4 % in the five-year plantation. Natural grassland vegetation appears under the canopy of 4–5-year forest plantations, which results in a sharp decrease in wind speed and, thus, termination of soil deflation. It was determined that forest plantations reduce the blowing of salt, dust and sand and thereby contribute to the ecological recovery of the territory. The removal of chemical elements (such as chlorine, sulfur, calcium, magnesium and sodium) from the soil under the protection of forest plantations is significantly below than from an open surface. The research results are widely used by organizations involved in afforestation of the drained bottom of the Aral Sea, such as regional floristries of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which have already created about 400 ths ha of forest plantations. As a result conducting large-scale forestry and forest reclamation on the drained bottom of the Aral Sea will allow to consolidate it and thereby minimize the occurrence of deflationary processes, in other words will make it possible to improve the environmental situation in the Central Asia region.

Authors

N.J. Bakirov¹, Chairman of the State Committee
A.Kh. Khamzaev², Doctor of Agriculture, Prof., Director
Z.B. Novitskiy², Doctor of Agriculture, Head of Laboratory; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9280-9557

Affiliation

¹State Committee on Forestry of the Republic of Uzbekistan, ul. Katartal, 21, Tashkent, 100113, Republic of Uzbekistan; e-mail: forestry@urmon.uz
²Research and Development Institute of Forestry, pos. Darkhon, Tashkent district, Tashkent region, 111104, Republic of Uzbekistan; e-mail: markaz@urmon.uz, zinoviy.novitskiy@mail.ru

Keywords

deflation of soils, forest plantations, drained bottom, Aral Sea, forest reclamation, wind, relief, selection of vegetation assortment, forest reclamation effectiveness

For citation

Bakirov N.J., Khamzaev A.Kh., Novitskiy Z.B. Forest Plantations on the Drained Bottom of the Aral Sea. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2020, no. 2, pp. 51–59. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2020-2-51-59

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Received on April 16, 2019