THE DISTRIBUTION CONDITIONS, THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF THE SOILS OF THE KHARKOV SUITE OF PALEOGENE OF THE SOUTHEAST OF BELARUS

Abstract

The deposits of the Kharkov suite of Paleogene of Belarus are the soils formed at the turn of existence and regression of the last sea basin and the final establishment of the continental situation in the territory of the country. They are widely spread in the south of the republic and lie mostly at depths of 100–110 m. In the southeast of Belarus, along the valleys of large rivers, these soils often reach the surface. The latter predetermined their active use as the foundations of structures. This is especially pronounced in the city of Gomel, where a wide development of territories is currently underway, within which these soils lie at depths of less than 10 m. The purpose of the work is to characterize the conditions for the distribution of the soils of the Kharkov suite of Paleogene within the southeast of Belarus and to study the characteristics of their composition and structure. The work is based on the results of the author's field and laboratory studies, which included a description of the outcrops, pits, and well cores; soil sampling; determination of their chemical and mineral, granulometric and microaggregate compositions, moisture characteristics for the classification of clay soils, as well as the results of statistical data processing. The paper presents the typification of the soil strata of the Kharkov suite of Paleogene of the southeast of Belarus, which allowed us to isolate three characteristic sites that differ in terms of their distribution, depth, thickness of the strata and composition of the soils. Nine granulometric sand and clay differences within the isolated areas were identified. The study of chemical-mineral and granulometric compositions of soils made it possible to identify their significant changes, both in area and in the section, which is caused by confinement to various facies zones, frequent migration of the coastline, long and uneven erosion and glacier-exaction destruction. The interrelation of the mineral composition, size and morphology of sandy soil particles is analyzed, it is noted that in all their varieties medium and fine sand fractions differ in the greatest mineral diversity.