The properties of river alluviums of the Upper-Dniester alluvial plain

Alluvial soil formation is a dynamic process, the main prerequisite of which is the regular, periodic flooding of the river floodplain with flood waters, which are enriched with multidispersed organic and mineral particles. During the last century, about 80 % of territory of the Upper-Dniester alluvial plain was transformed by means of hydrotechnical construction: waterproof dams and drainage channels have broken the wide river floodplains into isolated fragments, making impossible the free flow of flood waters, enriched with silt.The results of the study of stratification patterns of the river silt in the riverbed floodplain, depending on the flow velocity, granulometric composition, physical and chemical properties, given its role in the floodplain soil formation are given. The granulometric composition of the Dniester River silt changes downstream from the sandy to the heavy-loamy; In the floodplains of the Stryj and Svicha rivers medium- and heavy-loamy deposits are postponed, respectively. In the upper part of the Upper- Dniester alluvial plain (Chaikovichi 1, 2) accumulates a silt with predominance of the medium and fine sand fraction, which forms a good filtration ability of soils, whereas downstream the physical clay content increases (up to 47.2 %), which makes the river silt an important source of mineral nutrition of plants. The domination (over 40 %)in silt granulometric composition the rough dust fraction (Ustia 1, Zalisky 1) contributes to the improvement of the water-physical properties of alluvial soils and provides optimal conditions for the biota functioning. For the investigated river alluviums an alkaline reaction of the extract (pH (H2O) = 7,44–8,03) and low content of humus (0,54–3,80 %) are characteristic. The amount of nitrogen in the silt varies within 1,47–18,20 mg/100 g of soil. The river alluviums of the Upper-Dniester alluvial plain are an active factor in floodplain soil formation, since it optimizes the water-physical and physical-chemical properties of alluvial soils. But the influence area of silt on the soilsis sharply reduced and is limited only to the space in front of the dams. In the soils outside the dam, to which no fresh alluvial material comes, the hydrological regime is rebuilt and properties change substantially, up to the loss of their typological alluvial features. Key words: river alluviums, silt, floodplain, the Upper-Dniester alluvial plain, alluvial soils, hydrotechnical fragmentation.