Automated analysis of the distribution of dark colored chernozem-like soilsin northern Caspian Lowland according to space-borne imagery (the case study at the Dzhanybek station)

Dark colored chernozem-like soils are the most fertile soils of desertified steppes. They occupy shallow depressions in the micro- and mesorelief of the Caspian Lowland. They are easily identified automatically under any type of human activity (except for forest belts of agroforest amelioration systems). Compared to other soils, they are characterized by higher values of the NDVI vegetation index. On the basis of automatic interpretation of a Quickbird satellite image (resolution 2.44), a map was made of the distribution of dark colored chernozem-like soils in the area of the Dzhanybek station of the Institute of Forest Science, Russian Academy of Sciences (the total area of study was 50.6 km2). A fragment of it is given in the paper. The accuracy of interpretation dark colored soils is 77%. In a sliding window of 15 × 15 pixels, the percentage of dark colored chernozem-like soils in the soil association was calculated and a cartogram was made, which reflects the uneven distribution of these soils in the studied territory. It is given in the paper in its entirety. In the area of the Dzhanybek station, soil associations with 0–25% of dark colored soils prevail.