Soils of the Central and Western Steppes of the Altai Krai

The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) was chosen as the soil classification system for the pedological work of the KULUNDA project. The in-depth analysis and evaluation of anthropogenic soil changes required the use of historical information based on the Russian soil classification system. The soil map of Altai Krai (KGKRF in Soil map of the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic 1986, scale 1:500,000. Novosibirsk, 1992; Kovda and Rozanov in soil science—types of soils, their geography, and use. Moscow, 1988) and the results of a soil science expedition to the Altai Krai in 1954 and 1955 published as “The Soils of Altai Krai” in 1959 (Akademiya Nauk SSSR 1959) worked as reference database. This historical soil information had to be converted to the WRB system to make it comparable to current soil information. An unequivocal conversion and transformation were not always possible resulting in loss of information and data uncertainty. Especially, the information regarding spatial distribution and area percentage of soil groups was affected by having an impact on the analysis of soil changes over time. The article describes the challenges of converting soil information and possible ways of handling them.