General land reclamation problems

General land reclamation problems

Land reclamation is a package of measures aimed at regulation (improvement) of the major components of natural environment (factors of plant life).

In most cases, the target of agricultural hydrotechnical reclamation works is represented by soils; the instrument of agricultural hydrotechnical reclamation works is regulation of their water and associated air, thermal, and nutritive regimes along with agrotechnical measures. The objectives, goals, and nature of land reclamation are determined by agrobiological requirements of crops, economic and managerial potential that depend on the level of development of social production.

The following major tasks are solved through agricultural hydrotechnical reclamation works:

Increase of the volume of agricultural production by reclaiming and converting of formerly unused lands (marshes, arid areas, etc.) into agriculturally used areas.
Increase of the volume of agricultural production by intensifying the use of the lands available in the farm by improving their effective fertility (elimination of temporary waterlogging, irrigation, soil conservation, radical improvement of grasslands, etc.).
Creation of conditions for rational use of farm equipment and other means of production by conducting cultivation and technical measures (consolidation of fields, leveling, removal of stones, etc.).

Land reclamation requirements vary depending on the conditions of business relationship.

In broad geographic terms, depending on which components of natural environment are the targets of reclamation measures, these measures may be of different types, sub-types, and forms. In turn, depending on the way to carry out reclamation each form can be divided into a series of sub-forms.

Classification of reclamation according to effect on natural constituents or complexes
(according to A.M. Shulgin, V.G. Grinevetskiy, V.S. Anoshko et al.)

Type	Sub-type	Form
Water (hydrotechnical)	Drainage	Reclamation of marshland Drying-out of wetlands
	Flood control	Flood and waterlogging control Waterlogging control Elimination of stagnation of meteoric water on surface (wet spots)
	Irrigation	Moistening irrigation Fertilizer irrigation (fertigation) Defrosting irrigation Soil-cleaning irrigation Disinfecting irrigation
	Drainage & moistening (drainage & irrigation)	Control of water-air regime of drained lands Irrigation of drained marshes and wetlands
	Watering	Watering of arid areas Watering of low-water areas Watering under the conditions of humid zones
Agrotechnical	Drainage-control	Making depressions in ground Narrow conventional plowing Soil trimming Furrowing Ridging Bed-forming Soil slotting (para-plowing) Mole plowing
Land	Accumulation Soil-conservation	Nonmoldboard loosening Deep plowing Soil decompaction Sheet erosion control Ravine erosion control Soil blowing control Subsurface erosion control
	Soil-reconstructive	Formation of topsoil Granulometric enrichment of soil (addition of sand, addition of clay) Thickening of humus-accumulated horizon
	Cultivation and technical	Surface levelling Land clearance Land management
	Landscape & reclaiming	Reclamation of open-cast mines – peat mines – rock dump pits – ash-disposal areas – destructions caused by natural disasters (floods, dust storms, hurricanes, etc.)
Vegetative	Phyto-reconstructive	Formation of woodland belts Overall (solid) afforestation Phytoncide (resort) planting
Vegetative	Landscape conservation	Water protection Wind control Snow control Bank protection Landslide and landslip control
Climatic	Thermal	Frosts control Basin & thermal Agrothermal Damping-out control Frost-killing control
	Moisture distribution	Precipitation enhancement Snow-melting control
	Wind weakening	Antihurricane measures (in hurricane formation places) Local arrangements
Chemical (agrochemical)	Salt-enriching Acid-controlling Soil-stabilizing	Application of mineral fertilizers Control of nutrient distribution over the landscape Application of lime (on acidic soils) Acid control (on soda solonchak and solonetzic soils, and other soils with high alkality) Application of gypsum (on solonetzic and alkali soils) Soil conditioning Soil stabilization against soil blowout Soil silicatization
Chemical (agrochemical)	Sanitary & disinfecting	Application of arboricides Application of pesticides