Year: 2024
Commission: 1.6 Paleopedology
Chairperson Name: Maria Bronnikova
Affiliation: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA; Institute of Soil Geography Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Email: maria.bronnikova@ttu.edu
Electronic Signature:
Vice Chairperson Name: Elizabeth Solleiro Rebolledo
Affiliation: Instituto de Geología, UNAM, CDMX, México
Email: solleiro@geologia.unam.mx
Events Realized (including purpose, date, location, participation, any output):
Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences May 19-21, 2024.
Commission 1.6 has contributed a two-hour oral session in program module 4: "Soil Sciences' Impact on Basic Knowledge: Past and Future of Pedology." The session “Soils of the Past for Present and Future: Marking the 100th Birthday of Dan H. Yaalon” was held on 21/05/2024. Chairpersons: M. Bronnikova, F. Scarciglia, E. Solleiro-Rebolledo.
The session with 8 presentations was opened by a short tribute to Dan Yaalon, presented by one of his last students and friends, Danny Itkin,
The Authors of our session were invited to submit a short paper or an extended abstract to the Book of Proceedings, an ISBN volume edited by Prof. Sara Marinari and Dr. Edoardo Costantini, that will be published on the IUSS website.
There are also the authors who contributed to a Catena Special Issue we established (see below).
Recent Activities (including purpose, date, location, participation, any output):
The submission of manuscripts to a special issue of the Catena journal dedicated to Viktor Targulian, titled ‘Soil Memory of Contemporary and Paleo Environments: From Single Proxy, Pedofeature, or Property to Soilscape Records,’ led by Guest Editors Lilit Pogosyan, Maria Bronnikova, Elizabeth Solleiro Rebolledo, and Anna Schneider, was completed on October 10th.
The issue was reaching out mostly to former participants of sessions of Paleopedology group, such as EGU-2023 Session SSS3.1 "Soils, Sediments, and Buried Structures as the Memory of Past Environmental Conditions and Human Impacts"; INQUA Congress session 190 "Paleosol Memory of Environmental Change and Man-Landscape Interactions: From Soil Profile to Geosystem"; and the XIV International Symposium “Soils as Memory of Contemporary and Paleo Environments”. The Special Issue focuses on problems of soil-based environmental reconstructions, applying both traditional and innovative methods, contributing to the further development of the concept of soils and paleosols as a memory of environmental change and man-landscape interactions.
Thirty-eight manuscripts have been submitted. Five manuscripts have completed the review process and have been accepted. Approximately 13 manuscripts were either rejected or transferred to the regular Catena submission system as they did not fit the scope of the special issue. The remaining manuscripts are currently undergoing the review process.
Planned Future Events/Activities (including purpose, date, location):
1. As a regular annual activity of commission 1.6 a session titled Advances in pedology, paleopedology, and soil geography was submitted for EGU General Assembly 2025.https://www.egu25.eu/ by Brad Sion and Lilit Pogosyan:
2. Commission 1.6 has submitted a workshop proposal for the 2025 International Joint Meeting of the International Union of Soil Sciences - Division 1 - Soils in Space and Time (IUSS Div 1), the Canadian Society of Soil Science (CSSS), and the 5th Global Soil Security (GSS) conference hosted by the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) and the Manitoba Soil Science Society (MSSS).The workshop in a form presenting/discussing academic session entitled “Soils of the Past for Present and Future” will focus on how past soils have shaped the current state of soil systems and the soil mantle, and how we can predict future developments based on our understanding of soils from both the past and present. Highlighting frontiers and challenges in soil science, this workshop will also emphasize the role of soil mineral and organic carbon as a paleoenvironmental record, the contemporary carbon status of soils as contributors to the global carbon cycle, and their importance as a prerequisite for future carbon neutrality. Workshop will be moderated by Maria Bronnikova, Institute of Geography Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia, Texas Tech University, USA; Elizabeth Solleiro Rebolledo, Geology Institute National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico; and Curtis Monger, New Mexico State University, USA.
3. Field International Workshop on Paleopedology Deciphering the ancient anthropic landscape transformation in the southern Maya lowlands in Mexico. Palenque, Mexico, February 19 – February 25, 2026.
The Maya lowlands in the Mexican territory represent a region between the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico to the north, the Sierra de Chiapas to the south, and the Candelaria and Grijalva Rivers to the East and West, respectively. This special and cultural delimitation has been considered homogeneous; however, cultural diversity is wide both in space and time. In fact, this region played a key role in the development of ancient Mesoamerican cultures.
The workshop objective is to show different landscapes occupied by the ancient Mayas, from the northern alluvial plain of the Usumacinta River, where people mainly developed small and rural towns, to the highlands at Sierra de Chiapas, where monumental and well-organized cities were constructed.
The workshop will consist of two-day conferences and five days of field excursions.
. The scientific topics include:
- Soil memory: a key guide for understanding past environmental and human impacts.
- Micromorphology of key pedogenetic processes. Linking microscopic observations and analytical data for differentiating anthropic and natural soil processes.
- Classification of soils in archaeological sites.
- Pedogenesis of anthropogenic soils and ecosystems.
- Novel methods and techniques and quantitative approaches in paleosol studies.
Publications (since previous report):
The 34th issue of the Commission 1.6 Newsletter was compiled and circulated in July by Lilit Pogosyan, the NL editor, and Maria Bronnikova, the commission chair (https://sites.google.com/view/paleopedology/newsletters?authuser=0 )
Links to Web Presence (e.g., site, social media):
We’ve nearly completed our webpage reconstruction thanks to the considerable time and energy contributed by our secretary and webmaster, Fatima Kurbanova.