The state of the soil and vegetation cover of the forest landscapes of the North Kazakh plain

Abstract

The article reflects the state of soil and vegetation cover of the forest landscapes of the Kyzylzhar district and the administrative territory of Petropavlovsk, North Kazakhstan region. The paper presents the results of chemical analysis of soil samples, provides descriptive characteristics of flora samples using geoinformation technologies based on the calculation of the standard quantitative index NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index – hereinafter referred to as VI), as of July 2019. The ongoing work is aimed at a comprehensive assessment of the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the components of forest ecosystems.

During the field reconnaissance, a brief outline was compiled on the species diversity of tree and shrub vegetation, indicating the geomorphological accessories of key sites. To study the phytomass, test areas of the underlying soil and vegetation cover were laid. Survey and thematic maps of the studied territory have been compiled. At the final stage of the study, the interpretation of the results is given with the identification of cause-and-effect relationships between the state and fluctuations of ecosystems.

The data source was multispectral satellite images of the Earth's surface of the US Geological Survey, field expedition studies on 3 key sites. The results of the work made it possible to characterize the geographical object under study, to identify differences in key areas, possible root causes of differentiation of the studied territories.