ON SLITIZATION OF CLAY SOILS ON RED AND MOTTLED WEATHERING CRUSTS IN THE DRY-STEPPE ZONE - (ON VERTIC PROPERTIES IN CLAY SOILS FORMED ON REDDISH AND MULTICOLORED WEATHERING CRUSTS IN THE DRY-STEPPE ZONE)

Soils with vertic properties were for the first time described in the dry steppes. Vertic properties were observed in soils on heavy clay mo ttled weathering crusts as parent or underlying rocks. Clay minerals i n soils are dominated by montmorillonite in a superdispersed state. In horizons with slickensides, there is an increase in montmorillonite o r mixed-lattice (interstratified) kaolinite-montmorillonite. The depth of slickensides is determined by the depth of moisture penetration in to the solum and by the granulometric composition (soil texture). Slit ogenesis is thought to be relic and of lithogenic provenance in dry-st eppe soils.