Bd. Abaturov, ALTERATION OF SMALL RELIEF FORMS OF THE HYDROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF HEAVY LOAM SOILS IN THE SEMIDESERT ZONE BY GRAZING, Eurasian soil science, 25(7), 1993, pp. 17-28
Continuous heavy grazing causes a significant leveling of the microrel
ief and smoothing out of minor surface nonuniformities (nanorelief), a
long with the destruction and removal of a layer of soil up to 10 cm t
hick; in addition, it causes a fivefold decrease in the water permeabi
lity of the soils owing to the destruction of the cover layer of algae
, lichens, and mosses. No compaction of the surface occurs. The deep l
ayers of the root zone experience less drying out owing to the depress
ion of plants and continuous grazing throughout the growing season.