Аннотация:Microbiomorpic analysis refers to the combined study of phytoliths, spores, pollen, diatoms, sponge spicules, cuticle casts, detritus, and other microscopic biological parts (Golyeva, 2001). Most soils – including natural strata, plowed fields, pastures, and cultural layers – contain different and distinctive arrays of these microscopic remains. The primary purpose of microbiomorphic analysis in pedology and palaeopedology is the determination of evolutionary trends of soils and anthropogenic sediments and the determination of modern and past environmental conditions (Barczi et al., 2009; Golyeva and Andrič, 2014; Solís-Castillo et al., 2015; Sikora et al., 2019). For archaeological purposes, a combined microbiomorphical analysis increases the reliability of individual data and truthfulness of the reconstruction of a behavioral people activity (Engovatova and Golyeva, 2012; Sánchez‐Pérez et al., 2013; Golyeva and Svirida, 2017; Golyeva et al., 2018).
Each method has its limitations when its informative capabilities are limited or even impossible at all. For example:
- severe erosion (water, wind) contributes to the distroy of the upper soil horizon and, accordingly, losses all components of biogenic nature;
- loess deposits of aeolian genesis do not contain microbiomorphs, since the separation of particles occurs during movement and dust particles settle earlier;
- mountain rocks are very porous so small particles migrate down the soil profile and along the slope;
- when ploughing, mixing (homogenization) of a significant part of the soil profile occurs, which makes it impossible to carry out a detailed reconstruction of the evolution of the landscape;
- the application of significant doses of organic fertilizers to the soil complicates the microbiomorphic complex and does not allow to determinate the initial components.
But all these limitations do not reduce the high information capability of the method. Often the opposite - the absence of certain microbiomorphs or their complete absence is also a diagnostic indicator.
Microbiomorphic analysis allows one to:
1. Identify past erosional and depositional events and estimate the thickness of resulting deposits
2. Identify buried soils
3. Determine the composition of past local and regional plant communities
4. Assess anthropogenic impacts on soils, even where there are no evident morphological traces of these impacts
5. Determine the parent material, especially of hydromorphic soils
6. Judge the degree and cause of soil hydromorphism.