The Department of Erosion and Soil Protection of the Faculty of Soil Science of Lomonosov Moscow State University has developed the main research areas – «Assessment of erosion processes in soils of various bioclimatic zones», «Study of the basics of sustainable land use» and «Ecological and economic assessment of soil and land degradation». It is proposed to develop both existing areas of scientific research with a certain adjustment of their names and issues («Analysis and modeling of erosion processes in soils, including in the conditions of climate change», «Development of the concept of sustainable land use in the context of food security», «Ecology, economics and socio-demographic features of land use in the context of climate change and soil degradation»), as well as new areas with some research history at the department — «Development of principles of soil protection», «Development of methodological foundations of land recultivation». The need to create a integrated concept of soil protection is considered in particular detail. This concept should include the formulation of legal (legislative and regulatory-methodological) principles of soil protection, and the definition of criteria for assessing soils under which their protection can be carried out, and the development of soil protection systems, primarily from the manifestation of erosion processes, in various bioclimatic and administrative-territorial conditions.

The Soil Erosion Laboratory of the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute was organized in 1932 on the initiative of the reputed soil scientist A.M. Pankov. This laboratory became the first specialized laboratory in the USSR to systematically study soil erosion. For a long time, the laboratory served as the coordinating center for erosion control research in the country. The laboratory’s extensive scientific and organizational activities mobilized the attention of scientists and practitioners to this important problem. In 1936, the First All-Union Conference on Soil Erosion Control was held in Moscow under the leadership of D.G. Vilensky and A.M. Pankov. The laboratory’s rich history is linked to renowned scientists such as A.M. Pankov, Academician S.S. Sobolev, Academician A.N. Kashtanov, I.D. Braude, P.S. Tregubov, A.S. Izvekov, and others. Since the laboratory’s establishment, its main research areas have been focused on recording and mapping eroded soils, assessing the specifics and severity of erosion processes, and zoning areas susceptible to erosion. To study these issues, numerous comprehensive soil erosion studies were organized in the European part of Russia and the Soviet republics. Since the 1960s, along with expeditionary research, long-term stationary soil erosion observations have been conducted, aimed at developing anti-erosion soil conservation measures. Over more than 90 years of laboratory activity, the spatial and geographic patterns of water and wind soil erosion have been studied; soil erosion maps of the USSR and individual regions have been compiled; and soil conservation measures aimed at combating water and wind soil erosion and restoring the fertility of eroded soils have been developed and implemented. The results of these scientific studies have received recognition at the highest government level. In recent years, research has been conducted using a combination of traditional and modern methods for diagnosing and modeling erosion processes, and new approaches to assessing and managing the risks of land degradation from soil erosion are being developed.

The review presents the key results of many years of research conducted by the Kozmenko–Surmach scientific school of erosion studies. This school has made a significant contribution to the development of national science on the erosion–hydrological process (EHP) and to the formation of the foundations of anti-erosion reclamation, which have become the basis for modern adaptive–landscape farming systems. A.S. Kozmenko was one of the first researchers in Russia to carry out systematic studies of the EHP and to develop measures for its regulation, proposing an original theory of relief formation. His student, G.P. Surmach, expanded and deepened these ideas, conducted large-scale soil–erosion studies, improved the theory of relief formation, substantiated the theory of the formation of grey forest soils and chernozems in the forest-steppe zone, proposed a classification of soils by the degree of erosion, and developed a method for forecasting snowmelt runoff. The development of the school’s concepts was continued by E.A. Garshinev, V.P. Borets, A.T. Barabanov, V.I. Panov, A.I. Petelko, and other researchers. Based on the theory of relief formation, scientific foundations were established for adaptive–landscape organization of catchments and for the placement of runoff-regulating shelterbelts and other protective barriers; new techniques, technologies, and a system for managing the erosion–hydrological process were developed; and a methodology for high-precision forecasting of surface snowmelt runoff was created. The long-term research in the field of soil erosion control and anti-erosion reclamation has continued to evolve and today serves as a scientific basis for sustainable agro-environmental management. The accumulated experience, theoretical principles, and applied developments are becoming increasingly relevant under growing anthropogenic pressure and climate change.

At the end of the Pleniglacial to the first half of the Late Glacial, approximately 14,000–18,000 years ago, river channels on the plains of Northern Eurasia were up to 10–15 times larger than modern river channels in the same basins. Fragments of these large meandering paleochannels are widespread on river floodplains and low terraces. The hydrological regime of these rivers is of great interest from a paleoclimatological perspective. Morphometric characteristics of large paleochannels – channel width and meander wavelength – were measured on topographic maps and satellite images. Morphometric relationships between modern channel widths and average maximum water discharges were established. These relationships were used to reconstruct maximum discharges during floods for rivers in the Dnieper, Don, and Volga basins and the rivers in Western Siberia. The daily runoff depth at the flood maximum, which corresponds to the maximum depth of daily snowmelt during the snowmelt period, is normalized to unit river basins with an area of <1000 km². The average value for the southern megaslope of the East European Plain was 50 mm/day (six times the modern value), including 50.6 mm/day (six times) for the Volga River basin, 50.7 mm/ day (seven times) for the Don River basin, and 48 mm/day (10 times the modern value) for the Dnieper River basin. For the rivers of the north of the West Siberian Lowland, the average maximum daily runoff depth was 64 mm (2.5 times the modern value) and 54 mm in the Ob River basin (8 times the modern value). A paleohydrological analogy was used to convert these maximum runoff values into annual averages. The territories with the modern analogues for the climatic conditions of the late Pleniglacial – Lateglacial were determined on the basis of the paleofloristic method and according to data from mathematical climate modelling. Calculations revealed that on the southern megaslope of the East European Plain and on the West Siberian Lowland, over an area of 5.52 million km², average snow water reserves before snowmelt were 309-390 mm, while flood runoff from this area, assumed to be close to the annual runoff volume, was 1706-2150 km³, which is 2.1-2.7 times greater than the modern value. These results contradict the established notion, based on the xerophilous vegetation, that the periglacial climate on the plains of Northern Eurasia was generally dry. The results of paleohydrological reconstructions showed that under the conditions of a periglacial climate, there was a sharp seasonality in the intra-annual distribution of precipitation; atmospheric precipitation in the form of snow covered the surface of river catchments during a long winter; spring snowmelt was short-lived and intense; floods were short with a high maximum. In summer, there was little precipitation and runoff from permafrost-covered areas was insignificant, which contributed to the development of xerophilous vegetation.

Soil erosion is one of the main factors in the degradation of chernozems, causing the greatest damage to agricultural land as a result of land development. The load on the soil has increased especially in recent decades, due to the intensification of agriculture, an increase in yield and a reduction in the return of nutrients to the soil, which led to a change in the physical properties of chernozems. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to study the intensity of runoff of meltwater and stormwater in crop rotations of various designs in the territory of sloping agro-chernozems in a changing climate. Field research was conducted in the Rostov region of Aksai district in a long-term field experiment to study crop rotations and tillage techniques in 1990–2024. The experimental site is located on an erosion-hazardous slope of the southeastern exposure with a steepness of up to 3.5–4°, the organization of the slope territory is a contour-landscape system. The soil cover of the site is represented by ordinary carbonate medium-washed medium-bulk low-humus heavy loam on loess-like loam. As a result of the changing climate, a change in runoff formation processes has been noted in recent decades. Climate change is manifested in an increase in the average daily air temperature and a decrease in precipitation, both throughout the year and during various periods of melt and storm runoff formation. There has been a decrease in snow cover in recent years or its absence in the fields, while the number of extreme downpours is increasing. The values of the average daily air temperatures at which intensive runoff begins have been established. The dependence of water runoff on the intensity of heavy rains and the amount of precipitation has been revealed. An increase in the share of perennial grasses in the crop structure of soil-protective crop rotations to 40% reduced runoff by 39.3–58.1%, and the use of soil-protective tillage by 21.0–23.7%. The use of anti-erosion measures such as the organization of the slope area, the use of soil-protective crop rotations and tillage methods, etc., can reduce runoff to safe limits, and in some cases completely prevent it.