ABSTRACT
Soils are a source of food, clothing, and energy for Kazakhstan, the USA, and the world, so their deteriorated condition is a cause for concern. Soils are not only losing the organic carbon (Lal, 2002) that help make them fertile, but they are also losing their productivity at an estimated worldwide rate of 15 Mha per year (Buringh, 1981). They are degraded by water and wind erosion, salinity, desertification, land development, and pollution, to mention a few. Though this paper is limited to the physical sciences, soils should be studied in their entirety (physical, biological, and economic/social sciences) to develop new, rational, realistic management systems that can save them from degradation or loss while improving their beneficial use to society. To solve these problems, researchers can build on the works of their predecessors from both the east (Kononova, 1951; Kostychev 1951; Dokuchayev, 1952; Tyurin, 1965) and the west (Van Schifgaarde et al., 1956; Black, 1957; Klepper et al., 1973) who helped shape the knowledge of present-day soil science. Though the problem is worldwide and solutions have global implications, soil issues described here focus on parts of Kazakhstan.
