Water budget of the soils of sand massifs (with the Ust’-Kundryuchensk massif in rostov oblast as an example)

Sand massifs in the steppe zone with coarse-textured sandy or loamy sandy soils are mainly characterized by the percolative type of the soil water regime. The annual precipitation penetrating into the groundwater through the aeration zone varies from 80% in the barren sands to 30% and lower in the overgrown sands. The study of the water budget of the Ust’-Kundryuchensk sand massif with an area of 15800 ha indicates that the total volume of the annual groundwater outflow from the massif reaches 10.5 million m 3 . The water discharged all year round from the sand massif into the Kundryuch’ya and Severskii Donets rivers is fresh and ultrafresh. It contributes to the water discharge of the rivers and desalinates the river water. This is an important nature-protection function of the sand massif.