Anthropogenic activities lead to significant transformations of natural landscapes. In this article, an attempt was made to describe the soil succession in the context of 100-year dynamics of Scots Pine forest stand in Kursk region. The morphological, physical, chemical and physical and chemical characteristics of sandy podzols in the chronological order of pine forests functioning 0 - 70 - 100 years were under analysis. It was revealed that monodominant forest stand of Scots Pine leads to the transformation of soils at the type level. It is noted that forest stand of Scots Pine on Umbric Podzols contribute to the development of the podzolic process at an average rate of formation of the podzolic horizon - 0.11 - 0.17 sm / year. During the time period of the soil succession (100 years), the thickness of the soil profile has increased and the humus reserves in the profile have increased by 47.1%, as well as a total decrease in the content of mineral nutrients is noted. The content of mobile forms of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn and Co) in the genetic horizons of Carbic Podzols (Arenic) in the time interval of the succession 70 - 100 years decreases by 21.4 - 71.4%.

Aim. The aim of the research was to identify the influence of the climate factor on the soil processes in sandy podzols in the forest-steppe of the Central Russian province. Material and Methods. Traditional methods (soil survey method, profile method, microbiological methods, etc.) and the latest methods (direct measurements [in situ] of soil CO 2 emission) of investigation were used. Results. It has been established that soil formation processes in azonalAl-Fe-humus sandy soils are reflexive to variations in climatic parameters of the forest-steppe zone. In warmer and arid conditions of the forest-steppe (southern part), sandy sod-podzols are formed, in colder and humid conditions of the forest-steppe (northern part)sandy podzols. The soddy-podzols of the southern part of the foreststeppe can be characterized by a more humous soil profile, the content of which is 19.2% higher than in the sandy podzols. More over sodpodzols have greater availability of mineral nutrition elements for plants and a higher microbiological activity (the number of bacteria is 12.7 times higher, micromycetes -10.5 times, actinomycetes -4.5 times) than sandy podzols. In summer, the rate of CO 2 emission in Al-Fe-humus sandy soils in the northern part of the forest-steppe zone reached 9.1 g CO 2 m 2 /day, in the southern part -12.5 g CO 2 m 2 /day. Conclusion. Further climate changes, which have an arid trend in the forest-steppe zone, can possibly lead to transformation of sandy podzols into sandy sod-podzols.