Typology of the Depression Morphosculptures of the Dry Steppe Subzone of Ukraine

The dry-steppe subzone of Ukraine is characterized by a pronounced distribution of closed depressions of exogenous origin—depression morphosculptures. The formation of such depressions is primarily due to the spread of loess and loess-loamy rocks, but other factors also play a role. Closed depressions are especially developed on the territory of the loess plateau in the Dnipro-Molochna interfluve and on the territory of the Left bank of the Lower Dnipro, including the territory of the Oleshkivskі Sands. The closed depressions of the dry steppe subzone of Ukraine have been studied for almost a hundred years, and a particular conceptual and terminological apparatus has already been formed regarding them, with attempts at classification and typification. However, not all types of depressions in this region are identifiable; accordingly, there is an urgent need for their proper identification and general typology. The author identified different types of depression based on many years of field research and through the analysis of departmental and published materials. The results of such activities were maps compiled by the author (geomorphological, halogeochemical, and landscape), published scientific articles, three monographs, and the author’s version of the typology of depressions with the corresponding conceptual and terminological apparatus. In the presented typology, depressions in the dry steppe subzone of Ukraine are classified into two types: padynas in loess-loam deposits transformed by gley processes and swales in sandy, spatially unstable, low-thickness loess-loamy deposits. In the circle of padynas, depending on the regions of the dry steppe subzone, 10 types of depressions are distinguished, and among the swales, 13 types of depressions. For each type of depression, definitions are provided, and specific examples of their spatial manifestation are presented.