Several series of well-developed paleosols of different ages have been examined on the Moskva River floodplain. In the beginning of the Holocene, forest-steppe biomes were widespread in this area, and dark-humus (Black) soils with stable humate humus and without features of textural differentiation predominated on the floodplain. The presence of meadow-steppe vegetation communities during this period is confirmed by the results of palynological and anthracological analyses. The lower paleosol in section RANIS 2 is represented by the deep humus horizon with 14C dates from 5500 to 8400 BP and the carbonate-accumulative horizon; it also contains large and deep tunnels of burrowing animals typical of chernozems. Wood charcoal is absent, and pollen of Artemisia and Chenopodium species predominates. Paleosols of the second half of the Holocene are represented by gray-humus and soddy-podzolic soils (Luvisols). In these soils and in the alluvial sediments, beginning from the Subboreal period, pollen of trees predominates; there are abundant charcoal of spruce and burnt spruce needles. In that time, forest-steppe and broadleaved forest biomes on the floodplain were replaced by southern taiga biomes. The second half of the Holocene is also specified by the human impacts on the local landscapes. Palynological and anthracological data attest to the large-scale burning of forests for pastures in the Bronze Age and, later, for cropland. The paleosol of the Iron Age is enriched in humus. It contains tunnels of burrowing animals related to the stage of anthropogenic meadows. It also contains pyrogenic calcite. The recent centuries have been characterized by extremely high floods triggered by the human activity; they have been accompanied by the fast accumulation of coarse-textured alluvial sediments and the formation of weakly developed alluvial soils.

In the natural reserve "Belogorie" at the Yamskaya Steppe site, located in the south of the Central-Russian Upland, a wide range of subjects were studied aiming identification and analysis of paleo-pedological and paleobotanical indicators of environmental change in different historical periods of the Holocene. The study subjects included paleosoil buried under the earth mound of the Bronze Age, background virgin Chernozem near the mound, soil buried under the cast of marmot, and the soils in the ravine-gully deposits on bottom of gully. Using a complex of methods, including soil-archaeological, palynological, microbiomorphic, pedoanthracological, radiocarbon and paleogeographic reconstructions, was allowed to reveal a complicated combination of natural and human-induced changes in the meadow and meadowsteppe landscapes of the Yamskaya Steppe site in the Holocene. Watershed spaces were characterized by contrasting changes of vegetation types during studied period. The high degree of natural afforestation was observed for 6000−6500 yrs BP. Later, up to nowadays, on the watersheds the meadow-steppe type of landscape was dominated. The phase of increased afforestation was also observed in the beginning of the Subboreal period of Holocene (before 4600 years ago), but this time the development of forests was limited by their spread in the ravines. The Late Holocene was heterogeneous in relation to bioclimatic conditions with alternating wet and relatively dry phases, but their exact identification is complicated by the increasing of anthropogenic impacts on vegetation. Starting with the Subboreal period of Holocene the anthropogenic disturbance of landscapes became apparent, first in the form of periodic burning of steppes, and in the Sub-Atlantic period of Holocene – as a combination of burning and cultivation of agricultural crops on individual plots within the study area. Thus, the meadow-steppe environments in the south of the Central-Russian Upland, preserved nowadays only in the reserves, had a complex history of development in the past including climatogenic and anthropogenic transformation of soils and vegetation.