“Under the leadership of Soviet power and in the hands of skilled workers, there is no land that cannot be transformed for the benefit of humanity.” — Sergei Mironovich Kirov In accordance with the resolutions of the Party and the Government concerning the further development of all branches of agriculture and the increase of grain and livestock production, the rational utilization of the vast sandy areas of the Northern Caspian deserts and semi-deserts, together with measures for their soil amelioration, is a matter of great importance to the national economy. Despite their advantageous geographical position, including proximity to major scientific centers as well as rail and water transport routes, the sandy lands of the Northern Caspian region have thus far been studied less thoroughly than many other sandy semi-desert and desert regions of the Soviet Union. There are only a few exceptions, namely some peripheral sections of the extensive Northern Caspian sand massifs, such as the Naryn Sands and the left-bank Astrakhan sands, covering approximately one million hectares. The much larger remaining area, totaling about four million hectares, remains poorly investigated, and some parts have never been surveyed at all. This situation has determined the significance of undertaking exploratory research, and the author has sought, to the best of his abilities and resources, to fill important gaps in knowledge regarding the natural characteristics of the Northern Caspian sands. Because of the vast territory involved, the inaccessibility of certain areas, and the limited funds available for research, the investigations were conducted primarily in the form of route surveys. The total length of survey routes completed in the sandy regions and adjacent territories amounted to approximately 15,000 kilometers. In addition, in order to become familiar with ongoing experimental and production work, we visited all experimental stations within the study area: the Bukeyev experimental field in the Naryn Sands; the Bogdan experimental station, the Khoshyutovo experimental site, and the Zamyany experimental site of the All-Union Institute of Agroforestry and Soil Amelioration; the Dzhanybek permanent field station of the Soil Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences; and forestry nurseries located at Dosang Station, Sasykol, and Sokrutovka. We also examined the results of agroforestry and soil-improvement projects in the Naryn Sands, the coastal dune-stabilization zone, the Borkun Sands, the vicinity of Lake Baskunchak, a series of locations along the Saratov-Astrakhan railway line, and other areas. This monograph summarizes the results of many years of the author's individual investigations carried out under assignments from the Soil Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences and supplemented by available published sources. It should be noted that, during the processing of the collected materials, the author published the results of individual expeditions in the form of review and specialized articles, a list of which is provided in the bibliography. Some of these articles, after varying degrees of revision and expansion, have been incorporated into the present monograph. The author's published works, as well as a number of manuscript materials, have already found practical application and have provided assistance to various scientific expeditions engaged in detailed mapping of sandy regions and the study of individual sites. The author's findings have also been widely used by design organizations, including the Leningrad Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and agricultural-forestry design institutes, in preparing plans for water supply and development measures in the Northern Caspian sands in connection with the implementation of the government decision concerning the construction of the Stalingrad Hydroelectric Power Station. It is evident that this work could not have been completed without considerable assistance, both in field investigations and in the laboratory processing of collected materials. In different years, in addition to the author, the following colleagues participated in the fieldwork: E. N. Blagoveshchensky, M. K. Deulina, university student T. I. Zheletkova, and senior laboratory assistant R. E. Bespalova, who later provided substantial assistance in the processing of office and laboratory materials. Analyses of soil and groundwater samples were carried out by specialists of the Soil Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, primarily E. M. Sokolovskaya and, in part, by E. P. Komarova, T. M. Perekaliskaya, O. N. Soboleva, E. V. Ivanova, K. Ya. Dorokhova, Z. G. Ilyakovskaya, and L. A. Brayeva. Analyses of the mineral composition of the sands were conducted at the Institute of Combustible Minerals of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Professor P. P. Avalyusin. Fossil fauna, primarily mollusk shells, were identified by O. A. Vobrova and Professor M. M. Zhukov of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences, with part of the material examined by Dr. A. G. Eberzin of the Paleontological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Archaeological discoveries were verified by Professor O. A. Glakova and Professor A. P. Smirnov of the State Historical Museum.