Аннотация:Soil cover and landscapegeochemical features of the Privolzhskaya irrigation system (Saratov
Volga) are described. The sustainable functioning of this irrigation system in the conditions of the absence of artificial drainage is noted that is explained as a result of the specifics of geomorphologic structure of the area within the ancient flood plain and deltaic landscapes of former Volga river and its tributaries. A number of assumptions are made about the role of paleo features of local landscapes in the redistribution of ground and infiltrated flow from irrigated lands. In particular, the assumption that ancient bottoms of estuaries and lagoons, composed of marine clays and overlapped with latest loamy deposits are acting as natural intermediate reservoirs of drainage waters. The phenomenon of “red spot” on multispectral (3–5–7 channels) Landsat images is described, presumably associated with the additional soil moistening in the zone of lateral subsurface migration of infiltrated irrigation water.