Instrumental studies of carbon and nitrogen cycles as fundamental, interrelated processes in the global biogeochemical turnover of substances in the ecosystems:

• Conjugate assessment of the strength of the relationships of carbon and nitrogen cycles in various climatic conditions with temperature, moisture and oxygen content, available nitrogen and carbon compounds, microbiological and enzymatic activity, mainly in the top layers of soil profiles.
• Rational use of traditional and new agricultural technologies to reduce the mineralization of organic matter in soils and to increase the carbon sequestration in soils.
• Increased knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms of carbon sequestration in soils as a result of interactions of nonspecific organic compounds (carbohydrates, lignin, lipids, phenols, amino acids) and specific organic compounds (humic acids) with primary and secondary clay minerals in the genetic profiles of soils to assess the significance of these mechanisms in maintaining sustainability and recovery of balance in carbon cycle.
• Study of the amount and mineralogical composition of the soil clay fractions, iron hydroxides under various oxidation-reduction, hydrophysical, thermal, biochemical and microbiological conditions.
• Analysis of the influence of soil properties on the microbiological processes of formation of nitrous oxide (N2O), its subsoil and direct flows from the soils in various land use systems.
• Quantitative assessment: firstly, the conditions for the formation of dominant nitrification and denitrification processes in soil profiles differing in genesis and quality; secondly, the preferential pathways of N2O transport in soil profiles; thirdly, the contribution of the subsoil N2O transport to its direct emissions from soils; fourthly, the significance of the above-mentioned controlled processes in maintaining sustainability and recovery of the balance of nitrogen cycle.