On the specifics of podzols in mountain areas

Abstract

The "mountain" Podzols developed under specific conditions of a cold and humid climate, steep and variable topography and uncommon parent materials thus differ from the typical "lowland" Podzols. The most important differences are in: greater skeleton content, finer and more silty texture, stratification of the texture in the soil profile, greater contents of organic matter and mobile forms of iron and aluminum, the presence of cemented (placic) or compacted layers, and the frequent occurrence of an excessive moisture and reducing conditions in the surface layers. Some of these features are in a "mountain" Podzols so intensively developed, that determining the soil properties and environmental functions; however, are not reflected in the soil classification system. In particular, new sub-types were proposed to classify the extremely skeletal Podzols ("bielica rumoszowa") and the Podzols with prolonged stagnation of surface water over an impermeable layer, sometimes with peat layer on the surface ("stagnobielica" and "stagnobiehca torfowa"). It was also proposed, based on a long-term investigation in the mountain areas, to merge all Podzols and "podzolized soils" into a single soil type ("bielice") in the Polish soil classification scheme. Moreover, the arguments for the restoration of a sub-type "skrytobielica" (krypto-podzol) were discussed. Finally, given the current state of knowledge on the diversity of the Podzols and podzolic soils in Poland, a new classification scheme of the order of podzolized soils was proposed.