Soils in a young landscape on the coast of southern Finland

Abstract

Soils in an agricultural landscape on the southern coast of Finland (60° 13′N 25° 02′E) were characterized and classified according to Soil Taxonomy, the FAO-Unesco system (FAO), and the World Reference Base for Soil Resources system (WRB). The impact of human activity (<500 years) on the soil forming processes was discussed. The cultivated land studied (200 ha, elevation of <1 to 10 m) consists primarily of lacustrine sediments. It is surrounded by forested bedrock high areas dominated by Spodosols/Podzols, and by reedy wetlands, partially occupied by Sulfaquents/Thionic Gleysols. Cultivated pedons had mollic or ochric epipedons and cambic horizons. High base saturation of epipedons is likely man-made by liming. These soils have naturally high water tables and the development of the cambic horizons has been significantly promoted by artificial drainage (ditches > 150 years ago, tile lines at the depth of 1 m in the 1950s). They now meet the criteria for Mollisols and Inceptisols (Soil Taxonomy), Phaeozems and Gleysols (WRB), and Cambisols (FAO and WRB) but before drainage were likely Entisols (Soil Taxonomy) or Gleysols (FAO and WRB) with ochric, umbric, or histic epipedons and without a diagnostic B horizon.