Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
II.
Transitional
A. Eroded
B. Terrestrial-deposited
III.
Abnormal
(Deposited-Þuvial and lacustrine alluvium; aeolian deposits)
According to V.V. Dokuchaev, all soils may be subdivided into the following three groups:
normal, transitional, and abnormal. This division is based on the permanence or temporary occur-
rence of a soil, and whether it retains those properties and features that are the product of undisturbed
processes of weathering and activities of organisms, converting the bedrock to soil.
Soil, which was formed and remained
, is a normal soil. Soils of disturbed occurrence,
separated from the rock from which they were formed, deposited or alluvial, were termed abnormal
soils by V.V. Dokuchaev.
Thus the Ýrst classiÝcation system of V.V. Dokuchaev was not based on climatic zones, but on
the real combination of pedogenic and geomorphic processes, reÞected in soils, and it was more
proÝle-genetic or substantive than the ÑzonalÒ system (Sokolov, 1979). The person who introduced
the Ñzonal,Ò or factor-genetic, approach to soil classiÝcation was N.M. Sibirtsev (Sokolov, 1979).
Because of the contribution of N.M. Sibirtsev, the Russian pedology became ÑclimaticÒ for many
decades. Even V.V. Dokuchaev, under the inÞuence of his colleague, changed his approach to soil
classiÝcation to a ÑzonalÒ one in 1900. The system, proposed by N.M. Sibirtsev in 1895, was as
follows (Sibirtsev, 1966):
in situ
¤
Class A. Zonal, melkozem (Ýne earth)-humus, complete soils, including the following types:
¤ Laterite soils
¤ Atmospheric-pulverulent or aeolian-loess soils
¤ Desert soils, or soils or arid steppes
¤ Chernozem soils
¤ Gray forest soils
¤ Sod-podzolic (or ÑramenÒ-podzolic) soils
¤Tundra soils
¤
Class B. Intrazonal soil
¤
Solonets soils
¤
Bog (marshy) soils
¤
Humus-carbonate (and other) soils
¤
Class C. Azonal, incomplete soils
¤
Subclass. Soils beyond Þoodplains
¤S eletal
¤
Coarse
¤
Subclass. Alluvial soils
¤
Floodplain soils
This approach, termed the factor-genetic system, inÞuenced the development of soil classiÝca-
tion systems in Russia for about a century.
FACTOR-GENETIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
In 1906, G.N. Vysotsky proposed the classiÝcation system that was very similar to the system
of N.M. Sibirtsev. He developed the class of ÑintrazonalÒ soils. G.N. Vysotsky divided this class
into ÑIntrazonal soils becoming zonal ones in adjacent soil-climatic areasÒ (for example, podzols
in chernozem zone), ÑAbsolutely intrazonal soilsÒ (for example, swampy soils), and ÑSkeletal soils.Ò
