Reference soil Belgium 04: Podzol

BE004

Podzols mainly occur in cool temperate and moist regions on coarse textured materials. Areas of Podzols have also been recorded from wet, tropical regions, notably the Amazon basin, southern central Africa and southeast Asia.

Characteristics

Soils having a spodic horizon (a dark coloured subsurface horizon with illuvial amorphous alumino-organic substances) within 200 cm from the soil surface, underlying an albic, histic, umbric or ochric horizon, or an anthropedogenic horizon less than 50 cm thick. Podzols are probably the most extensively researched group of soils.

Distribution of Podzols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil BE004: Podzols

REFERENCE: Mokma D.L. and P. Buurman. 1982. Podzols and podzolization in temperate regions. ISM Monograph 1. International Soil Museum, Wageningen. Profile B-101.

Classification

WRB 1998

Haplic- Podzol

0-13 cm	ochric horizon
13-23 cm	albic horizon
23-45 cm	spodic horizon

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Haplic Podzol

Orthic Podzol

0-13 cm	ochric A horizon
13-23 cm	albic E horizon
23-45 cm	spodic B horizon

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

Haplorthod udic sandy siliceous mesic

Physical characteristics

Particle size distribution

Depth (cm)	Gravel % v/v	very coarse sand % w/w	coarse sand % w/w	medium sand % w/w	fine sand % w/w	very fine sand % w/w	Total sand % w/w	coarse silt % w/w	fine silt % w/w	Total silt % w/w	Clay % w/w
8-13	-	1.0	1.0	10.0	77.0	6.0	95	2.0	2.0	4.0	2.0
13-23	-	0.0	1.0	10.0	78.0	8.0	97	2.0	0.0	2.0	0.0
23-26	-	1.0	2.0	12.0	76.0	4.0	95	1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0
26-36	-	1.0	2.0	13.0	74.0	5.0	95	1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0
36-45	-	0.0	2.0	14.0	78.0	3.0	97	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0
45-67	-	0.0	2.0	11.0	77.0	7.0	97	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
67-97	-	1.0	2.0	12.0	80.0	6.0	100	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
97-128	-	1.0	1.0	9.0	84.0	4.0	99	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0
128-158	-	0.0	1.0	6.0	80.0	8.0	95	2.0	0.0	2.0	3.0

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
8-13	-	-	-	-	2.0
13-23	-	-	-	-	0.0
23-26	-	-	-	-	3.0
26-36	-	-	-	-	3.0
36-45	-	-	-	-	1.0
45-67	-	-	-	-	1.0
67-97	-	-	-	-	0.0
97-128	-	-	-	-	0.0
128-158	-	-	-	-	3.0

Chemical data

Depth (cm)	pH H2O	pHKCl	EC 1: 2.5 dS/m	CaCO3 % w/w	C % w/w	N %	C / N	Exch. Acid cmol(c)/kg	Exch. Al cmol(c)/kg	Ca cmol(c)/kg	Mg cmol(c)/kg	K cmol(c)/kg	Na cmol(c)/kg	Sum Cations cmol(c)/kg
8-13	3.6	2.9	-	-	1.72	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13-23	4.1	3.4	-	-	0.29	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
23-26	4.1	4.0	-	-	1.14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
26-36	4.2	4.1	-	-	1.15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
36-45	4.3	4.3	-	-	0.47	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
45-67	4.3	4.3	-	-	0.16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
67-97	4.5	4.3	-	-	0.03	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
97-128	4.3	4.2	-	-	0.07	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
128-158	4.3	4.1	-	-	0.03	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Depth (cm)	Base sat. %	CEC soil cmol(c)/kg	CEC clay cmol(c)/kg	CEC org cmol(c)/kg	ECEC cmol(c)/kg	Al sat. %	ESP %
8-13	-	2.9	-	-	-	-	-
13-23	-	1.6	-	-	-	-	-
23-26	-	9.9	-	-	-	-	-
26-36	-	13.2	-	-	-	-	-
36-45	-	7.2	-	-	-	-	-
45-67	-	2.7	-	-	-	-	-
67-97	-	1.6	-	-	-	-	-
97-128	-	0.7	-	-	-	-	-
128-158	-	0.5	-	-	-	-	-

Depth (cm)	pH NaF	P Retention %	ODOE	Al o % w/w	Si o % w/w	Fe d % w/w	Al d % w/w	Fe p % w/w	Al p % w/w	C p % w/w	Fe o % w/w
8-13	-	-	-	0.01	-	0.15	0.01	0.10	0.01	-	0.07
13-23	-	-	-	0.00	-	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.00	-	0.02
23-26	-	-	-	0.14	-	0.32	0.16	0.24	0.16	-	0.29
26-36	-	-	-	0.27	-	0.66	0.24	0.41	0.24	-	0.61
36-45	-	-	-	0.21	-	0.75	0.24	0.35	0.18	-	0.45
45-67	-	-	-	0.08	-	0.34	0.09	0.13	0.07	-	0.20
67-97	-	-	-	0.02	-	0.04	0.02	0.01	0.02	-	0.02
97-128	-	-	-	0.05	-	0.46	0.06	0.11	0.04	-	0.21
128-158	-	-	-	0.04	-	0.11	0.04	0.04	0.04	-	0.07

Profile description

Oi 0-8 cm	needles slightlyloose,highly porous (>60 vol%),abrupt wavy boundary to,
Ah 8-13 cm	dark grey (10YR 4/1, moist)fine sand,weak medium granular,very friable,few fine roots,abrupt wavy boundary to,
E 13-23 cm	light grey (10YR 7/1, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,common mottles (10YR 6/2),few roots,abrupt smooth boundary to,
Bh 23-26 cm	very dark grey (5YR 3/1, moist)fine sand,weak medium subangular blocky,very friable,clear wavy boundary to,
Bhs 26-36 cm	dark brown (7.5YR 3/2, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,common mottles (10YR 5/4) and common mottles (7.5YR 4/6),few fine roots,broken massive strongly cemented ortstein pans,clear wavy boundary to,
Bs 36-45 cm	dark brown (7.5YR 3/4, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,common mottles (10YR 6/4),clear wavy boundary to,
B/C 45-67 cm	pale brown (10YR 6/3, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,common mottles (2.5Y 7/2) and common mottles (7.5YR 5/8),clear wavy boundary to,
C1 67-97 cm	light grey (2.5Y 7/2, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,common mottles (5YR 5/6) and common mottles (5YR 4/6),abrupt irregular boundary to,
C2 97-128 cm	brownish yellow (10YR 6/6, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,
C3 128-158 cm	pale olive (5Y 6/3, moist)fine sand,single grain,loose,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	mixed lithology and composition
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	eolian sand
Remarks on Parent Materials	cover sand of young Pleistocene age
Soil Depth	158cm
Texture of parent material (second entry)	sandy
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock	partially or moderately

Altitude	28m
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	plain
Slope	0%
Slope Aspect	north-east
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	flat or almost flat

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	well
Dry From - To	0-155cm
Flooding frequency (FAO, 1986)	never
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	moderate
Estimated run off (class)	medium

Evidence of alkali ; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-alkaline
Surface cracking	no cracks observed
Slaking of aggregates by tillage, rainfall or frost (USDA/SCS, 1979)	no surface slaking/crusting observed
Rock outcrop class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none
Evidence of salt; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-saline
Surface stoniness class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none

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Reference soil Belgium 04: Podzol

Characteristics

Reference soil BE004: Podzols

Classification