Reference soil Romania 04: Chernozem

RO004

Chernozems are typically found in the long-grass steppe regions of the world, particularly in Eastern Europe and North America (Canada and the USA).

Characteristics

Soils having a very dark mollic horizon (thick, brownish or blackish surface horizon with a significant accumulation of organic matter and high base saturation) and secondary carbonates within 50 cm of the lower limit of the Ah horizon, but within 200 cm from the soil surface. They have no petrocalcic horizon between 25 and 100 cm from the soil surface, no secondary gypsum and no uncoated sand and silt grains on structural pedfaces

Distribution of Chernozems (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil RO004: Chernozems

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON PROFILE DESCRIPTION: AB - Cutans: with iron oxides and organic matter. Bt - Cutans: with iron oxides and organic matter; at 145cm very few quartz gravel

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
0-10	-	0.3	0.8	2.7	14.5	16.2	34.5	20.9	19.1	40	25.6
10-21	-	0.3	0.8	2.7	14.5	16.2	34.5	20.9	19.1	40	25.6
21-36	-	0.1	0.7	2	10.8	13.8	27.4	18.5	19.6	38.1	34.6
38-50	-	0.1	0.7	2	10.8	13.8	27.4	18.5	19.6	38.1	34.6
50-61	-	0.2	0.5	1.6	8.4	11.5	22.2	15.4	21.9	37.3	40.5
61-73	-	0.2	0.5	1.6	8.4	11.5	22.2	15.4	21.9	37.3	40.5
75-90	-	0.3	0.9	1.8	9.4	12.4	24.8	15.1	23.1	38.2	37.1
100-115	-	0.6	0.9	2.6	11.4	13.3	28.8	18	19.5	37.5	33.7
120-135	-	0.5	1.2	3.7	14.6	13.8	33.8	15	16.7	31.7	34.7
135-150	-	0.7	1.2	3.5	14.7	14.4	-	16.8	16.1	-	32.6
180-200	-	0.6	1.1	3	15	16.8	-	16.4	17.6	-	29.5

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-10	-	-	-	-	25.6
10-21	-	-	-	-	25.6
21-36	-	-	-	-	34.6
38-50	-	-	-	-	34.6
50-61	-	-	-	-	40.5
61-73	-	-	-	-	40.5
75-90	-	-	-	-	37.1
100-115	-	-	-	-	33.7
120-135	-	-	-	-	34.7
135-150	-	-	-	-	32.6
180-200	-	-	-	-	29.5

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
0-10	6.2	5.0	0.09	-	5.33	0.18	30	-	-	13.8	2.0	0.2	0.1	16.1
10-21	-	-	0.05	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21-36	6.1	4.6	0.05	-	2.92	0.13	22	-	-	17.0	2.4	0.3	0.1	19.8
38-50	-	-	0.05	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
50-61	6.2	4.3	0.06	-	1.21	0.09	13	-	-	20.6	2.8	0.4	0.1	23.9
61-73	-	-	0.06	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
75-90	6.2	4.3	0.05	-	0.80	0.06	13	-	-	18.9	2.4	0.4	0.2	21.9
100-115	6.3	4.4	0.06	-	0.60	0.05	12	-	-	25.7	2.2	4.3	0.2	32.4
120-135	6.5	4.5	-	-	0.43	-	-	-	-	26.5	2.0	0.4	0.2	29.1
135-150	6.6	4.6	-	1.5	0.40	-	-	-	-	26.5	1.9	0.3	0.2	28.9
180-200	7.8	7.0	-	11.6	-	-	-	-	-	64.3	1.1	0.2	0.1	65.7

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 %
0-10	86	18.8	73	18.7	-	-	-
21-36	85	23.2	67	10.2	-	-	-
50-61	91	26.3	65	4.2	-	-	-
75-90	97	22.6	61	2.8	-	-	-
100-115	140	23.1	69	2.1	-	-	-
120-135	131	22.2	64	1.5	-	-	-
135-150	126	22.9	70	1.4	-	-	-
180-200	340	19.3	65	-	-	-	-

Elemental composition of the soil

Depth (cm)	Al2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	K2O % w/w	MgO % w/w	Na2O % w/w	SiO2 % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
0-10	8.4	0.6	3.1	1.56	0.73	-	77.2	0.68
10-21	8.4	0.6	3.1	1.56	0.73	-	77.2	0.68
21-36	10.4	0.67	4	1.75	0.99	-	76.7	0.72
38-50	10.4	0.67	4	1.75	0.99	-	76.7	0.72
50-61	12.6	0.73	5.1	1.92	1.37	-	72.1	0.72
61-73	12.6	0.73	5.1	1.92	1.37	-	72.1	0.72
75-90	11.9	0.69	4.8	1.87	1.34	-	72.5	0.71
100-115	11.6	0.69	4.6	1.78	1.22	-	76.3	0.68
120-135	10.2	0.7	4.2	1.56	1.1	-	75.8	0.63
135-150	10.3	0.74	4.1	1.54	10.9	-	76.9	0.65
180-200	8.6	6.72	3.5	1.34	0.97	-	70.1	0.58

Depth (cm)	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol	LOI % w/w	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	SiO2 / Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol
0-10	-	6.0	0.12	0.08	-	-	-
10-21	-	6.0	0.12	0.08	-	-	-
21-36	-	5.9	0.11	0.07	-	-	-
38-50	-	5.9	0.11	0.07	-	-	-
50-61	-	5.6	0.09	0.05	-	-	-
61-73	-	5.6	0.09	0.05	-	-	-
75-90	-	4.7	0.09	0.05	-	-	-
100-115	-	4.2	0.09	0.05	-	-	-
120-135	-	3.9	0.09	0.04	-	-	-
135-150	-	3.8	0.10	0.05	-	-	-
180-200	-	7.7	0.08	0.05	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-10	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	weak to medium	strong	strong	-
10-21	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	weak to medium	strong	strong	-
21-36	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	very weak to weak	strong	strong	-
38-50	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	very weak to weak	strong	strong	-
50-61	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	weak to medium	strong	strong	-
61-73	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	weak to medium	strong	strong	-
75-90	very weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	weak to medium	strong	strong	-
100-115	very weak	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	very weak to weak	strong	very strong	-
120-135	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	very weak to weak	strong	very strong	-
135-150	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	very weak to weak	strong	very strong	-
180-200	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	weak to medium	very weak to weak	strong	very strong	-

Profile description

Ap 0-21 cm	dark greyish brown (10YR 4/2, dry) very dark brown (10YR 2/2, moist)strong fine and medium granular,friable sticky plastic,many fine medium interstitial pores,very frequent coprogenic elements,gradual boundary to,
Ah 21-50 cm	(10YR 3.5/2, dry) (10YR 2.5/2, moist)strong fine granular to strong coarse granular,hard friable sticky plastic,many fine medium interstitial pores,very frequent coprogenic elements,gradual boundary to,
50-73 cm	(10YR 4/2.5, dry) (10YR 3/2.5, moist)strong medium and coarse granular and strong medium and coarse subangular blocky,hard friable sticky plastic,broken thin clay cutans,common fine interstitial pores,krotovinas,gradual boundary to,
Bt 73-150 cm	yellowish brown (10YR 5/4, dry) (10YR 3.5/3.5, moist)strong medium and coarse prismatic,very hard firm sticky plastic,(10YR 5/3),broken thin clay cutans,common fine interstitial pores,krotovinas,

Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	Quercus petraea
Major vegetation type; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	deciduous forest

Altitude	200m
Physiographic Unit	piedmont plain
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	piedmont
Slope	3%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	undulating

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	well
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	0-150cm

Evidence of alkali ; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-alkaline
Evidence of salt; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-saline

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Reference soil Romania 04: Chernozem

Characteristics

Reference soil RO004: Chernozems

Classification