Reference soil Ireland 02: Podzol

IE002

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 IE002: Podzols

Classification

WRB 1998

Haplic- Podzol

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Luvi-Haplic Podzol

Orthic Podzol

Local classification:	Podzolised gray-brown podzolic soil

Other classification

USDA-NRCS (1999)	Ultic Haplorthod
USDA-SCS (1975)	Ultic Haplorthod udic sandy mixed mesic

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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	-	-	-	-	-	-	69.3	7.8	16.4	24.2	6.5
10-16	-	-	-	-	-	-	77.7	5.6	15.1	20.7	1.6
20-26	-	-	-	-	-	-	82.7	3.7	9.1	12.8	4.5
16-20	-	-	-	-	-	-	82.7	4	11.3	15.3	2
26-30	-	-	-	-	-	-	78.8	3.9	8.1	12	9.2
30-43	-	-	-	-	-	-	79.5	2.7	7.2	9.9	10.6
43-60	-	-	-	-	-	-	88.8	3.9	4.7	8.6	2.6
60-75	-	-	-	-	-	-	85.4	3.8	8	11.8	2.8

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	-	-	-	-	6.5
10-16	-	-	-	-	1.6
20-26	-	-	-	-	4.5
16-20	-	-	-	-	2
26-30	-	-	-	-	9.2
30-43	-	-	-	-	10.6
43-60	-	-	-	-	2.6
60-75	-	-	-	-	2.8

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	6.9	6.7	0.08	-	15.08	0.50	30	-	-	28.0	1.1	0.2	0.2	29.5
10-16	6.8	6.4	0.23	-	12.48	0.40	31	-	-	23.1	0.9	0.1	0.2	24.3
20-26	5.7	5.0	0.02	-	1.86	0.08	23	-	-	5.3	0.5	0	0.0	5.8
16-20	6.9	6.7	0.04	-	0.50	0.02	25	-	-	1.0	0.2	0	0.0	1.2
26-30	5.5	4.1	0.02	-	1.91	0.05	38	-	-	3.9	0.7	0	0.0	4.6
30-43	4.9	4.2	0.02	-	1.42	0.04	36	-	-	1.0	0.5	0	0.0	1.5
43-60	7.5	7.2	0.08	-	0.88	0.04	22	-	-	2.6	0.2	0	0.0	2.8
60-75	8.7	8.5	0.29	-	0.11	0.02	6	-	-	6.4	0.1	0	0.0	6.5

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	78	37.8	582	-	-	-	-
10-16	82	29.5	-	-	-	-	-
20-26	50	11.6	258	-	-	-	-
16-20	38	3.2	160	-	-	-	-
26-30	36	12.7	138	-	-	-	-
30-43	11	13.2	125	-	-	-	-
43-60	54	5.2	200	-	-	-	-
60-75	-	2.5	89	-	-	-	-

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
10-16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	strong	-	-
20-26	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	very weak to weak	strong	-	-
16-20	very weak to weak	-	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	very weak to weak	strong	-	-
26-30	weak to medium	-	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	very weak to weak	strong	-	-
30-43	strong	-	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	-	very weak to weak	weak to medium	-	-
43-60	weak to medium	-	-	-	-	-	very weak to weak	very weak to weak	very weak to weak	weak to medium	-	-
60-75	-	-	-	-	-	-	weak to medium	weak to medium	very weak to weak	weak to medium	-	weak to medium

Profile description

Ah1 0-10 cm	very dark grey (10YR 3/1, dry)sandy loam slightly gravelly,moderate medium crumb,many fine continuous exped interstitial pores and many continuous inped interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),common very fine and fine roots,few fine and medium gravel fresh quartz gneiss fragments,clear smooth boundary to,
Ah2 10-16 cm	very dark grey (10YR 3/1, dry)loamy sand slightly gravelly,weak medium platy,common fine continuous exped interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),few very fine and fine roots,few fine and medium gravel fresh quartz gneiss fragments,abrupt wavy boundary to,
E/Bh 20-26 cm	very dark grey (10YR 3/1, dry)loamy sand slightly gravelly,porous massive,few fine continuous interstitial pores slightly porous (<40 vol%),no roots,few fine and medium gravel fresh quartz gneiss fragments,clear irregular boundary to,
E 16-20 cm	light grey (10YR 7/2, dry)loamy sand slightly gravelly,porous massive,common fine continuous interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),no roots,few fine and medium gravel fresh quartz gneiss fragments,clear irregular boundary to,
Bt/Bh 26-30 cm	brown (10YR 5/3, dry)sandy loam slightly gravelly,weak fine subangular blocky,few common fine continuous exped interstitial pores and continuous exped interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),no roots,few fine and medium gravel fresh quartz gneiss fragments,gradual irregular boundary to,
Bt 30-43 cm	yellowish brown (10YR 5/8, dry)sandy loam slightly gravelly,weak fine subangular blocky,few common fine continuous exped interstitial pores and continuous exped interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),no roots,few fine and medium gravel fresh quartz gneiss fragments,clear irregular boundary to,
2BC 43-60 cm	dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4, dry)Description sand,porous massive,few common fine continuous interstitial pores and continuous interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),no roots,clear smooth boundary to,
2C 60-75 cm	light brownish grey (2.5Y 6/2, dry)loamy sand,porous massive,few fine continuous interstitial pores moderately porous (40-60 vol%),no roots,

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	mixed lithology and composition
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	glacial till
Texture of parent material (second entry)	sandy

Altitude	90m
Physiographic Unit	gentle slope
Physiographic position of the site	upper slope
Slope	5%
Form of the slope surrounding the site	concave
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	rolling

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	somewhat excessive
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	high

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Reference soil Ireland 02: Podzol

Characteristics

Reference soil IE002: Podzols

Classification