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Chinese soil taxonomy: Between the American and the international classification systems

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Abstract

The development of soil classification in China has progressed in a rather complicated way; to a great extent, it has depended on the state policy. The former classifications had a zonal-factor trend: the first Chinese classification system was an analogue of the American classifications of the middle American period; in 1954–1984, the Soviet system was used, where names of the soils did not differ from those accepted in the USSR. In 1994, the Chinese Soil Taxonomy was created, which replicated the American classification in the structure, principles and terminology but emphasized some Chinese specificity. In the next variant of the Chinese system of 2001 (the object discussed in this paper), some elements of the International System (WRB) appeared, and the process-genetic approaches are displayed rather distinctly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    M. I. Gerasimova

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  1. M. I. Gerasimova
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Original Russian Text © M.I. Gerasimova, 2010, published in Pochvovedenie, 2010, No. 8, pp. 1012–1017.

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Gerasimova, M.I. Chinese soil taxonomy: Between the American and the international classification systems. Eurasian Soil Sc. 43, 945–949 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229310080120

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