Podzols

Podzols have a distinctive ash‐gray subsurface horizon, from which iron and aluminum has been leached by organic acids and complexants to be deposited in a dark horizon immediately below. The following account is from FAO (2001).

Connotation. From the Russian pod, under, and zola, ash.

Synonyms. Podzol is the term used in most national systems, the USDA's Soil Taxonomy, in which these soils are classified as spodosols, being a notable exception.

Definition. Podzols are soils with a spodic horizon starting within 200 cm of the soil surface, underlying an albic, histic, umbric or ochric horizon, or an anthropedogenic horizon less than 50 cm thick.

Parent material.Podzols form on unconsolidated, siliceous materials such as quartz‐rich sands and sandstones, and on the sedimentary debris derived from granitoid rocks and gneisses, originating from glacial and post‐glacial processes in particular. If rainfall is high enough, and flow‐through rapid, Podzols may occur on almost any materials,...