Regosol (WRB)

The Regosol is a reference soil group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). In the German soil systematics there is a soil type Regosol , which is defined differently.

The Regosol is the last reference floor group in the WRB key and has no diagnostic horizons. It does not have a large proportion of artifacts like the technosols , is not shallow or not rich in skeletons like the leptosols , not stratified like the fluvisols and also not very sandy like the arenosols . It has high levels of silt and / or clay . The pedogenesis has not progressed. Regosols are often found in the mountains, especially in accumulation areas, as well as in deserts. Some show a certain leveling, especially the formation of an Ah horizon with weak to moderate humus accumulation. In some regosols, however, no horizon formation can be seen. Regosols can also consist of unweathered volcanic ashes, which become andosols in the course of pedogenesis . Regosols with many swellable clay minerals quickly develop into vertisols . Some regosols are the result of in-depth processing, in which horizons that have previously been developed have been mixed up beyond recognition. Transport and deposition of natural soil material by humans also often lead to the formation of regosols.

The fertility of regosols is moderate. If they originated from loess , their fertility is higher. With silty regosols there is a risk of soil erosion .

According to the German soil systematics, the regosols of the WRB belong to the loose syrosemes , the regosols , the pararendzinen and partly also to the rendzinen .

Web links

• Profile photos (with classification) WRB homepage
• Profile photos (with classification) IUSS World of Soils

literature

• IUSS Working Group WRB: World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, Update 2015. World Soil Resources Reports 106, FAO, Rome 2015. ISBN 978-92-5-108369-7 ( PDF 2.3 MB).
• W. Zech, P. Schad, G. Hintermaier-Erhard: Soils of the world. 2nd Edition. Springer Spectrum, Heidelberg 2014. ISBN 978-3-642-36574-4 .
• W. Amelung, H.-P. Blume , H. Fleige, R. Horn, E. Kandeler , I. Kögel-Knabner , R. Kretschmar, K. Stahr , B.-M. Wilke: Scheffer / Schachtschabel textbook of soil science. 17th edition. Heidelberg 2018. ISBN 978-3-662-55870-6 .