Treposol

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As Treposol (also: deep plowing soil , Zebra floor ) are soils referred to the site improvement once deeply plowed were. This soil type belongs to class Y (anthropogenic soils) in the German soil systematics and is abbreviated as YU.

Soil profile of a deep break (or Treposol) from Wüsting near Oldenburg. Created by plowing 80 cm deep in order to improve the soil.

Origin and Distribution

All treposoles are not of natural origin. Since they owe their origin to human intervention alone, they belong together with the Kolluvisolen , Plaggeneschen , Rigosolen and Hortisolen to class Y of anthropogenic, i.e. human-made soils.

Some soils in Central Europe have compacted or hardened horizons in the subsoil :

These represent a barrier to the growth of roots and hinder the infiltration of rainwater , which often results in waterlogging . Podsols are also very low in nutrients.

These areas could not be cultivated using conventional equipment. On the one hand, because the problem horizons were deeply inaccessible. On the other hand, because the plows didn't have enough power to break through the horizons.

At the end of the 19th century, when the tractive power of the machines had developed so far that they could plow more than a meter deep, this new technology was used to upgrade low-value sites by plowing deep. As a rule, an improvement in the air and water balance of the soil was of interest, which was achieved by plowing through the hardened horizons. Furthermore, the soil should be thoroughly mixed in order to improve its properties through the substrate mixture.

When plowing deep, the soil is plowed to a depth of at least 40 cm (usually 0.7 m to 1.4 m; maximum 2 m). As a result, the old horizons are completely tilted and woven together. If the one-time upheaval remains, this is still visible today in the horizons, which are slanted against each other. The typical appearance of the sloping tracks in the underground is also reflected in the nickname zebra floor .

If the ground is repeatedly deep plowed, this image disappears in favor of a deeply homogeneous profile. This soil would then be a Rigosol .

Deep plowing was discontinued decades ago for various reasons. Northwest Germany and the Netherlands were a focus area of ​​this management.

Drillstock profile of a gley treposol

Bog soils : Bogs were also often deeply plowed. In the actual sense, however, these soils are not counted among the treposoles, but among the bog soils .

Leveling

Treposoles have the leveling R-Ap / R +… /…

  • R-Ap: The first horizon is a plowed ('p') topsoil horizon ('A'). (Treposoles are generally used for arable farming). The 'R' stands for the one-time break in depth (trenches) that took place in the past. The R-Ap is about 30 cm deep (plowing depth) and homogeneously black ( humus ).
  • R +…: Below the R-Ap follows the horizon in which the former topsoil and subsoil substrates have been interlocked ('+') through the one-time deep plowing ('R'). It has the characteristic 'zebra profile' of the Treposol and reaches as deep into the ground as the plow reached when it was plowed deep. The '...' stands for the plowed in dense horizon of the old soil:
  1. Podsol-Treposol: R + Bs (Bs = subsoil horizon ('B') with sesquioxid enrichment ('s') = local stone horizon )
  2. Parabraunerde-Treposol: R + Bt (Bt = subsoil horizon ('B') with clay enrichment ('t'))
  3. Gley-Treposol : R + Go (Go = groundwater horizon ('G') with air supply (oxidative; 'o') = lawn iron stone horizon)
  • ...: After the deeply plowed area, the old subsoil follows, which can vary greatly depending on the location.

In the international soil classification World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), mixing is expressed by the Relocatic Qualifier. Treposols mostly belong to the reference soil groups of the regosols and arenosols , more rarely to the phaeozemes or umbrisols , but sometimes also to the histosols and gleysols .

use

The site properties could be significantly improved through the deep break. That is why treposoles are generally used for arable farming.

literature