TY - JOUR

T1 - The Origin and Geography of Brown Forest Soils

AU - Abakumov, E.V.

AU - Nizamutdinov, T.

AU - Kostenko, I.

N1 - Export Date: 01 November 2025; Cited By: 1; Correspondence Address: E. Abakumov; Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, 7/9 Universitetskaya Nab., 199034, Russian Federation; email: e.abakumov@spbu.ru

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Brown soils, Brown forest soils, Burozems or Cambisols have been studied for more than 100 years, and to this day, their nature, origin and process organization remain controversial. In addition, issues of their geography are quite controversial, especially in such a large country as Russia. A brief review of the literature on the morphological diversity features of the genesis and origin of brown soils in the various geographical locations of Eurasia is given. It was shown that the genesis of brown soils is not as closely related to the type of forest vegetation as previously thought, although, at the same time, the vast majority of brown soils are forest soils. Depending on the geographic situation and local climatic and geogenic conditions, Brown forest soils have related subtypes among adjacent soil types in different natural zones. Thus, in the polar zone, they are close to Entic Podzols, in the subtropics to Cinamonic soil, and in the forest-steppe, they replace zonal Retisols in positions with a relatively less contrasting and even climate. Being to a certain extent intrazonal soils, brown soils are combined with other more intrazonal soils—Rendzinas—and form the so-called Burozem-Rendzinas on uplands, composed of carbonate rocks in various natural zones. The article is illustrated with original photographs of Brown forest soils from various natural zones, taken by the author during numerous expeditions. It has been established that Burozems combine the characteristics of intrazonal soil, which is inherent in all natural zones, and have elements of zonal soils, as well as adjacent intrazonal soils in invariant combinations of soil-forming factors. From this, two conclusions can follow about their further classification fate: a more thorough justification for an independent soil type or a classification of structural metamorphism and in situ transformation of minerals among various existing zonal soil types. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

AB - Brown soils, Brown forest soils, Burozems or Cambisols have been studied for more than 100 years, and to this day, their nature, origin and process organization remain controversial. In addition, issues of their geography are quite controversial, especially in such a large country as Russia. A brief review of the literature on the morphological diversity features of the genesis and origin of brown soils in the various geographical locations of Eurasia is given. It was shown that the genesis of brown soils is not as closely related to the type of forest vegetation as previously thought, although, at the same time, the vast majority of brown soils are forest soils. Depending on the geographic situation and local climatic and geogenic conditions, Brown forest soils have related subtypes among adjacent soil types in different natural zones. Thus, in the polar zone, they are close to Entic Podzols, in the subtropics to Cinamonic soil, and in the forest-steppe, they replace zonal Retisols in positions with a relatively less contrasting and even climate. Being to a certain extent intrazonal soils, brown soils are combined with other more intrazonal soils—Rendzinas—and form the so-called Burozem-Rendzinas on uplands, composed of carbonate rocks in various natural zones. The article is illustrated with original photographs of Brown forest soils from various natural zones, taken by the author during numerous expeditions. It has been established that Burozems combine the characteristics of intrazonal soil, which is inherent in all natural zones, and have elements of zonal soils, as well as adjacent intrazonal soils in invariant combinations of soil-forming factors. From this, two conclusions can follow about their further classification fate: a more thorough justification for an independent soil type or a classification of structural metamorphism and in situ transformation of minerals among various existing zonal soil types. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

KW - bioclimatic factors

KW - Brown forests soils

KW - Burozems

KW - Cambisols

KW - geogenic conditions

KW - pedogenic conditions

KW - soil geography

KW - soil taxonomy

KW - bioclimatology

KW - brown soil

KW - Cambisol

KW - forest soil

KW - geogenic source

KW - in situ measurement

KW - metamorphism

U2 - 10.3390/land13111917

DO - 10.3390/land13111917

M3 - статья

VL - 13

JO - Land

JF - Land

SN - 2073-445X

IS - 11

ER -