The presence of Phaeozems formed on loose parent materials in Serbia

Abstract

Phaeozems in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) are thick, eutric soils which have a mollic horizon and lack secondary carbonates. The term ʼPhaeozemsʼ is not used in the National Soil Classification System (NSCS) in Serbia at any systematic level, but soils with these characteristics exist. The aim of this work was to compare the results of the national and international classifications of 18 soil profiles investigated at the toeslopes of Mountain Vukan, East-Central Serbia. The soils are mainly thick, formed on alluvial deposits, with a moderately high humus content, well-developed humus-accumulative horizons, and high base saturation. The WRB classification identified 16 profiles of Phaeozems; however, according to the NSCS, ten soil profiles correspond to Chernozems and eight to Eutric Cambisols. Five Cambic Chernic Phaeozems of the WRB correspond to Leached Chernozems and four to Eutric Cambisols. Three Cambic Phaeozems correspond to Leached Chernozems and two to Eutric Cambisols. In Serbia, Leached and Brownized varieties of Chernozems might be the closest to Phaeozems if they fulfill mollic and intermediate horizons criteria. In this work, we indicated that many Serbian soils may belong to Phaeozems, such as Calcareous and Gleyic varieties of Chernozems, Non-calcareous and Calcareous Humofluvisols, etc. Soil investigation in the WRB requires detailed soil description and quantitative verification. The attempts to correlate the two systems in Serbia were not very accurate because of the missing data on soils. The importance of Phaeozems is outstanding because they are highly-fertile soils prone to degradation, which probably cover more than 300,000 ha or ~6% of agricultural land in Serbia.