Soil Profiles
Latosol
Podsol
brown Earth
Soil Definitions!
Humification - Decomposition of organic matter into humus.
Chelation - The release of acids during humification, which attack the clay soil components.
Translocation - Movement of any component of the soil from one place to another by suspension
or solution.
Eluviation - Removal of particles in suspension.
Leaching - Removal of nutrients in solution.
Gleying - Seasonally waterlogged profile.
Calcification - Leaching does not remove all the calcium which, due to evaporation, forms nodules
as it rises up the profile.
Ferralitisation - The formation of clay, iron and aluminium complexes (See. Sesquioxides), due to
high rates of chemical weathering.
Salinisation - Evaporation causes sodium ions to dominate the upper horizons.
Sesquioxides - Clay, iron and aluminium complexes.
illuviation - Redeposition of leached and eluviated material.
Cheluvation - Rainwater, picking up organic compounds from vegetation or the surface layers of the
soil, is converted to a weak organic acid. The organic compounds in the soil are then able to combine
with other mineral elements to form Organo-mineral complexes. (See. Chelation).
Mor - A fibr /ous, acidic and nutrient-deficient soil. e.g. peat moorlands.