Slope processes and alpine soils

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FRAGILE ALPINE ENVIRONMENTS

Soil classification

Soils with similar characteristics and horizons form a soil type. There is no systematic approach specifically for mountain soils. Soil classifications have generally been developed for purposes in agriculture and forestry in the lowlands. Moreover, soil classifications generally show a national character, therefore differing much from each other. Only a few international soil classifications are available. These main representatives are the Soil Taxonomy from the United States (USDA 1999) and the FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World (FAO-UNESCO 1994). Since 1998, the World Reference Base for Soils has been developed, which is very similar to the FAO classification. In the context of this course, we will use the WRB, briefly summarized in the following table, which also provides explanations of the major soil groups.

In order to receive more information about the soil characteristics, click on the soil type.

Selected soil groups that are frequent in alpine regions (based on WRB)
Major soil groups	Main characteristics
Andosols	Soils formed by materials rich in volcanic glass
Cambisols, Umbrisols	Soils with a brown horizon resulting from mineral weathering
Cryosols	Soils with surface near permafrost (< 1 m)
Fluvisols	Soils of floodplains and alluvial deposits
Histosols	Soils rich in organic matter
Leptosols	Weakly developed, shallow soils
Luvisols, Acrisols	Soils with illuvial clay accumulation in the subsoil
Podzols	Soils with a heavily bleached horizon, resulting from the eluviation of humic acids and oxides or hydroxides of iron and aluminum, which are accumulated in the subsoil
Regosols	Weakly developed soils with an Ah-horizon overlying unconsolidated material
Solonchaks	Saline soils, rich in NaCl
Solonetz	Saline soils, rich in Na

29 August 2011 © ALPECOLe 2002-2007