Pedosphere 27(4): 758--768, 2017
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2017 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
Characterization of some calcareous soils from Henan and their proposed classification in Chinese Soil Taxonomy
JU Bing1, WU Kening1, ZHANG Ganlin2, David G. ROSSITER2,3 and LI Ling4
1School of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083 (China)
2State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China)
3Section of Soil and Crop Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14850 (USA)
4 College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450000 (China)
ABSTRACT
      Calcareous soils are those soils containing layers of carbonate accumulation formed by either secondary accumulation or inheritance of CaCO3 from calcareous parent materials. These soils are widely distributed in arid, semi-arid and even some humid climate environments. However, in the Chinese Soil Taxonomy (CST, 3rd version), the soils that contain large amounts of CaCO3 but do not meet requirements of Aridosols are classified as Hapli-Ustic Cambosols. This group also includes many non-calcareous soils and those soils strongly affected by secondary carbonate accumulation together with quite dissimilar soils in terms of their morphology and properties. This study was conducted to determine calcification patterns and calcic processes occurring in representative pedons of calcareous soils in northwestern Henan Province, China and to classify these soils in CST. A Calcic subgroup was proposed to add within the Hapli-Ustic Cambosols. A diagnostic key was also provided to separate this subgroup from the Typic subgroup. In this way the different calcification degrees of soils were better reflected in the classification, which should lead to more uniform interpretive groups for better soil management.
Key Words:  CaCO3, calcic evidence, Calcic Hapli-Ustic Cambosols, calcic horizon, calcification, hypercalcic horizon, parent material
Citation: Ju, B., Wu, K., Zhang, G., Rossiter, G. and Li, L. 2017. Characterization of some calcareous soils from Henan and their proposed classification in Chinese Soil Taxonomy. Pedosphere. 27(4): 758-768.
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