Arenosols are sandy soils, developed on quartzose (and sometimes calcareous) sands of diverse origins, for example from residual materials remaining after the long term weathering of acid rocks, from aeolian deposits, or from fluviatile sediments including post glacial deposits. The following account follows FAO (2001).
Connotation. Sandy soils; from L. arena, sand.
Synonyms. Arenosols are equivalent to ‘siliceous, earthy and calcareous sands’ and various ‘podzolic soils’ (Australia), ‘red and yellow sands’ (Brazil) and the Arenosols of the FAO Soil Map of the World. In Soil Taxonomy Arenosols occur in part as Psamments and Psammaquents, and when deep, with an argic or spodic horizon within 200 cm from the surface, as ‘grossarenic’ subgroups within the alfisol, ultisol and spodosol orders. In France Arenosols correlate with taxa within the “Classe des sols minéraux bruts” and the “Classe des sols peu évolués”.
Definition. Essentially sandy soils developed on sandy parent materials,...
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Bibliography
FAO, 2001. Lecture notes on the major soils of the world. World Soil Resources Reports, 94. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 334 pp.
Zech, W., and Hintermaier‐Erhard, G., 2007. Soils of the World. Heidelberg, Berlin Springer‐Verlag, 130 pp.
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Dahlgren, R.A. et al. (2008). Arenosols. In: Chesworth, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3995-9_34
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