The first forty years of a Technosol

Abstract

Often soil formation is a very slow process that requires thousands and even millions of years. Human influence, occasionally on a par with the function of climate or geological forces, can accelerate the process and can be viewed as a distinct soil forming factor. This paper describes a soil, Haplic Regosol, in which the soil forming process is anthrosolization. Man-made soils, Technosols, were stabilized with techniques of ecological engineering (cribwalls). We measured the main soil properties and focused on the movement of water (the reduction of soil weight is the key factor in stabilizing these calcschists). Our Regosols after four years differentiated an A/C profile while after forty years an O/A/AB/Bw/BC/C profile. Our results indicate that colonization by plants and the consequent success of vegetation establishment is influenced mainly by control of the factor of pedogenesis ‘topography’ and by the ability of these Technosols to retain nutrients.