| Podzol | |
|---|---|
| Podsol, Podosol, Spodosol, Espodossolo | |
 The picture is of a stagnic podzol in upland Wales, and shows the typical sequence of organic topsoil with leached grey-white subsoil with iron-rich horizon below. This example has two weak ironpans. | |
| Used in | WRB, USDA soil taxonomy, others |
| WRB code | PZ |
| Profile | O(Ah)EBhsC |
| Key process | podzolization |
| Parent material | quartz rich debris and sediment |
| Climate | humid continental, subarctic, oceanic, equatorial |
| H: common O: always, has humified organic matter mixed with minerals A: absent in most boreal podzols[1] E: common, is ashen grey and leached in Fe and Al B: always, receives Fe and Al through illuviation C: common | |
In soil science, podzols, also known as podosols, spodosols, or espodossolos, are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on heathland, which is often a construct of human interference through grazing and burning. In some British moorlands with podzolic soils, cambisols are preserved under Bronze Age barrows.[2]
- ^ Podzols by Otto Spaargaren in Encyclopedia of Soil Science, pp. 580-582
- ^ Dimbleby, GW (1962). The Development of British Heathlands and Their Soils. Oxford Forestry Memoirs. Vol. 23. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 3814746.[page needed]