Chernozem
| Chernozem | |
|---|---|
| Chernozemic soil | |
 | |
| Chernozem field in Black Dirt Region of Orange County, New York, United States | |
| Used in: | WRB, other |
| WRB code: | CH |
| Profile: | AhBC |
| Parent material: | Loess |
| Climate: | Humid continental |
Chernozem (from Russian: чернозём, tr. chernozyom; IPA: [tɕɪrnɐˈzʲɵm] or Ukrainian: чорнозем, translated as "black soil, dirt or earth") is a black-coloured soil containing a high percentage of humus[1] (7% to 15%), and high percentages of phosphoric acids, phosphorus and ammonia. Chernozem is very fertile and produces a high agricultural yield.
Distribution
There are two "Chernozem belts" in the world: from eastern Croatia (Slavonia), along the Danube (northern Serbia, northern Bulgaria (Danubian Plain) and southern Romania (Wallachian Plain), Moldova to northeast Ukraine across the Black Earth Region, Voronezh region and southern Russia into Siberia, and the other in the Canadian Prairies. Similar soil types occur in Texas and Hungary. Chernozem layer thickness may vary widely, from several inches up to 60 inches (1.5 metres) in Ukraine.[2] The terrain can also be found in small quantities elsewhere (for example, on 1% of Polish territory). It also exists in Northeast China, near Harbin.
The sale of agricultural land has been illegal in Ukraine since 1992; despite this, there is a black market for chernozem soil, sold in trucks, with approximately $900 million in annual sale.[3]
Canadian and United Nations soil classification
Chernozemic soils are a soil type in the Canadian system of soil classification and the United Nations' FAO soil classification.
| Chernozemic soil type equivalents, in Canadian, FAO, and USA soil taxonomy | ||
| Canadian | FAO | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Chernozemic | Kastanozem, Chernozem, Greyzem, Phaeozem | Borolls |
| Brown Chernozem | Kastanozem (aridic) | Aridic Boroll subgroups |
| Dark Brown Chernozem | Kastanozem (Haplic) | Typic Boroll subgroups |
| Black Chernozem | Chernozem | Udic Boroll subgroups |
| Dark Grey Chernozem | Greyzem | Boralfic Boroll subgroups, Albolls |
| Source: Pedosphere.com. |
History
Theories of chernozem origin:
- 1763 — Mikhail Lomonosov: "And so, there is no doubt that black soil is not primordial matter, but that it has been produced by the decomposition of animal and plant bodies over time".[4]
- 1799 — Peter Simon Pallas (reeds marsh)
- 1840 — Roderick Murchison — (Sea. Jurassic clay)
- 1850 — Karl Eichwald (peat)
- 1851 — А. Petzgold (Swamps)
- 1852 — Nikifor Borisyak (peat)
- 1853 — Vangengeim von Qualen (silt from northern swamps)
- 1862 — Rudolf Ludwig (Bog on place of forests)
- 1879 — First chernozem papers translated from Russian[5]
- 1883 — Vasily Dokuchaev published book "Russian Chernozem" with complete study of this soil in European part of Russia.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ "chernozem". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ↑ Ukraine: Soils in Encyclopedia Britannica
- ↑ Black market for black earth, Kyiv Post (9 November 2011)
- ↑ Lomonosov M. V. § 125. // On the strata of the Earth: a translation of “O sloiakh zemnykh” (1763) / translated by S. M. Rowland, S. Korolev. Boulder: Geological Soc. of America, 2012. 41 p. (Special paper; 485)
- ↑ Dokoutchaief B. Tchernozème (terre noire) de la Russie d'Europe. St.-Ptb.: Soc. Imp. libre économ., 1879. 66 p. (Comptes-rendus Soc. Imp. libre économ. T. 4).
- ↑ Dokuchaev V. V. Russian Chernozem (1883) // Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd. (for USDA-NSF), S. Monson, Jerusalem, 1967. (Translated from Russian into English by N. Kaner)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chernozem. |
The dictionary definition of chernozem at Wiktionary