Review article
https://doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/23.4.3598
Redoximorphic features as indicators of soil water regime
Vedran RUBINIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0003-2187-6952
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan BUBALO
; Student at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Goran DURN
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, Pierottijeva 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Soil water regime, as one of the key components of soil fertility, refers to the quantity, retention, and movement
of soil water. Rather than through expensive and/or time-consuming measurements, it can be assessed from the fieldobservable morphological properties in the soil profile. Excessively wetted soils have a specific morphology, and are
therefore often referred to as hydromorphic. Their morphology is caused by various soil redoximorphic features (RMFs),
resulting from the reduction, translocation, and oxidation of iron and manganese oxides. Hydromorphic soils largely
comprise Gleysols and Stagnosols (along with Gleyic Fluvisols) that are excessively wetted by groundwater, precipitation
and/or flooded water. Their morphology is often described/analyzed with different terms/criteria in line with their global
distribution. This complicates the comparison and classification of such soils and thus their use or reclamation. This
review paper describes and compares common RMFs and explains their formation. It then proposes the revised Croatian
terms for these features, which are in line with the terms used in the international soil classification systems of WRB
and/or Soil Taxonomy. Furthermore, the criteria/rules used for diagnosing RMFs when classifying hydromorphic soils
are critically reviewed. Finally, it is shown that a methodologically sound RMFs description can provide a quick insight
into the crucial soil water regime parameters, such as location and duration of soil saturation, the origin of the excess
soil water, recentness of excessive soil wetting, etc. However, depending on the research objectives and/or actual soil
conditions, field soil description cannot always fully replace continuous field monitoring of the soil water regime and/or
laboratory and micromorphological soil analyses.
Keywords
soil morphology; soil classification; hydromorphic soils; Gleysols; Stagnosols
Hrčak ID:
288322
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2022.
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