Soils of the European Union - European Soil Portal - Europa

4.13 KastanozemsGeographical distributionKastanozems cover just over 3,500 km 2 in the European Union which is less than one per thousand of its total soilresources. Kastanozems are present as dominant soils only in 11 polygons, each in eastern Romania. They are associatedsoils in 3 polygons in Germany and form inclusions to 88 associations in Portugal and Greece.Kastanozems of the European Union can be characterized by qualifiers Calcic, Haplic and Luvic (Table 4.13,, Figure4.13.). Calcic Kastanozems are the most important among them, covering nearly 95% of the total Kastanezom area.Table 4.13 Area of the second level units of KastanozemsUnits in the Reference Soil Groupin the EUCodes ofsoil unitsArea in the EUkm 2Calcic Kastanozem KScc 3343Haplic Kastanozem KSha 46Luvic Kastanozem KSlv 143Among the three soil units in the Kastanozem Reference Soil Group of Europe, those with Calcic properties can be foundin Romania and Greece. The German Kastanozems fall into the Haplic soil unit, while the Luvic Kastanozems of the EUare located in Portugal.1.30% 4.05% KSccKShaKSlv94.65%Global referenceFigure 4.13 Share of the second level soil units in the area of KastanozemsKastanozems occur mainly in the dry parts of the permanent grassland (steppe) regions of the world (the Great Plains of theUSA, Mexico, the pampas of Latin America and the Eurasian short-grass-steppe-belt). The estimated total extent ofKastanozems is at about 4.65 million km 2 .Kastanozems have a deep, dark coloured surface horizon with a significant accumulation of organic matter, high pH and anaccumulation of calcium carbonate within 100 cm of the soil surface. The morphology of dark Kastanozems is not verydifferent from that of the southern, drier Chernozems whereas the light Kastanozems of the south grade into Calcisols.Climatic gradients in the Kastanozem belt are visible from pedogenic features. In Russia, the darkest surface horizons occurin the north of the Kastanozem belt (bordering on the Chernozems) whereas soils with shallower and lighter colouredhorizons are more abundant in the south. The differentiation between horizons is clearer in the north than in the south inline with decreasing length and intensity of soil formation as conditions become more arid.The typical arable land use is the production of small grains and irrigated cashcrops and vegetables. Kastanozem are alsoused for extensive grazing. Kastanozems are threatened by different forms of erosion and are often subjects ofdesertification processes.The name of Kastanozem originates from the Latin, castanea (chestnut) and Russian zemlja (earth, land). Internationalsynonyms are (Dark) Chestnut Soils (Russia), (Dark) Brown Soils (Canada), and Ustolls and Borolls in the Order of theMollisols (Soil Taxonomy).36