Humusica 2, Article 14: Anthropogenic Soils and Humus Systems

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present a sort of state of the art from a soil classification point of view. How far are soils from their original natural state? A few years ago, the two most important soil classification systems added a classification of anthropogenic soils. Even so, the concept of anthropogenic soil differs slightly in the two systems, it is easy to recognize these soils all around us, in both urban and agricultural contexts. After presenting the main types of anthropogenic soil, using the WRB or Soil Taxonomy characteristics, we will focus on anthropogenic humipedons, presenting a table where they are subdivided into two new units called Agro (natural topsoils used for agricultural purposes) and Techno (human-made humus systems). This allows to conceptually compare soil and humipedon classifications, and prepares the field for further investigations on Agro (Humusica 2, art. 15) and Techno (Humusica 2, art. 16) humipedons.