Factors of pedogenesis

The factors of pedogenesis were defined in Chapter 1. They are the

features of the environment that influence the development of soils.

We shall study them further now. In theory, the subject is inexhaustible

because anything that affects the environment concerns the soil directly

or indirectly. Actually we will limit ourselves here to the essentials,

which all scientists should know in order to understand the genesis and

spatial organization of soils.

We shall follow the same plan for each factor. Firstly, we shall make

observations showing what acts on the soil. Then we shall attempt

to understand its mode of action without going into details of the

mechanisms. Lastly, we will examine the range of consequences in

regard to the types of soils and their geography.

2.1 CLIMATE

2.1.1 Observations

Dokuchaev, wanting to work objectively, demarcated the soils in Russia

with equal humus content—the isohumic soils—and published his map

in 1883. The master of pedology established that the soils richest in

humus, the black earths, the famous Chernozems (Chap. 14), extended

east–west. Dokuchaev knew how to generalize and realized that the

great groups of soils were organized by latitude, on the scale of Greater

Russia, according to the types of vegetation: soils of the tundras, of

coniferous forests, of broad-leaved forests, of steppes and of deserts.

Obviously the soils depended on the climate. Dokuchaev then thought

that the same zonality had to be found in the mountains, because the

climate there varied from the bottom to the top. He verified this roughly

by organizing expeditions in the mountain ranges (Caucasus, Altai, etc