permaculture

[Towne-Martindale <tomar@cybersol.com>]

Graham Burnett wrote:
> 
> i'm slightly confused- according to 'soul Of soil' by Gershunny + Smillie, 
> there are 10 zonal soil
> types in the world- Entisols, Vertisols, Inceptisols, Aridisols, Mollisols, 
> Spodosols, Alfisols,
> Ultisols, oxisols & Histosols... so far so good, but according to JRW 
> Cheattle's 'Guide To The
> British Landscape' (collins, 1980), in Britain only 2 zonal soil types are 
> found, Podzols and Brown
> Earth Soils- yet neither of these are in the former books' classification 
> listing- can somebody
> explain?
> 
> Sorry to appear ignorant, thanks,
> 
> Graham Burnett
>

If I remember correctly (20 years since undergraduate soil sciences) 
podzols are from an older system of soil classification and are roughly
equivalent to alfisols which develop under a temperate forest climate. 
Spodozols develop under northern coniferous forests.  This is just a
quick answer so don't take it as gospel!  Jon