ABSTRACT
Hungary is one of the pedologically most studied countries in Europe. Though its territory is small, Hungary possesses a great variety of soils. A demand for soil classification was determined both by the needs of scientific soil research and practical soil mapping. The current official soil classification of Hungary is one of the last systems in Europe designed in the old style based mainly on the assumptions on soil genesis. It does not use diagnostic horizons and has practically no artificial terms. The lower taxa are developed in detail to be effective for soil survey at any scale. As there is no major soil survey activity going on, the current official system is applied mainly for land evaluation and soil conservation planning. Because of the need for harmonized soil information in the EU, education about the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) became necessary. The younger generation of soil scientists is familiar with both the national and WRB systems. The Hungarian soil classification was developed mostly for mapping soils of agricultural lands of the country, and does not include urban soils or technogenically disturbed substrates (Table 16.1). Bare rock and underwater sediments are not recognized as soils. The scope of soil classification of Hungary
|
Superficial bodies |
Representation in the system |
|---|---|
|
Natural soils |
National coverage |
|
Urban soils |
Not included in the classification |
|
Man-transported materials |
Not included in the classification |
|
Bare rock |
Not considered as soils |
|
Subaquatic soils |
Not considered as soils |
|
Soils deeply transformed by agricultural activities |
Classified as if they are natural soils |
