Brown earth and podzol: soil genesis illuminated by microfossil analysis

Andersen, S. Th. 1979 03 01: Brown earth and podzol: soil genesis illuminated by microfossil analysis. Boreas , Vol. 8, pp. 59–73. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483.
Pollen and other plant microfossils were studied in soil profiles from a Fagus-Quercus petraea woodland in eastern Jutland, Denmark. Fungal hypha fragments in the soil show characteristic length frequency distributions, which indicate comminution by large arthropods and microarthropods (Oribatei) during the burial. Distribution of the hypha fragments within the podzol indicates development from a former brown earth. The pollen sequence in a humus deposit reflects recent vegetational development. Modification of pollen assemblages in the mineral soils can be explained by mixing during burial by soil fauna. Development from brown earth to podzoloid and podzol follows the models assumed by pedologists. The various stages are related to vegetational changes and the processes were completed within a few hundred years.