20181025

Author : 
Dustin L. Herrmann, Laura A. Schifman, and William D. Shuster

Year : 2018

Title : Widespread loss of intermediate soil horizons in urban landscapes

Journal :  PNAS

Comment 


Urbanization processes modify ecosystem function by changing the layers of soils identified as soil horizons. Soil horizons are integrative proxies for suites of soil properties and as such can be used as an observable unit to track modifications within soil profiles. 

Here, in an analysis of 11 cities representing 10 of the 12 soil orders, they show that urban soils have ∼50% fewer soil horizons than preurban soils. Specifically, B horizons were much less common in urban soils and were replaced by a deepening of A horizons and a shallowing of C horizons. This shift is likely due to two processes: (i) local management, i.e., soil removal, mixing, and fill additions, and (ii) soil development timelines, i.e., urbanized soils are young and have had short time periods for soil horizon development since urbanization (decades to centuries) relative to soil formation before urbanization (centuries to millennia).

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