In an attempt to elucidate the course of soil genesis on land which now carries heath, over thirty sites have been investigated, many of them archaeological sites of various ages. Present-day heathland soils and the soils buried beneath earthworks have been examined by pollen analysis and recorded by colour photography and other means. It is concluded that though a few of the soils have been podzols since the Atlantic period, the majority are secondary, having arisen as a result of man's assault on the landscape, particularly in Bronze Age times. The causes of this change in the course of soil development, the onset of podzolization in what had previously been a brown forest soil, were examined as far as the evidence allowed. It became apparent that there was no absolute correlation with climate, nor was vegetation closely correlated, except in so far as change followed the destruction of the original woody vegetation. Parent material alone was a critical factor in only a few cases, but it was found that topsoil material which had been subjected to prehistoric human influences was much more readily podzolized than subsoil. The nature of the soil degradation and the complex of factors leading to it is discussed, but it is not possible on the evidence to give an estimate of the relative importance of these factors. It is pointed out that for stability to be restored, especially if it is proposed to crop such land, the depredations of the past must be made good and some attempt made to exclude those aspects of treatment that have in the past led to degradation. In particular, where soil regeneration is to be seen, it may be assumed that desirable biotic relationships are being reestablished, and attention is drawn to the conditions under which such soil regeneration is found today.

The development of British heathlands and their soils PDF

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