Podzols

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Soils formed under coniferous or heath vegetation in cool, humid climates, with a pale leached layer above a dark accumulation of iron and organic matter
2. Acidic forest soils that have a bleached surface horizon lying over a layer enriched with iron and aluminium compounds washed down from above
3. Light-coloured ground types whose topsoil has lost minerals through leaching, leaving a characteristic ash-grey eluvial layer over a reddish-brown subsoil

Etymology: Podzols are named for ash, though no fire is involved. The Russian word "подзол" (podzól) is built from "под" (pod), meaning "under", and "зола" (zolá), meaning "ash". Russian soil scientists used it for the pale, grey, leached layer that lies beneath the forest litter in cool, wet northern woodlands, which looks like ash that has been washed clean of its darker material. English borrowed the term from Russian, and the plural "podzols" simply refers to more than one such soil. The name records a resemblance rather than a process: the bleached layer seemed to lie under the ground the way ashes lie under a hearth.

Synonyms: spodosol