Soils formed from non-organic limnic materials and the anthropic influence on their classification, Texcoco, Mexico

Abstract

Soils formed from organic limnic materials (LM) are well documented, but few studies have considered inorganic LM, let alone their evolution into soils. The artificial drying of the ancient Lake Texcoco began more than a century ago, favoring the upwelling of hypersaline limnic sediments with amorphous volcanic materials and ostracods. The objectives are to scientifically classify soils formed from non-organic limnic materials that human activities have influenced and to designate their soil-forming processes according to their scientific names, as Bockheim and Gennadiyev (2000) have indicated. The soils formed in the former lake are complex and heterogeneous, with more than ten genetic characters per horizon; for example, the same horizon can be named 5BLtnqsez (ST) or 5Ctnzcqgαβγλ (WRB). The ST indicated the formation of Entisols, Inceptisols, Andisols, and Mollisols. The WRB designated the formation of Solonchaks, Fluvisols, Regosols, Solonetz, Phaeozems, Calcisols, Anthrosols, and Technosols with up to 11 qualifiers. Soil-forming processes are Salinization, Solonization, Solodization, Melanization, Anthrosolization, Calcification, Gleyization, and Sulphurization, and most of the characteristics are represented in the WRB. However, despite the valuable information provided by this study on the soil classification of non-organic limnic materials, further suffixes and criteria are required in the classification system to differentiate them from other diagnostic materials.