| Numerous sites are described all over the world with soils fulfilling all requirements of andic soil properties developed in non-volcanic and non-allophanic parent materials, and in different bioclimatic zones. Up to now these soils are mainly assigned to Andisols/Andosols or andic Inceptisols in WRB and US Soil Taxonomy.
Common factors and properties of this group of soils are in general acid parent materials, advanced soil development, comparably high amounts of oxidic Fe and Al compounds, leaching environment, and a probably underestimated role of iron with respect to the specific soil properties, e.g. extremely stabile, pseudo-sand like micro-aggregates.
Considering the worldwide occurrence of these soils and the specificity of their physicochemical properties, I suggest soil forming processes and a new soil type clearly different from Andosols/Andisols in a narrow sense. |