| dc.description.abstract |
Technological development and rapid growth of the human population in the world
increasingly a§ect the transformation of the natural environment. One of the main
ecosystem components, which undergoes irreversible changes is the soil cover in
urban and industrial areas. The extent and type of changes in the soil depend on
many factors: duration, intensity and the land use, properties of primary soils or
reclamation techniques. Urban or industrial soils are dominated or strongly a§ected
by human-made material and exhibit a high spatial heterogeneity. Their properties
and pedogenesis are mainly related to technical origin. These soils are more likely
to be contaminated than soils from other groups. Even when the environment of urban
or industrial areas is essentially changed, the technically transformed soils can
still fulfill the same ecological functions as natural soils. Advancing our knowledge
about these soils is essential for spatial planning, optimal use of resources and can
bring considerable benefits resulting in the improvement of life quality in the cities.
This book provides an extensive database on urban and industrial soils from the
following countries: Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The main objective
of this study was to present a great diversity of transformations in the investigated
soils. Most of the presented examples meet the criteria of Technosols – one of
the Reference Soil Groups in the WRB classification system. The above-mentioned
RSG includes only pedons with a very high degree of technogenic disturbances. For
this reason, a broader term is proposed − ’technogenic soils‘ − to describe all urban
and industrial soils. The collected data will allow greater understanding of processes
taking place in human-made ecosystems and will be a useful tool in soil-science
teaching. |
