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Alfisols form in semiarid to humid areas, typically under a hardwood forest cover. They have a clay-enriched subsoil and relatively high native fertility. “Alf” refers to aluminum and iron.
Andisols are soils formed in volcanic ash and defined as soils containing high proportions of glass and amorphous colloidal materials, including allophane, imogolite, and ferrihydrite.
Aridisols form in an arid or semi-arid climate. Aridisols dominate the deserts and xeric shrublands.
Entisols are defined as soils that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon.
Gelisols are soils of very cold climates which are defined as containing permafrost within two meters of the soil surface.
Histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials.
Inceptisols form quickly through alteration of parent material. They have no accumulation of clays, iron oxide, aluminium oxide or organic matter. They have an ochric or umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon.
Mollisols form in semi-arid to semi-humid areas, typically under a grassland cover.
Oxisols best known for their occurrence in a tropical rain forest
Spodosols are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests.
Ultisols, commonly known as red clay soils. They are defined as mineral soils which contain no calcareous (calcium carbonate containing) material anywhere within the soil. Ultisols occur in humid temperate or tropical regions.
Vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them known as montmorillonite, that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years.
