Soil Order: Inceptisols By: Stephanie Nielsen

What are Inceptisols? Latin word inceptum meaning “beginning” Immature (young) soils Show minimal horizon development Have little clay, aluminum or iron oxide, or humus More developed and older than entisols Widely spread across many different ecological settings & climates Humid and subhumid regions Arable, decent drainage and erosion control

Inceptisols.. Make up 9.7% of US land area Supports around 20% of the world's population Largest of any soil orders 15% of global ice-free land area, only entisols are greater

Where are Inceptisols found? Distributed globally across many climates Found on: Steep slopes, mountains Young geomorphic surfaces susceptible to weathering Resistant parent materials Found in: Alaska Pacific Northwest Central Europe Throughout SA & Amazon Africa India & other parts of Asia

Inceptisol Suborders: Anthrepts: Soil modified by farming & human habitation. Aquepts: Wet Inceptisols, poor natural drainage. Water table at or near surface of soil some parts of the year. Used for cropland, pasture, and forests. Cryepts: Cold Inceptisols, found on high mountains and at high latitudes. High mountains of the West and Southern Alaska, grows mix of conifers and hardwood. Used as forest or cropland. Udepts: Freely drained former forest soils. Udic (subhumid to humid) or Perudic (Saturated with water, low oxygen). Can be used for agriculture or forest. Appalachian mountains, NE Minnesota. Ustepts: Freely drained, ustic (semi arid) moisture regime. Great plains. Cropland. Xerepts: Freely drained xeric (wet winter dry summer) moisture regime.

Diagnostic horizons if present Horizons just beginning to appear with slight color differences between them. Beginnings of a B horizon Umbric or Ochric epipedon Thick, dark, organic matter May have cambic subsurface horizon No illuvial horizon

Inceptisols Around the World http://geo.msu.edu/extra/soilprofiles/inceptisols.htm

Sources: https://www.uidaho.edu/cals/soil-orders/inceptisols https://www.britannica.com/science/Inceptisol https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/class/maps/?cid=nrcs142p2_053601 http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1130447032&topicorder=5&ma xto=14 https://hanjorifa.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/soil/