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Chernozem ( ), also called black soil, regur soil or black cotton soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very soil fertility soil and can produce high agricultural yields with its high moisture-storage capacity. Chernozems are a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB).
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The name comes from the Russian language terms for black (чёрный čjornyj) and soil, earth or land (земля zemlja).
Studies of the steppe soils of the Poltava Oblast in the Russian Empire in 1883, conducted by geologist Vasily Dokuchaev, showed that the peasants called all soils by color, so the scientist began to use such names.Бережняк М.Ф. Ґрунтознавство: Навч. посіб. /М.Ф. Бережняк, Б.Є. Якубенко, А.М. Чурілов, Р.В. Сендзюк. // За заг. ред. Якубенка Б.Є. – К.:
Видавництво Ліра-К, 2017. – 612 с. ISBN 978-617-7507-96-2 Chernozem was black in color due to the large amount of organic matter. Dokuchaev was the first to describe the chernozem of the European part of the Russian Empire, and discovered its fertility.Dokuchaev V. V. Russian Chernozem (1883) // Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd. (for USDA-NSF), S. Monson, Jerusalem, 1967. (Translated from Russian into English by N. Kaner)
It is distinct from the similar terra preta of the Amazon rainforest.
Chernozem covers about 230 million of land. There are two "chernozem belts" in the world. One is the Eurasian Steppe that extends from eastern Croatia (Slavonia), along the Danube (northern Serbia, northern Bulgaria (Danubian Plain), southern and eastern Romania (Wallachian Plain and Moldavian Plain), and Moldova, to northeast Ukraine across the Central Black Earth Region of Central Russia and Southern Russia into Siberia. The other stretches from the Canadian Prairies in Manitoba through the Great Plains of the United States as far south as Kansas. Ecology of Arable Land – Perspectives and Challenges by M. Clarholm and L. Bergström
Chernozem layer thickness may vary widely, from several centimetres up to 1.5 metres (60 inches) in Ukraine, Ukraine: Soils in Encyclopædia Britannica as well as the Red River Valley region in the northern United States and Canada (location of the prehistoric Lake Agassiz).
The terrain can also be found in small quantities elsewhere (for example, in 1% of Poland, Hungary, and Texas). It also exists in Northeast China, near Harbin. The only true chernozem in Australia is located around Nimmitabel, some of the richest soils on the continent.KG McQueen. " The Tertiary Geology And Geomorphology Of The Monaro: The Perspective In 1994" Centre For Australian Regolith Studies, Canberra 1994
Previously, there was a black market for the soil in Ukraine. The sale of agricultural land was illegal in Ukraine from 1992 to 2020, but the soil, transported by truck, could be traded legally. According to the Kharkiv-based Green Front NGO, the black market for illegally acquired chernozem in Ukraine was projected to reach approximately US$900 million per year in 2011. Black market for rich black earth, Kyiv Post (9 November 2011)
Chernozemic soil type "equivalents", in the Canadian system, WRB, and U.S. Department of Agriculture soil taxonomy:
As seen in the list above, the 19th and 20th-century discussions on the pedogenesis of Chernozem originally stemmed from climatic conditions from the early Holocene to roughly 5500 BC. However, no single paleo-climate reconstruction could accurately explain geochemical variations found in Chernozems throughout central Europe. Evidence of anthropomorphic origins of stable pyrogenic carbon in Chernozem led to improved formation theories. Vegetation burning could explain Chernozem's high magnetic susceptibility, the highest of the major soil types.
Humification can darken soils (melanization) absent a pyrogenic carbon component. Given the symphony of Pedogenesis processes that contribute to the formation of dark earth, Chernozem summarizes different types of black soils with the same appearance but different formation histories.
Canadian and United States soil classification
Chernozemic soils are a soil type in the Canadian system of soil classification and the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB).
Chernozemic Kastanozem, Chernozem, Phaeozem Mollisol Brown Chernozem Kastanozem (Aridic) Aridic Mollisol subgroups (Xerolls and Ustolls) Dark Brown Chernozem Haplic Kastanozem Typic Mollisol subgroups Black Chernozem Chernozem Udic Mollisol subgroups Dark Grey Chernozem Greyzemic Phaeozem Boralfic Mollisol subgroups, Albolls Source: Pedosphere.com .
Theories of Chernozem origin
(2025). 9780128092392, Academic Press. ISBN 9780128092392 Soil magnetism increases when soil minerals goethite and ferrihydrite convert to maghemite on exposure to heat. Temperatures sufficient to elevate maghemite on a landscape scale indicate the influence of fire. Given the rarity of such natural phenomena in the modern day, magnetic susceptibility in Chernozem likely relates to control of fire by early humans.
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