3
Anthropic Soils
On land recontoured for new cities
on land after dump activities
on land where miners once did toil
there you’ll find Anthropic Soil
Abstract
Anthropic Soils comprise soils constructed by people to
achieve
engineering,
recreational,
agricultural,
land-rehabilitation, or waste-management goals. The
original soil may be recontoured, stripped (leaving a
truncated soil) and relocated, severely mixed, have
inorganic or organic spoil or refuse added ( 30 cm in
thickness), reformed into sports fields, or utilised in urban
amenity landscaping, rain gardens, or roof gardens. The
original character of the soil may be considerably altered,
thus there is no typical Anthropic Soil. Some are formed
as a result of careful planning and management for a
particular purpose and so may be an ‘improvement’ on
the original soil at the site. However, other Anthropic
Soils are an inadvertent side effect of human activities and
represent land that has been altered sufficiently for much,
or all, of the original soil character to be lost. Relatively
minor modifications (such as mixing an A-horizon by
ploughing) do not normally qualify the soil as an
Anthropic Soil. Four groups are recognised within
Anthropic Soils: Truncated, Refuse, Mixed, and Fill,
reflecting the mechanisms by which the soils were
constructed.
3.1 Important Features of Anthropic Soils
3.1.1 Concept and Key Features of the Soil
Order
Anthropic Soils are constructed, or severely disturbed, by
people (Fig. 3.1). Anthropic Soils may include materials
formed by (i) removing, or truncating, the natural soil,
(ii) deposition of inorganic or organic soil materials or refuse
that have thicknesses 30 cm, or (iii) by soil mixing.
Much, or all, of the character of the original soil may be lost.
New areas of Anthropic Soil are constantly being created
as a result of human activities such as urban development
and road construction. Some Anthropic Soils are formed as a
result of careful planning, including those on rehabilitated
mine land or urban development sites and some agricultural
soils, such as those recontoured to “improve” drainage or
topography. Well-managed constructed soils may have
improved productivity or versatility compared to the original
soil.
Other Anthropic Soils have been formed as an inadvertent
side effect of past human activities. For example sites where;
Māori discarded shells after dining on shellfish (middens),
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. E. Hewitt et al., The Soils of Aotearoa New Zealand, World Soils Book Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64763-6_3
41
Anthropic Soils
On land recontoured for new cities
on land after dump activities
on land where miners once did toil
there you’ll find Anthropic Soil
Abstract
Anthropic Soils comprise soils constructed by people to
achieve
engineering,
recreational,
agricultural,
land-rehabilitation, or waste-management goals. The
original soil may be recontoured, stripped (leaving a
truncated soil) and relocated, severely mixed, have
inorganic or organic spoil or refuse added ( 30 cm in
thickness), reformed into sports fields, or utilised in urban
amenity landscaping, rain gardens, or roof gardens. The
original character of the soil may be considerably altered,
thus there is no typical Anthropic Soil. Some are formed
as a result of careful planning and management for a
particular purpose and so may be an ‘improvement’ on
the original soil at the site. However, other Anthropic
Soils are an inadvertent side effect of human activities and
represent land that has been altered sufficiently for much,
or all, of the original soil character to be lost. Relatively
minor modifications (such as mixing an A-horizon by
ploughing) do not normally qualify the soil as an
Anthropic Soil. Four groups are recognised within
Anthropic Soils: Truncated, Refuse, Mixed, and Fill,
reflecting the mechanisms by which the soils were
constructed.
3.1 Important Features of Anthropic Soils
3.1.1 Concept and Key Features of the Soil
Order
Anthropic Soils are constructed, or severely disturbed, by
people (Fig. 3.1). Anthropic Soils may include materials
formed by (i) removing, or truncating, the natural soil,
(ii) deposition of inorganic or organic soil materials or refuse
that have thicknesses 30 cm, or (iii) by soil mixing.
Much, or all, of the character of the original soil may be lost.
New areas of Anthropic Soil are constantly being created
as a result of human activities such as urban development
and road construction. Some Anthropic Soils are formed as a
result of careful planning, including those on rehabilitated
mine land or urban development sites and some agricultural
soils, such as those recontoured to “improve” drainage or
topography. Well-managed constructed soils may have
improved productivity or versatility compared to the original
soil.
Other Anthropic Soils have been formed as an inadvertent
side effect of past human activities. For example sites where;
Māori discarded shells after dining on shellfish (middens),
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. E. Hewitt et al., The Soils of Aotearoa New Zealand, World Soils Book Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64763-6_3
41