ARCHETYPES OF CATENAS IN RESPECT TO MATTER - A CONCEPT FOR STRUCTURING AND GROUPING CATENAS

Structuring soils on a landscape level of scale is a necessary prerequ isite for an extrapolation of point results to greater areas (upscalin g), not only in soil genetic research but also for ecological purposes . In this respect the catena concept provides a very useful paradigm t o decipher soil pattern and related regular trends in soil chemical pr operties on the landscape scale. Using this approach we created types of matter distribution out of frequently recurring patterns. Three arc hetypes of catenas can be distinguished for soil components depending on the (im-)mobilization processes and hydrological regimes: (i) trans formation catenas showing no gains or losses of the element/soil compo nent under study (only transformation processes working), (ii) leachin g carenas with losses in at least part of the catena and no accompanyi ng elemental gains in other parts, and (iii) accumulation catenas show ing gains in at least part of the catena but no losses elsewhere in th e catena. From a spatial regular pattern of element losses combined wi th gains in one catena a translocation catena can be inferred. Such ca tenas can be regarded as a subgroup of the leaching- or accumulation-t ype, but exclude the transformation-type. Catenas which cover geomorph ic units of distinctly different ages belong to the chrono catenas, a subgroup of either the transformation-, leaching-, or accumulation-typ e. The spatial arrangement and extension of depletion/accumulation are as and flow directions of translocated elements/soil components (down- /upslope) lead to a further subdivision of the catena types.