SULFUR STATUS OF SELECTED EUROPEAN FOREST SOILS AS DEPENDENT ON THE ATMOSPHERIC S DEPOSITION

Along a transect from the Pyrenees (SP), over the Vosges Mountains (FR ), the Black Forest and the Bavarian Forest (D), and the eastern Ore M ountains to the Iser-Mountains (CR) 10 representative forest soil form s derived from granite regolith and 1 developed from gneiss debris (Dy stic Cambisols, Leptic and Ferro-Humic Podzols) at montane and high-mo ntane elevation were analyzed for their concentrations and amounts of total sulfur and various S fractions in order to study the impact of t he atmospheric sulfur input, increasing from SW to NE, on the soil sul fur characteristics. Soils receiving low S inputs are generally charac terized by low amounts of inorganic (especially water soluble) sulfate . Most of their total S amount consists of organic sulfur. With increa sing S deposition, the concentrations of total S and C-S and the ratio s S-t/C-org, C-S/C-org and SO4-S-tot/C-org in the L-, Of- and Oh-horiz ons increase. The Aeh- and Ah-horizons of Cambisols and Podzols under different sulfur load do not differ with regard to the S parameters. T he B horizons of the northeastern soils affected by high sulfur deposi tion, however, are markedly enriched with adsorbed and water-soluble s ulfate and show comparably high ratios of sulfate S versus dithionite- extractable iron.