Brown Earth

• Deciduous forest vegetation


  • Provides deep leaf litter, which is broken down rapidly in mild/warm climate
• Trees

  • Have roots which penetrate deep into the soil, ensuring the recycling of minerals back to the vegetation
• Soil organisms


  • Break down leaf litter producing mildly acidic mull humus
  • Ensure the mixing of the soil, aerating it and preventing the formation of distinct layers within the soil
• Climate

  • Precipitation slightly exceeds evaporation, giving downward leaching of the most soluble minerals and the possibility of an iron pan forming, impeding drainage
• Rock type


  • Determines the rate of weathering, with hard rocks such as schist taking longer to weather, producing thinner soils
  • Softer rocks, eg shale, weather more quickly
• Relief


  • Greater altitude results in temperatures and the growing season being reduced and an increase in precipitation
  • Steeper slopes tend to produce thinner soils due to gravity
• Drainage

  • Well drained with throughflow and little accumulation of excess water collecting, producing limited leaching
• A horizon


  • Rich in nutrients, caused by the relatively quick decomposition of the litter of deciduous leaves and grasses in a mild climate
  • Produces a mull humus, well mixed with the soil minerals thanks to the activity of organisms such as worms
• Soil colour

  • Varies from black humus to dark brown in A horizon to lighter brown in B horizon where humus content is less obvious
• Soil texture

  • Loamy and well-aerated in the A horizon but lighter in the B horizon
• C horizon


  • Derived from a range of parent material, with limestone producing lighter-coloured alkaline soils