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 prerequisite for an extrapolation of point results to greater areas (upscaling), not only in soil genetic research but also for ecological purposes. In this respect the catena concept provides a very useful paradigm to decipher soil pattern and related regular trends in soil chemical properties on the landscape scale. Using this approach we created types of matter distribution out of frequently recurring patterns. Three archetypes of catenas can be distinguished for soil components depending on the (im-)mobilization processes and hydrological regimes: (i) transformation catenas showing no gains or losses of the element/soil component under study (only transformation processes working), (ii) leaching carenas with losses in at least part of the catena and no accompanying elemental gains in other parts, and (iii) accumulation catenas showing gains in at least part of the catena but no losses elsewhere in the catena. From a spatial regular pattern of element losses combined with gains in one catena a translocation catena can be inferred. Such catenas can be regarded as a subgroup of the leaching- or accumulation-type, but exclude the transformation-type. Catenas which cover geomorphic units of distinctly different ages belong to the chrono catenas, a subgroup of either the transformation-, leaching-, or accumulation-type. The spatial arrangement and extension of depletion/accumulation areas and flow directions of translocated elements/soil components (down-/upslope) lead to a further subdivision of the catena types.