General description of the sampling techniques and the sites investigated in the Fennoscandinavian podzolization project

A 3-year project focusing on the fundamental processes of podzolization was carried out on three sampling sites in northern Fennoscandinavia. The soils were selected based on the previous information of the soil properties to represent typical soils in the area. In this article, the post-glacial history of the sites, site vegetation and general properties of the soils, as well as the methods used are presented. Two of the sites were classified as Typic HapLocryods and one as an Entic Haplocryod. The post-glacial age of the sites was between 9000 and 9500 years BP and the parent material was glacial till in one of the sites and glaciofluvial material in two of them. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.