Genesis and evolution of black soil in the Eastern Mediterranean

The knowledge about the genesis and evolution of black soil in the eastern Mediterranean is vital for sustainable land management, as well as to reveal the current and past climate condition that were vital for their evolution and developing. The importance of studying this type of soil because their occurrence is rare in the semi-arid environment, Also in its environment, many answers lie to the conditions of formation and type of ancient climate that prevailed during its developing. The black soils currently present in the eastern Mediterranean were studied in different Bioclimate areas and were found to be genetically belonging to two broad of soils categories; 1-organic black soils, 2-soil with intense biological activity. For the black organic soils, two forming factors are shaping the soil characteristics (color, depth), namely the parent material and the relief. The impact of parents is reflected in the emergence of different organic soils such as Rendzina on limestone, chalk, sandstone, conglomerates, and claystone. Reddish Rendzina on Dolomite and hard limestone. Grayish Rendzina on Serpentine. Haploxerolls (Calcic Chernozems) occurs on calcic marl and lacustrine deposits. Whereas the impact of relief was clear on the depth of soil, Typic Rendolls (Rendzina) on toe slope and feet slope, Lithic Rendolls (Para-Rendzina) on shoulders and Chernozems on a flat plain. The second category is an intensive biological activity soil found in the continuously irrigated flood plain for at least 2,500 years (Damascus Ghota) and in the oasis of Palmyra. This soil has high organic matter content due to long agriculture activity and great depth (>1m) by a very intense biological activity of animal reworked major part of the soil and consists mainly of worm casts. This soil meets the organic carbon requirement of a mollic epipedon, but not the color requirement.