Cryaqualfs in Southern Finland

Cryaqualfs have not been identified in the United States. The great group was included in Soil Taxonomy for other countries. Scientists in Finland have thought that cold, wet environments hindered clay translocatlon in clayey soils. Thin, patchy clay films had been described only in one pedon near Helsinki in southern Finland. Thin sections were collected from B horizons of two pedons to verify the presence of illuvial clay. Illuvial clay was observed in thin sections of the B horizons of both pedons. The B horizon from the jokioinen pedon had more than 1% oriented clay in thin section, whereas the B horizon from the Helsinki pedon had clay films but less than 1% oriented clay in thin section. Translocation of clay most likely occurred after the soils had been artificially drained, especially after tile drainage was installed about 70 yr ago. We propose classifying the Jokioinen pedon as Aeric Cryaqualfs and the Helsinki pedons as Typic cryaqualfs.