Abstrakt
Chernozem is a soil type which can be characterised by a thick dark surface horizon. Such a horizon consists of organic matter and tends to changing into a carbonate horizon, or more often into a loess horizon.
Chernozem is being defined as a zonal soil that has developed under steppe vegetation in a dry continental climate. Nevertheless, chernozems can be also found in Central Europe, where there are no climatic conditions for the existence of any steppe.
This study is focused on the vegetation aspect of the pedogenesis of chernozems. There were three sorts of chernozems examined on their charcoal and pedological characteristics: the functional chernozems, the chernozems buried in Holocene and the chernozems buried in Pleistocene.
The charcoal examination has proved the presence of forest species in the areas of chernozems in different periods of time. The results of this study reveal that the high stability of soil organic matter has caused the persistence of chernozems in the areas with prevalent forest vegetation.