Vertisols: Problems of Classification, Evolution,
and Spatial Self-Organization

I. V. Kovda¹ and L. P. Wilding²

¹ Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per. 29, Moscow, 119017 Russia

² Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA

Received July 9, 2004

Abstract—New concepts of Vertisols are systemized, and a critical analysis of the diagnostics of these soils in
major soil classification systems is given. It is shown that Vertisols are arranged in soil combinations that can
be referred to as soil complexes. A scheme of the evolution of Vertisol complexes is suggested, and the mech-
anisms ensuring their stability are discussed. It is demonstrated that Vertisols can be interpreted in the context
of the ideas about the heterochronous character of world soils and their paleohydromorphic nature that were
developed by V.A. Kovda.

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