Terra Rossa (soil) - Red Mediterranean

Red Mediterranean

In pedology, red Mediterranean soil, also known as terra rossa (Italian for "red soil") is a soil classification that has been formally superseded by the formal classifications of systems such as the FAO soil classification, but that is still in common use. The terra rossa classification was still, as of 1997, a part of the national soil classifications of countries such as Israel and Italy. The UNESCO/FAO World map equivalents are the chromic luvisols (a sub-order of the luvisols), and the USDA soil taxonomy equivalent is the rhodustalfs (a sub-order of the ustalfs).

The classification denotes red-coloured soils (sometimes called "red rendzinas") which develop in or on the karstic landscape of the limestones of the Miocene and earlier periods, as well as calcretes in regions where the modern Mediterranean climate is predominant. The most accelerated development of red Mediterranean soils occurred from the Miocene to the Late Pleistocene, due to the large amount of climate fluctuation in those periods.

Terra rossa occurs in areas where heavy rainfall dissolves carbon from the calcium carbonate parent rock and silicates are leached out of the soil to leave residual deposits that are rich in iron hydroxides, the cause of the red colour. Such areas are usually depressions within the limestone, or areas where the vegetation is garrigue (low-lying scrub).