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In many Mediterranean regions industrial activities have drastically affected soil evolution. As a case study, reference is made to an important Chemical Industrial District of southern Italy (Sardinia). Its setting up and development resulted in the formation of human-altered and human-transported (HAHT) soils, largely through physical-mechanical excavation, transportation and rolling out the original soils (Palexeralfs, Haploxeralfs), as well as mixing and covering them with innocuous artifacts referred to as human-transported materials (HTM). On this basis, research began with a view to evaluating the anthropogenic processes in addition to the main morphological and physical- chemical characteristics of HAHT soils as compared with reference soils (RefS), their pedovariability and the classification of HAHT soils through Soil Taxonomy. The anthro-pedoturbation induced by mixing HTM to preexistingpresently buried- soils has dramatically disturbed the "natural" pedogenetic evolution, and driven the pro-isotropic processes leading the HAHT soils to much more simplified morphology and homogenization of chemical-physical features, with an impressive loss of pedovariability. They currently meet the requirements for a "mantle" classifiable as Alfic Xerarents, as an expression of the "entisolization" that induced a taxonomic shiftfrom Alfisols to anthropogenic Entisols.
Abbreviations: CEC, cation exchange capacity; HAHT soils, human-altered and human-transported soils; HTM, human-transported material; ICOMANTH, International Committee for the Classification of Anthropogenic Soils; OC, organic carbon; RefS, reference soils.
The manipulation of "earthy materials" can result in dramatic effects that, through a process of soil "entisolization" (Dazzi, 1995), can take the soil back to t0 with the formation of "anthropogenic" soils (Dazzi and Monteleone, 2007; Evans et al., 2000) on which a "new" pedogenesis takes place. The term anthropogenic soil has been used in many different ways (Dudal, 2005; Dudal et al., 2002; Galbraith et al., 2007) but according to International Committee for the Classification of Anthropogenic Soils (ICOMANTH, 2003) it is defined as a soil that forms from anthropogenic materials, or has major properties and behavior that have been significantly altered by human activities and tools. ICOMANTH recently (ICOMANTH, 2011) proposed replacing term anthropogenic soil with references to these types of soils as HAHT. This was considered appropriate because all soil genesis processes are natural. Although humans may generate new materials and add them to the environment, these can only affect, and are instead unable to generate, biogeochemical processes...