Classification of Soils of Finland According to Soil Taxonomy Markku VIi-Halla and Delbert L. Mokma 1 Abstract Twenty-nine pedons in eleven locations in the southern half of Finland were described and classified according to the soil taxonomy. All but five of the pedons were located in agricultural land. Mollic, ochric, umbric and histic epipedons, albic, spodic and cambic subsurface horizons were identified and sulfidic materials were found. Cryaquepts prevail in the clayey soils .while Haplocryolls and Dystrocryepts are common in more coarse-textured cultivated soils. Cryosaprists, Haplocryods, Cryopsamments, a CryaquoU, an Eutrocryept and a Sulfaquent also were found. Soils have been classified according to pedogenic characteristics for nearly 100 yr in the USA and several other countries. Rather than considering pedogenic characteristics (cf. Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 1996 and 1998), Finland and other countries classify soils based on organic matter (OM) and texture of the upper 50 em. In the national system of soil classification in Finland organogenic soils have more than 20% OM and mineral soils < 20% OM. Mineral soils are divided into clay soils (>30% of clay), silt soils, fme sand soils and sand soils, and till soils. All these major classes have subdivisions. A limited number of soils in Finland are classified according to soil taxonomy. Podzolized forest soils of eastern Finland have tentatively been classified as Spodosols (Mount et aI., 1995), Typic Sulfaquepts, and Sulfic Cryaquepts have been identified on the western coast of Finland (Yli-Halla, 1997). The objective of this study is to begin to make a list of taxonomic units, classified according to soil taxonomy that occur in agricultural lands in southern and central Finland. The pedons were classified using the most recent version of Keys To Soil Taxonomy ( Soil Surv. Staff, 1998). Finland Finland (59°48'30"-70°5'30" N lat, 20°33'17"-31°35'20'" E long) is locat- ed in northern Europe and has an area of338 000 km 2 and a population of5 mil- lion. Most of the land surface is covered by pine and spruce forests (Table I). Even though Finland is famous for its thousands of lakes,. inland waters occupy only 10% of the area. The geology and surficial deposits in Finland were described by Mount et aI. (1995) and (Kujansuu and Niemeld, 1992). Climate in the very northern parts of Finland is harsh and there are large open treeless areas. These areas together with open wetlands are included in "other uses" in Table 1. Despite the small total amount of agricultural areas in southern and western Finland, there are counties in which more than 30% of the land may be arable. In I Senior Researcher, Agricultural Research Centre of Finland, FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland; Professor of Soil Science, Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, M148824-132S. 59 Published August 4, 2015