There are soils in northern part of the Masurian Lakeland and the Sępopolska Lowland that developed from fine-grained,  glacio-lacustrine sediments and are now used as arable land. The purpose of this study was to determine the content of macro- and microelements, exchangeable cations and cation exchange capacity of the soils in a catenary sequence. The following soil properties were determined: particle-size distribution, pH, content of total organic carbon and total nitrogen, total content of Ca, Mg, K, P, Na, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu and that of exchangeable cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, H+, Na+). According to the Polish Soil Classification 2019,  the soils on the top and in the upper parts of the slope in the studied catena were Humic vertisols, while the middle and lover parts of the slope comprised proper humic colluvial soils, and in the depression there were Murshic soils. According to the IUSS Working Group WRB 2015, the identified soils are Haplic Vertisols (Aric, Hypereutric, Endostagnic), Haplic Phaeozems (Aric, Colluvic) and Haplic Phaeozems (Aric, Colluvic, Pachic), Histosols (Hemic, Murshic, Eutric) and Histosols (Hemic, Murshic, Eutric, Mineralic). In the analysed soil catena, the soil texture as well as the distribution of macro- and microelements (except sodium and phosphorus) showed small variability between soil units. The soil’s particle-size distribution in the catenary sequence hardly varied. Contrary to moraine areas, there was no significant enrichment of colluvial soils with the clay and silt granulometric fractions. The main factors determining the distribution of macro- and microelements in the surface horizons of soils developed from clay is the process of vertilization and homogenization of soil material by mixing it during plowing. The amounts of exchangeable cations follow the order: Ca2+> Mg2+> H+> K+> Na+, with the highest content of base cations, cation exchange capacity and the highest base saturation in hemi-murshic soils. The research has confirmed the validity of distinguishing soils covered with mineral or mineral-organic sediments in the taxonomy of Polish soils.  

25.1.2020