|Chernozem field in Black Dirt Region of Orange County, New York, United States|
|Used in:||WRB, other|
|Climate:||Humid continental|
Chernozem (from Russian: чернозём, tr. chernozyom; IPA: [tɕɪrnɐzʲɵˈm] or Ukrainian: чорнозем, tr. chornozem, Ukrainian pronunciation: [tʃornoˈzɛm]), "black dirt" or "black earth", is a black-coloured soil containing a high percentage of humus (7% to 15%), and high percentages of phosphoric acids, phosphorus and ammonia. Chernozem is very fertile and produces a high agricultural yield.
There are two "Chernozem belts" in the world: from eastern Croatia (Slavonia), along the Danube (northern Serbia, northern Bulgaria (Danubian Plain) and southern Romania (Wallachian Plain)), to northeast Ukraine across the Black Earth Region and southern Russia into Siberia, and the other in the Canadian Prairies. Similar soil types occur in Texas and Hungary. Chernozem layer thickness may vary widely, from several inches up to 60 inches (1.5 metres) in Ukraine. The terrain can also be found in small quantities elsewhere (for example, on 1% of Polish territory). It also exists in Northeast China, near Harbin.
Canadian and United Nations soil classification
|Chernozemic soil type equivalents, in Canadian, FAO, and USA soil taxonomy|
|Chernozemic||Kastanozem, Chernozem, Greyzem, Phaeozem||Borolls|
|Brown Chernozem||Kastanozem (aridic)||Aridic Boroll subgroups|
|Dark Brown Chernozem||Kastanozem (Haplic)||Typic Boroll subgroups|
|Black Chernozem||Chernozem||Udic Boroll subgroups|
|Dark Grey Chernozem||Greyzem||Boralfic Boroll subgroups, Albolls|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chernozem.|
The dictionary definition of chernozem at Wiktionary