Despite their importance and vulnerability, little is known about the soils in the calcareous karst systems in Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genesis of soils formed from calcareous parent materials and to characterize their properties, as a contribution to the Brazilian Soil Classification System (SiBCS). Three profiles located at footslope (P1), backslope (P2) and summit (P3) positions in a toposequence with slightly undulated relief, were studied in the Serra da Bodoquena, Mato Grosso do Sul State. All profiles were relatively deep, with dark brown surface horizons and reddish in the subsurface, clayey texture and increasing clay content in deeper layers. Calcium was the dominant exchangeable cation, and humin the main fraction of soil organic matter. Soil micromorphology showed clay illuviation features associated to CaCO3 accumulation. However, the CaCO3 levels were insufficient in the profiles to characterize a calcic or petrocalcic horizon or carbonatic diagnostic properties. The horizons in the profiles were arranged: A-Bt (P1); A-E-Bt (P2) and A-Bw (P3), and the evolution of the soil genesis in the order - P1> P2 > P3. According to the SiBCS, the profiles were classified as eutrophic Red Argisol (P1), dystric Red Argisol (P2), and eutrophic Tb Haplic Cambisol (P3) (equivalent to Udalf, Udult and Udept sub-orders in the USDA Soil Taxonomy, respectively). For all profiles, at the family level the class medium activity clay (Tm) was applied, validating a recent proposal to the SiBCS.
karst system; Brazilian Soil Classification System; soil micromorphology
