韓国の土壌と農業 : その2

抄録

The Republic of Korea (Korea), a southern part of the Korean Peninsula extending almost directly southward from northern China, has the total land area of 98,478km^2 of which 67% is covered by forest and 22.7% is being cultivated. The environmental characteristics of Korea vary from south to north. It has a hot, wet summer and a cold, dry winter. The distribution of forest vegetation can be divided into five categories : warm-temperate evergreen lucidophyll forest, warm-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest (southern subzone and northern subzone), cool-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest, and subarctic coniferous forest. The general landscape of Korea is mountaineous or hilly. Granites and Gneises of the late Archeozoic era cover almost the surface geology The reconnaissance soil survey was finished between 1965 and 1967 and the detailed soil survey has been continuing since 1964. The reconnaissance soil maps with scales of 1 : 250,000 and 1 : 50,000 were published. The detailed soil maps of 135 regions where the survey was finished (with scale of 1: 25,000) and the the official soil series descriptions were published, too. Pedological and agricultural characteristics of Red and Yellow colored soils, rice soils and volcanic ash soils in Korea were described. The Red and Yellow colored soils occupy nine percent, and the rice soils occupy twelve percent of the total land area of Korea. The volcanic ash soils are distributed mainly on Jeju island and only a little on Ulleung island. Low inherent fertility characterized by low organic matter content and low cation exchange capacity is one common property of soils in Korea. Progresses of soil researches carried out by Korean researchers were reviewed. Utilization of the land and rice production were also described.