Editing Geography of Bulgaria (section)

== Soils ==
[[File:Bulgaria Gela 06.jpg|thumb|250px|The soils of Bulgaria support both agriculture and natural vegetation]]
The [[soil]] cover of Bulgaria is diverse. The soil resources of the country are adequately researched and include 17 [[soil type]]s and 28 sub-types.<ref name="donchev77">{{harvnb|Donchev|Karakashev|2004|p=77}}</ref> Of them, six types form 88.7% of the soil cover: cinnamon soils (22.0%); [[chernozem]] (20.4%); grey forest soils (17.0%); brown forest soils (14.8%); [[alluvial soils]] (9.0%) and smolnitsi (5.4%).<ref name="donchev77"/>

There are three soil zones. The ''Northern forest-steppe zone'' covers the Danubian Plain and the Pre-Balkan up to 600–700&nbsp;m altitude. The Danubian Plain is characterised by the fertile black earth chernozem, that accounts for 54% of the zone's area, while the Pre-Balkan is dominated by grey forest soils (39%), which have good physical characteristics but are low in organic matter and phosphorus.<ref name="soils">{{cite web |url=http://geografia.kabinata.com/06.htm|title=Soils of Bulgaria|website=Topics of Geography of Bulgaria|access-date=15 February 2016}}</ref><ref name="fao soils">{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/counprof/Bulgaria/bulgaria.htm|title=Country Profile of Bulgaria|website=Food and Agriculture Organization|access-date=15 February 2016|archive-date=18 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118074431/http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/counprof/Bulgaria/bulgaria.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ''Southern xerothermal zone'' encompasses Southern Bulgaria up to 700–800&nbsp;m altitude and includes several specific soil types due to the more diverse topography and climate. The most common soil types are the cinnamon forest soils with acidic (cinnamonic) traces, smolnitsi and yellow-podzolic soils.<ref name="soils"/><ref name="fao soils"/> The ''Mountain zone'' covers the mountainous regions above 700–800&nbsp;m altitude and has a zonal soil cover. The brown forest soils are distributed at altitudes of 1000–2000&nbsp;m, the dark mountain forest soils can be found at 1700–2200&nbsp;m altitude and the mountain meadow soils&nbsp;– above 1700&nbsp;m. These soils are typically shallow and prone to erosion and are usually acid to strongly acid.<ref name="soils"/><ref name="fao soils"/>

{|class="wikitable"
|+Soil types in Bulgaria<ref>{{cite book|author=Lyubomir Dinev, Kiril Mishev|publisher=Gondolat Kiadó|year=1981|title=Bulgária földrajza|translator=Dudás Gyula|language=hu|isbn=963-281-033-3|pages=50}}</ref>
!Type!!1000 [[hectare|ha]]
|-
|cinnamon || 2,430
|-
|chernozem || 2,240
|-
|grey forest || 1,960
|-
|brown forest || 1,640
|-
|meadow, alluvial and [[diluvial]] || 995
|-
|smolnitsi || 595
|-
|yellow-podzol || 0.026
|-
|[[Soil salinity|salty]] || 0.025
|-
|mountain meadow || 173
|-
|other|| 1,016
|}